I lead Experian’s EMEA Procurement team, where I work with Experian’s offices around the world when they begin implementing new projects or product ideas. I was recently asked to work alongside Experian’s Consumer Business in the United Kingdom as they prepared to launch Experian’s CreditExpert companion app. They wanted to enable consumers to access their credit reports on a mobile device, while also being able to access personalized tips on how to improve credit scores. The part of this project that I found most critical, however, was the app’s built-in web monitoring tool that proactively protects consumers’ online identities from fraud. Protection of personal data is a hot topic in the big data industry. As my team and I worked through the challenges associated with protecting our customers from identity theft and fraud, we brought in experts from other Experian functions — like our security team — to assess the tools we were using and help us put proper measures and protocols in place that would enable us to protect consumers using the app. With the launch of this new app, we can catch cases of fraud the moment they occur. So, if someone steals an individual’s information to take out a loan or a mortgage in their name, we send out an alert right away to the affected individual, encouraging them to log on to the application to review their account activities. If fraud has occurred, the app takes the hassle out of the equation for consumers. Our team will investigate the incident on their behalf. I am proud to work for a company that continuously develops new products and services to help consumers better understand their credit and to keep their financial futures and identities safe. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.
Consumers are frequently bombarded with generic marketing messages that have no relevance to their interests or shopping behaviors. And quite frankly, many of these messages go by the wayside. Consumers are constantly on the go, and expect and deserve highly personalized communications. But how do marketers adapt to this new reality? The answer is simple. Marketers need to go addressable. Unfortunately, too many marketers view this approach as too sophisticated or difficult. But the technology and expertise exists to help marketers achieve this goal. In this MarTech Advisor article, Brienna Pinnow, director of product marketer for Experian Targeting discusses the nuances of addressable advertising, and how marketers can leverage it to its fullest capabilities. The end result is more customized marketing and a better customer experience.
Portuguese Translation I’m a Marketing Analyst in Serasa Experian’s Data Strategy and Management department. While my day job is to help businesses create user-friendly digital experiences online, the role I’m most passionate about is a project I’m implementing that will use interactive games to help people take better control of their finances. Earlier this year, I learned about One Young World – a summit in Ottawa, Canada where delegates from around the world share solutions for pressing global issues, including financial education. To be selected as one of five ambassadors to this event from Experian, I had to pitch a project idea that would provide financial education to Brazilian citizens. My idea was to transform Experian’s existing educational website and mobile app into a game, to make financial education more interactive and engaging. I envisioned incentivizing customers to better understand their finances by offering them product discounts in exchange for high scores in games. Each game would teach people different skills on how to control their finances – like budgeting – or improve their credit score. Experian loved the idea so much that they not only selected me as one of their ambassadors for One Young World, but also chose to implement the idea for our customers. Within the next 12 months, my project will be implemented, providing financial education to countless Brazilian men and women who are struggling to clear their debts and manage their budgets. I attended the One Young World summit in the fall, which furthered my desire to continuously provide better financial education for the people in my country. I want everyone to feel empowered when they think about their finances. It’s important for people to be able to recover their dignity and clear their name if they had a poor credit background. And I’m happy to do my part to give people better access to the credit they need to improve their lives and the lives of their families. Read more #ExperianStories from our colleagues around the world.
Today, we stand at the forefront of a digital revolution that is reshaping the financial services industry. And, against this backdrop, financial institutions are at vastly different levels of maturity; the world’s biggest banks are managing large-scale infrastructure migrations and making significant investments in AI while regional banks and credit unions are putting plans in place for modernization strategies, and fintechs are purpose-built and cloud native. To explore this more, I recently had the privilege of attending the annual Reuters NEXT live event in New York City. The event gathers globally recognized leaders across business, finance, technology, and government to tackle some of today’s most pressing issues. On the World Stage, I joined Del Irani, a talented anchor and broadcast journalist, to discuss the future of lending and the pivotal role of data and AI in building a more inclusive financial system. Improving financial access Our discussion highlighted the lack of access to traditional financial systems, and the impact it has on nearly 100 million people in North America alone. Globally, the problem affects over one billion people. These people, who are credit invisible, unscoreable, or have subprime credit scores, are unable to secure everyday financial products that many of us take for granted. What many don’t realize is, this is not a fringe subset of the population. Most of us, myself included, know someone who has faced the challenges of financial exclusion. Everyday Americans, including young people who are just starting out, new immigrants and people from diverse communities, often lack access to mainstream financial products. We discussed how traditional lending has a limited view of a consumer. Like looking through a keyhole, the lender’s understanding of the person in view is often incomplete and obstructed. However, with expanded data, technology, and advanced analytics, there is an opportunity to better understand the whole person, and as a result have a more inclusive financial system. At Experian, we have a unique ability to connect the power of traditional credit with alternative data, bringing a more holistic understanding of consumers and their behaviors. We are dedicated to leveraging our rich history in data and our expertise in technology to create the future of credit and ultimately bring financial power to everyone. The future of lending After spending two days with over 700 industry leaders from around the world, one thing is abundantly clear: much like the early days of the internet, today, we are at the cutting-edge of a technical revolution. Reflecting on my time at Reuters NEXT, I am particularly excited by the collective commitment to drive innovative, and smarter ways of working. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of how data and technology can transform financial services, and Experian is positioned to play a significant role. As we look to the future, I am excited about the ways we will create new opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.
The advertising ecosystem has seen significant transformation over the past few years, with increased privacy regulation, changes in available signals, and the rise of channels like connected TV and retail media. These changes are impacting the way that consumers interact with brands and how brands understand and continue to deliver relevant messages to consumers with precision. Experian has been helping marketers navigate these changes, and as a result, our marketing data and identity solutions underpin much of today’s advertising industry. We’re committed to empowering marketers and agencies to understand and reach their target audiences, across all channels. Today, we are excited to announce our acquisition of Audigent—a leading data and activation platform in the advertising industry. With Audigent’s combination of first-party publisher data, inventory and deep supply-side distribution relationships, publishers, big and small, can empower marketers to better understand their customers, expand the reach of their target audiences and activate those audiences across the most impactful inventory. I am excited to bring together Audigent’s supply-side network as a natural extension to our existing demand-side capabilities. Audigent’s ability to combine inventory with targeted audiences using first-party, third-party and contextual signals provides the best of all worlds, allowing marketers to deliver campaigns centered on consumer choices, preferences, and behaviors. The addition of Audigent further strengthens our strategy to be the premier independent provider of marketing data and identity, ultimately creating more relevant experiences for consumers. To learn more about Experian and Audigent, visit https://www.experian.com/marketing/ and https://audigent.com/.
When it comes to cybercriminals and threat vectors, we need to expect the unexpected. Experian’s 12th annual Data Breach Industry Forecast highlights several potential trends for 2025, with AI playing a central role. This year has already seen more data breaches and impacted consumers than 2023, indicating that global data breaches are not slowing down. Some things to watch out for next year includes the potential for more internal fraud. As companies train employees on AI, there is a growing risk that some will misuse their knowledge for internal theft and sourcing sensitive information. Another trend may be cyberattackers targeting large data centers, with the growth of generative AI introducing power as a new attack vector. It’s reported that a single ChatGPT query uses significantly more electricity than a standard Google search, making data centers and cloud infrastructure vulnerable, especially in countries with varying security standards. We expect AI-related attacks to dominate the headlines next year and investments in cybersecurity will increase to tackle this emerging threat, as hackers leverage AI for phishing, password cracking, malware, and deepfakes. Jim Steven, Head of Crisis and Data Response Services at Experian Global Data Breach Resolution in the UK, anticipates that global data breaches will persist at their current rate next year. He notes that ransomware attacks are likely to become even more sophisticated with the integration of AI. Additionally, Steven predicts that threat actors will escalate their tactics to achieve greater rewards, and the misuse of consumer data to damage reputations will increase in 2025. To access the complimentary report, click here.