All posts by Editor
As part of the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, Experian is celebrating Lunar New Year. This article is by executive co-sponsors of Experian’s Asian American Employee Resource Group (ERG): Dacy Yee, Chief Customer Officer and Jimmy Cheung, SVP of Information Security and Compliance. Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, is celebrated in various Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and others. For some cultures, it’s a 15-day long celebration filled with symbols and traditions that have different meanings. 2020 is the Year of the Rat, which is the first of all the zodiac animals. The Rat is seen as a sign of wealth and surplus in Chinese culture, and those born on the Year of the Rat are optimistic, energetic and likable by all! See the table below to determine your zodiac animal. In our families, the preparation for the Lunar New Year celebration starts a week before the New Year day. We clean the house thoroughly to remove any bad luck from the preceding year and decorate the interior with red objects—a color often associated with good fortune, wealth and longevity in the Chinese culture. Back when we were young, our parents would buy us new outfits to make sure that we looked presentable when visiting friends and families, and would also allow us unlimited access to sweets and treats, as it symbolized a sweet year ahead. The holiday has always been about more than just the coming of a new year. Lunar New Year meant spending time with loved ones, indulging in a delicious Asian feast, and partaking in age-old traditions that gave us a sense of pride and adoration for our culture. These are just some of the things that make the holiday so special to us (that, and receiving hong baos—red envelopes with money—from our elders). This year, our Asian American ERG worked hard to put on an outstanding Lunar New Year; it\'s our group\'s largest annual event! Experian enjoyed a diverse cultural showcase of seven different countries, a Chinese sleeve dance, Tinikling (Filipino stick dance), a Taiwanese aboriginal dance, a catered lunch and more. Tinikling is a traditional Philippine folk dance that involves two people tapping and sliding bamboo while dancers step over and in between the sticks. Our Asian American ERG performed tinikling for us today during our #LunarNewYear celebration! ?? pic.twitter.com/JiwfzXp3wq — Experian (@Experian) February 6, 2020 We are also proud to announce we partnered with the Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF) and hosted a donation drive to assist in their commitment to ending domestic and sexual violence in Asian Pacific Islander (API) communities. Many of us started the Lunar New Year on a positive note, and we want to ensure that’s true for those in need as well As always, we are so grateful to Experian for providing an environment where we are not only allowed but encouraged to bring our whole selves to work every day. Through various events hosted at Experian campuses across the country, we were able to impact 1,500 employees and expose them to the wonderful cultures of Asia. It is an honor to be able to share this part of our lives with our colleagues and show them how beautiful and rich various Asian cultures are. We look forward to a healthy and prosperous new year. 恭喜發財! Gong Hay Fat Choy! Jimmy Cheung Co-Executive Sponsor Asian American Employee Resource Group Dacy Yee Co-Executive Sponsor Asian American Employee Resource Group Photos taken by Nhan T. Nguyen.
This blog is written by Matt Dunn, GTM Managing Director at Experian. The Women in Sales Awards recognises the exemplary efforts of individuals in sales teams across Europe. Open by nomination only, the awards celebrate the achievement of women who go above and beyond in their career. It aims to promote the needs for greater gender diversity in sales and executive leadership teams across the corporate landscape. We place significant emphasis on helping and supporting women to reach senior roles, and I’m delighted that seven colleagues – Laura Webster, Kathryn O’Brien, Liz Clarke, Ivelina Mihaleva, Bally Ubhi, Clare Brown and Caroline McCrystal - were nominated as finalists at the awards. Even better, Caroline was named as the overall winner in the ‘2019 Best Woman in Inside Sales’ category. Not only that, Caroline was also the winner of the ‘Most Distinguished Saleswoman of the Year’ award too. In total, there were more than 1,000 nominations from companies in 22 countries, which goes to show what a remarkable and fantastic achievement to be recognised in such a way. We’re extremely proud of all their efforts this year and I’m sure you’ll join me in congratulating all of the nominees and Caroline on their outstanding success.
We’re delighted to have been named as one of Britain’s ‘Most Admired Companies’ (BMAC) in Management Today’s annual survey, coming 21st in a list of nearly 250 leading firms from a variety of sectors, and taking third place in the ‘Business Support Services’ sector. Our 17,000 colleagues around the world work hard every day to service and power opportunities for our customers and this award is testament to the commitment they bring to our business every day. The hard work doesn’t stop here. We continue to strive for the highest standards across our global organisation, and we remain committed to delivering the very best services that can empower millions of people to stay in control of their finances, and help businesses meet the needs of their customers. For further information on BMAC, the winners and the methodology, please see: https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/bmac
This blog is written by Lisa Fretwell, Managing Director of Data Services at Experian. It’s no secret that women are hugely under-represented in careers relating to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In fact, research suggests that only 13% of the overall UK workforce are women in STEM and, as a consequence, we find ourselves with fewer female role models to inspire confidence and ambition in the next generation. Positive female role models are fundamental if we are to transform some of the preconceptions that girls have about a career in STEM. And part of encouraging new generations into our industry means recognising and celebrating the achievements of those women blazing a trail here and now. That’s why we are delighted to be sponsors of today’s Women in Data (UK) conference for the third successive year. This unique event helps inspire, educate and support women across the data industry. It’s a privilege to be part of the Women in Data community, to get to know more amazing women in our industry and to share their incredible stories. One of the highlights of the event is the annual ’20 Women in Data and Technology’ recognition, celebrating incredible role models who are motivating others to pursue their own career ambitions in the industry. We were particularly thrilled to learn that our very own Louise Maynard-Atem, has been included in this year’s highly prestigious list. Congratulations to Louise on a truly phenomenal and well-deserved achievement. Experian’s goal is to have a workforce that’s as rich in diversity as the people who use our services. That’s one of the many reasons we’re so excited by WiD’s mission. Together we hope to empower and encourage more women into the data industry, supporting the next generation of data scientists who can help shape the future.
We are delighted to have been placed on the inaugural Financial Times’ 2020 Diversity Leaders list, released today and accessible here. The organisers spoke to more than 80,000 employees across Europe to build the list, asking employees to rate their own employers as well as other firms around multiple categorise, taking into consideration areas including age, gender, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ and overall diversity of ideas and backgrounds across the company. Over the last few years we’ve worked hard to focus on inclusion and diversity across our global business. We believe that embracing a truly inclusive culture, one where everyone has a real sense of belonging, is critical to building a diverse workforce and fostering innovation. Ultimately, it’s our ambition for our business to become as diverse as the people we serve around the world. We’re dedicated to encouraging diversity at every level within Experian. That means building our culture, our ways of working and our approach in a way that offers equality of opportunity. Supporting our employees from the moment they join our organisation, at every level. Letting people work flexibly, in the way that suits them and opens the door to new opportunities. One of the five key tenets of The Experian Way is “Value Each Other”. That means that each one of us is responsible for making this a great place to work. We treat each other with respect, trust and integrity. We support and invest in each other to help everyone achieve their potential and aspirations. We promote a culture of inclusivity and value diversity of all kinds, including thinking, knowledge and experience. Our goal is to embrace and celebrate the diversity of ideas and backgrounds across the company. This diversity of thinking, and the way we harness it at Experian, helps to fuel our innovation and ultimately our ongoing success as a business. Like many companies, we have more to do to be as inclusive as we would like to be. But we are proud of the work we’ve done to date, and we are delighted by the recognition given to us today.
Today (Nov. 11) Americans celebrate Veterans Day to honor all of the men and women who have served our country in uniform and to thank those who are currently serving around the world. We also take time to welcome a new generation of veterans home from war. We remember our Gold Star families who have endured the loss of a family member making the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. More than 25 million veterans are now home in America. They are our friends, our families, and our loved ones. Far too many have endured the shock and pain of a combat deployment, some have become disabled, and many have made the ultimate sacrifice. All who have served have given up some of themselves as well as some of the best years of their lives. Experian is proud to embrace our veteran community and allow the flexibility for our coworkers who continue to serve. Our Military, Veterans And Patriots Employee Resource Group continues to be involved in many opportunities across our local communities from building wheelchair ramps for disabled veterans to participating in endurance challenges such as Carry the Load National Relay road march and the Murph Challenge. We recently launched Experian IDnotify, a credit and identity protection service, at no cost for those who are on active duty. We are committed to serving those who are serving us. If you have a family member or friend serving on active duty, please share the link. This Veterans Day let us take a moment to remember the sacrifices of the courageous men and women who heroically fought for the freedom and honor of America to make it the greatest nation on earth!
At Experian we’re committed to creating a culture of continuous innovation, from the way we work to the solutions we create. This commitment has helped us create a workplace where our teams across the world have a desire to help change the lives of millions for the better. Justin Hastings, Chief Human Resources Officer for Experian North America, recently wrote an article for the Forbes Human Resources Council which highlights the importance of creating an inclusive environment in the workplace -- and demonstrates how innovation, developing new products and services, and providing value are all crucial to a companies’ success. The article, “Deliver Innovation By Embracing Inclusion,” explores what it means to build a culture of innovation, and how to ensure employees feel comfortable bringing their different backgrounds and ideas to their role every day. This is the type of innovative culture we’re building at Experian, which celebrates these differences and works to make employees feel valued and empowered to be innovative and productive. Another concept Justin discusses in this article is “innovating to grow.” It’s important to make employees feel connected to their organization and involved in the creation of new products and services. This has a tremendous positive impact with employees providing valuable feedback, and also creating advocacy among team members. For example when developing Experian Boost, which has helped millions of people raise their credit scores, we first beta-tested and shared the innovation internally and were able to garner valuable feedback and support from employees. As a result, we’ve seen tremendous success since the launch of Experian Boost earlier this year. At Experian we truly believe that inclusion is the key to creating a culture of innovation. You can read the full article here.
For the second year in a row, Experian Costa Rica has achieved recertification from Great Places to Work in the Central America region. The honor recognizes the inclusive workplace culture that Experian Costa Rica employees and leaders have created, making it a dynamic environment for innovation and high productivity. “Getting re-certified as a Great Place to Work provides and enormous sense of pride. As an organization it validates all the efforts we make to ensure a strong healthy employee culture and as a leader it allows us to come to work knowing that we have a culture that employees enjoy working in,” said Adrian Sibaja, Director of Service Delivery for Experian Costa Rica and Chile. Experian Costa Rica is one of four Global Delivery Centers, strategically located centers of operational excellence that support Experian’s regions. The office is home to nearly 1,000 employees across different business units. This honor reinforces the workplace culture we’re fostering, which our employees are happy to brag about in confidential surveys. Costa Rica leadership is always looking for ways to make the employee culture even better. That’s why recognizing employee accomplishments and encouraging partnership between business units are among their top priorities. Congratulations to our Costa Rica colleagues!
Eva lets out a deeply frustrated exhale as she navigates moving boxes in her new apartment towards a nearby chair. She was just trying to update her address online and take care of some online banking money transfers. Now her accounts are frozen, and she has received a message to call the bank\'s fraud department. How could she be a fraudster? She was only guilty of taking a job and moving to Chicago. Maybe it\'s time to start thinking about changing banks... Meanwhile, in the bank\'s Texas-based fraud department, Robert spots Eva\'s case in his fraud investigations list. He noticed some suspicious activities and leaves Eva a voicemail, wanting to ask her a few questions to verify her identity or otherwise confirm this is in fact a fraudster infiltrating Eva\'s account. To prevent this potential risk of fraud from escalating, Robert decides it is better to freeze Eva\'s accounts while he confirms that it\'s actually Eva who is trying to change her address and not a fraudster using a stolen password. As both Robert and Eva work to connect and clear up this mix-up, Robert isn\'t getting to spend his time finding actual fraud and protecting his bank from any potential losses. Fraud hubs bring together advanced authentication technology and risk mitigation systems into a single platform As fraud attacks grow more frequent and complex, new technologies have sprung up to help meet the challenge, using a variety of tactics and tools to detect fraud. This is the case of device recognition, malware detection, identity verification, behavioural biometrics, and document verification, just to name a few. Regardless of their choice of tools and techniques, businesses across banking, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, and services industries need to know that the person interacting with them online is who they say they are. Combating fraud with layered tools strengthens businesses\' defenses. But without an intelligent approach to connecting those tools, businesses catch too many good customers (like Eva) in their fraud-mitigation nets. By bringing together different types of fraud mitigation and risk management systems on a single technology platform, fraud hubs provide a solid solution to this challenge. How do fraud hubs like CrossCore help both businesses and consumers? CrossCore brings together into a single platform best-in-class tools and services such as advanced analytics, data consortium, device recognition, endpoint malware, and bot detection, behavioural biometrics, and document verification. Experian has also been named by Gartner as a representative vendor in online fraud detection in their April 2019 Market Guide for Online Fraud Detection, for its CrossCore solution.* Our flagship identity and fraud hub connects various functionalities together in a smart, orchestrated way, leveraging machine learning-driven decisioning to deliver a single fraud decision across multiple tools and enabling businesses worldwide to improve their fraud detection capabilities. CrossCore equips businesses with the most applicable tools to combat the specific fraud threats they face in their organisation. The 100 million cumulative transactions we have run on CrossCore to date show us that while one client may need additional protection against synthetic identity fraud, another may face frequent bot attacks in their account opening application, therefore requiring different approaches. It also means that if one tool can\'t validate a user\'s identity, another system can provide evidence that this is, in fact, a real customer. It\'s precisely the advanced analytics underpinning data modeling what gives our clients greater confidence in their identity and fraud decisions. But let\'s go back to Eva. In her case, CrossCore\'s fraud risk engine would have fired rules when she was making a change of address, as this action elevates the potential for fraud. But CrossCore\'s device intelligence would have shown that Eva was logging in from a known mobile phone. She was also using her phone to type information in a way that a normal user (non-fraudster) would do. In that case, CrossCore would have asked for a step-up authentication where Eva is prompted to take a selfie for biometric authentication. Now, Eva can continue to do her banking and access her accounts as she would normally do. This is a relief as Eva checks off more moving-related tasks and can enjoy her new life in a new city. Back in the bank\'s fraud investigation office, Robert and his colleagues would have never seen a case for their customer, Eva. Instead, they would have been able to focus their energies on high-risk cases, mitigating any emerging fraud threats. They would have also treated Eva as the good, valued customer she is and helped ensure her business in the long run. Whether it\'s an automotive client in South Africa, a healthcare organisation in the U.S., an insurance company in the UK, a fintech in Australia or a bank in Brazil, CrossCore is helping to solve one of the greatest challenges in decision analytics today: identifying good customers, while reducing fraud. Download the 2019 Global Identity & Fraud Report. *Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner\'s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.