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As digital transformation follows its course, ubiquitous data and new technologies are dramatically changing the way consumers interact with businesses. The Amazons and Googles of the world are redefining customer experience on a daily basis and setting the bar higher for the rest of industries to catch up. This ‘customer-first’ era calls for innovative ways to achieve sustainable growth and market leadership. Aimed at understanding this new reality, we commissioned Forrester Consulting to survey senior executives and decision makers about how they tackle the challenges and opportunities surrounding digital transformation. What we found is that the key to succeed in today’s highly competitive and fast paced environment is creating a comprehensive, unified view into their customers and their needs. And that although businesses are committed to keeping up with the pace of change to stay relevant, there are still trying to figure out how to execute their ‘customer-first’ vision. Businesses from all over the world wonder how they can attract and retain new customers, or what are the tools they need to quickly act on insights and make consistent, relevant decisions about what matters the most to their customers. Our research shows that the early beneficiaries of digitalisation such as fintech companies and e-commerce brands have been quick to understand younger, tech savvy and convenience-hungry consumers. Both industries have leveraged decades of technology developments to meet their customers’ expectations, setting the bar high. They have evolved from one-time transactions to building relationships, creating loyal followers and facilitating repeat purchases. Financial services and other sectors can find inspiration in how customer strategies focused on relevance and personalisation deliver the curated experiences consumers demand. When you put the customer first, the opportunities to create more value from your customer relationships are endless. We believe the future is bright for the business which remains nimble and willing to evolve their business models, using technology to meet the needs of tomorrow’s customer. Key findings 81% of executives believe traditional business models will disappear over the next five years due to digital transformation. 79% of key decision makers believe their customers can seamlessly interact with their organisations across mobile, web, and in-person channels – and are generally positive about the progress they are making. Two thirds of executives believe their profitability would improve if they were able to create that single, comprehensive view of the customer. Knowing and understanding customers better than anyone else is paramount to consistently assisting them how, when and where they need it. Businesses must ensure that they offer appropriate products that their customers can afford and benefit from now and in the future, regardless of market conditions or changing personal circumstances. Six out of ten executives believe sharing their data with third parties and tapping into additional data will help them create frictionless customer experiences. But there are some challenges they need to overcome before achieving that. For example, 40 percent of executives globally still feel they cannot easily share their data. They also need to make sense and find meaning from all the data they have. They are currently investing in new technologies to make sense of their data, but these efforts are not going far enough. 53% of businesses worldwide struggle to make consistent customer decisions. Part of it due to the gathering of inconsistent data from one channel to the next. The better businesses get at managing different points of interaction, the more insight they can obtain within a given customer’s experience. Using advanced analytics helps unlock the value latent in different points of interaction along the entire relationship with your customers. 77% of executives set aside budget for advanced analytics and decision-management systems. To turn strategic priorities into action, businesses have set aside budget to invest in analytics and digital decisioning. Thanks to innovative analytical tools, businesses can deliver improved, personalised experiences when they matter, better protecting consumers and complying with regulations. Download the full report.
The following is written by Mike Kilander, Global Managing Director, Data Quality, at Experian With companies facing increasingly complex data challenges that can determine the success or failure of their business, never has it been so important to have accurate and reliable data. Businesses encounter almost continuous disruption – frequently driven by accelerated data insights – and increasing regulatory pressure to improve transparency and ensure consumer privacy. Moreover, the modern consumer brings online expectations and digital demands, requiring companies to respond ever faster and more than before. One-to-one marketing has become the new digital experience. To handle these new digital demands and market pressure, organizations must improve their ability to leverage their data and gather key insights, especially on their ever-changing customers. But while there is more information available than ever before, data is a largely untapped resource. Why are we drowning in data, yet starved for insight? There are two key areas where organizations are struggling: developing trust in the accuracy of their data and gaining access to it. Organizations told us they suspect almost a third of their data is inaccurate, which limits their ability to leverage data to drive improved business outcomes. If you can’t trust your information, how are you supposed to make big strategic business decisions with it. Second, the average business user can’t get timely access to the data or insight they need. In fact, 70% say that not having direct control over data impacts their ability to meet strategic objectives. Too often, access to data only comes after the submission of an IT ticket and weeks of waiting. We see, year after year, many businesses fail to take full advantage of the opportunity their data. Current infrastructure and management practices are often not set up to handle today’s digital consumer, the volume of data generated, and the multitude of systems collecting the data, leaving users with inaccurate data and limited access. Consequently, they have been limited in their ability to leverage new data talent, technology, and best practices that can help them gain the necessary insight to innovate and stay competitive. In the past several years managing data became more complicated because of the increasingly diverse group of stakeholders who want to leverage and have access to data. It isn’t enough now just to make sure the data is right, which most companies still have not cracked. Now you also must make sure that insight is provided with the right context, to the right business user who can make the most effective decisions for the organization. These challenges will only become more acute as organizations not only continue to delay meaningful investment in data management, but also miss the emerging trend of democratization of data control in the organization. When investing in technology, few stop to think about the overarching operational data strategy and how decentralized data manipulation has become. Organizations need the right ownership or strong data leadership that allows them to access data and take advantage of insight, while considering consumer privacy, data security and data governance. Experian just released a new report looking at customer experience data trends, developing trust in information and changing data ownership. I encourage you to read this new report in the hopes that it will shed light into best practices around leveraging data. Download the new 2019 Global Data Management report here.
The following is written by Alison Sharp, HR Director, UK&I and EMEA, at Experian. We are thrilled to announce that Experian has been officially certified as a ‘Top Employer’ by the Top Employers Institute in the UK and Spain. The annual research programme recognises leading employers around the world. Awarding only those that provide the kind of conditions where their employees can develop, both professionally and personally, nurturing and developing talent throughout all levels of the organisation. This recognition is not only testament to the incredible work undertaken throughout the business, but also builds on ‘Top Employer’ status achieved in Experian South Africa and Bulgaria - awarded over the last couple of months. So, what makes Experian such a great place to work? An inspiring working environment, unlimited development opportunities and rewards that recognises your contribution and commitment are just a few. But above all else, it’s our people. And it’s our people who have made this recognition possible. By listening to them and encouraging new ideas, they have continued to help us develop our working culture and pushed the boundaries to create the best possible working environment. A key part of this is embracing diversity at all levels. Different approaches, different solutions and different views helps create an inclusive environment that people are proud to work in. We want everyone to bring their whole-self to work, creating a place where everyone has the freedom to explore and share interests, no matter what their individual story is, without fear of judgement. The more inclined we are to bring our rich outside world into our work, the more we will expose others to new perspectives and different thinking, which in turn makes Experian a great place to be. Today, we will celebrate our success, but the hard work doesn’t stop here. We have set ourselves the challenge to not only keep our Top Employer status next year, but also improve our overall performance against the institute’s tough certification criteria, continuing our development of Experian as an outstanding place to work. We asked our people what makes Experian a great place to work.
Experian Health has announced a partnership with Change Healthcare, a leading revenue cycle management provider, to jointly provide an identity management solution to solve patient identification and duplication challenges most often occurring during the patient registration process. Accurate identification of patients across care settings is one of the most common challenges in healthcare today. Improper identity management plagues multiple aspects of the healthcare system and all stakeholders, including providers, payers, pharmacies, employers, and consumers. Without accurate record matching, patients can be put at risk. According to statistics cited by Pew Research Center up to 20 percent of patient records are not accurately matched within the same healthcare system—driving up costs, creating inefficiency, and risking patient safety. The solution delivered to the market will leverage Experian Health’s robust identity management capabilities, along with Change Healthcare’s Intelligent Healthcare NetworkTM connecting providers and payers, to accurately identify patients and match records within and across disparate healthcare organizations. With the companies’ extensive footprint across healthcare providers, and Change Healthcare’s ecosystem of over 700 channel partners, the partnership will aim to deliver trusted identity management capabilities that are integrated with healthcare workflow applications across the continuum. “It’s imperative the healthcare industry focus on accurate patient identification and data management to improve overall patient safety,” said Jennifer Schulz, group president, Experian Health. “This new partnership aligns with our commitment to connect and simplify healthcare in a data-driven world, and ultimately deliver an optimal consumer experience.” At launch, the solution is expected to be available to all providers and payers in the United States. Currently, Experian’s Universal Identity Management solution, in particular, now includes 136.3 million people, representing 42.6% coverage of the U.S. population, and that number continues to grow every month. This partnership will expand the company’s reach even more with partners such as payers and smaller clinics to scale its identity solutions at a quicker pace and benefit the entire industry. “We are pleased to be able to move our business forward with key collaborations that will help us deliver a seamless and scalable identity management solution to more organizations,” added Schulz. “We look forward to working with Change Healthcare and exploring more partnership opportunities with them that can continue to address the healthcare industry’s most pressing operational issues through the power of data and analytics.”
In an article published by Bloomberg this week, Brian Cassin, Experian CEO, discusses the transformation of the business from a credit bureau to an innovative, global information services firm. The story highlights some of the remarkable work Experian does with high-profile clients including Coca-Cola and Fannie Mae, using data to inform marketing and strategy decisions. The article also references recent product innovations including Ascend, which offers analytics on demand, and PowerCurve, our market-leading decision analytics platform. Worth mentioning is that Experian’s strong financial performance also comes through in the article, which notes that the company’s stock price has doubled since 2015 while the FTSE 100 index has stagnated. Check out the full article.
Every day we work with companies doing amazing things with their data. We are therefore delighted to be sponsoring the very first Experian ‘Data Excellence’ award at this year’s Lloyds Bank National Business Awards. It gives us the chance to celebrate organisations for their innovative thinking and excellent use of data - an area we at Experian are very passionate about. The quality of entries for this category was high, showcasing some real-life examples of how data-driven solutions can not only deliver better outcomes for customers, but also embrace the opportunities presented by an ever-changing data landscape. However, there could only be one winner. So, we are pleased to announce that Cleveland Police are the deserving recipient of the inaugural award for their ‘Golden Nominal’ project – an initiative which demonstrates how the power of better data can have a positive impact on policing. The project responds to the huge challenge that having vast, unquantifiable number of duplicate records was posing on delivering an efficient and appropriate response to the community. And not only has it far surpassed targets in terms of reducing duplicates, most importantly it’s provided opportunities to serve the community better and identify those most vulnerable far more quickly. Such was its innovative nature, the project was recognised at a national level by the Home Office, who provided co-funding from its Innovation Fund – a fantastic result for them. The award was presented by Experian’s Chief Data Officer, Jonathan Westley, to Maria Hopper from Cleveland Police at the awards ceremony in London. She said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be named as winners of the ‘Data Excellence’ award. Our data initiative allowed us to solve a challenge that was hindering our ability to respond quickly and accurately to those who need it most in our community. For us, winning this award is fantastic recognition of the critical role that data plays in delivering positive policing and keeping people safe.” To hear more from Maria, you can watch this short video. We would like to congratulate Cleveland Police on a well-deserved award win, along with all the other winners on the night. To find out more, you can visit the National Business Awards website.
Following this year’s One Young World summit, we sat down with Jade Starrett, Global Talent and Engagement Director at Experian, and Abigail Lovell, Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Responsibility and Shared Marketing at Experian, to talk about the importance of the summit and how Experian’s partnership with the organisation is helping us to create a better world for our clients and partners. Q: Why does Experian participate in One Young World? A: Jade: I think it’s a really positive, inspiring initiative for us to be involved in as an organisation and it’s incredibly well aligned to our purpose of Creating a Better Tomorrow. So, I think with all the brand work that we’ve been doing over the last couple of years, there’s a huge relevance to what we do, who we are as a business, and what we’re trying to achieve. As of now, we employ 57% Gen Y across Experian and 25% of our employees across Experian are under 30. So, we’re a really young business and I think we all know that for many young people, they’re passionate about social change and they really want to make a difference in the world. A: Abigail: That’s exactly what it is - a way of connecting young people and employees to our brand purpose of Creating a Better Tomorrow. And our ambassadors do this by not just connecting with corporate responsibility leaders around the business but also with other young people around the globe from different companies. These folks are innovators and change makers who bring all of this together to come up with ideas that can positively impact the communities where we live and work. Q: What benefits have you seen from being part of One Young World for the past six years? A: Jade: There are clear benefits for the individuals themselves who participate. They come back from the summit inspired and energised by the people that they’ve met and the leaders they’ve heard. I think they also benefit from the personal growth, development and motivation that the experience also gives them. There is a societal benefit because the work that the ambassadors are leading and pioneering through the organisation positively impacts society and supports our corporate responsibility agenda. We’ve consciously aimed to try to tie in peoples’ ideas and passions with what Experian does as a business and what capabilities we can use to make a difference. A: Abigail: Yes, One Young World has really inspired change makers across our business to make a positive impact in the community. We’ve had projects that support refugees to expand our consumer education programme and to help people get more empowered around finance and credit in their own region. One Young World offers an opportunity to make a positive impact on society and consumers. \"I think our aim of celebrating what we do in this CSR space more, talking about it more, communicating it more widely will help us from a talent attraction point of view, particularly with younger people.\" Q: Why do you think it’s important for Experian to foster a culture of innovation? A: Abigail: Innovation is on the minds of all our leadership team. It’s a key differentiator for us in the marketplace. It’s part of our DNA and is fundamental to the way we make a real impact to society and in the world. We invest in new products and services that help more people get affordable access to essential everyday services. And many of these products started as social innovation projects developed by people in our business, for example Limpa Nome (which translates to “Clean name”) in Brazil. Jade: I also think that to be really creative and innovative, you need to break your normal daily routines and ways of thinking. When you’re put into and immersed in an environment like the One Young World summit, with people who have vastly different experiences to your own, you are inspired to think differently. \"Essentially if you think about Experian’s business strategy, innovation is such an important pillar of that strategy for growth. And that’s innovation in terms of social innovation like Abigail talked about, and it’s innovation across our entire business agenda.\" Q: How does Experian encourage young people to take that learning and bring it back into the organisation? Jade: When we first started looking at our participation with One Young World, the majority of corporates who send people and who have corporate memberships don’t do what we do. We wanted to tie it directly into the business and we wanted individuals to have real skin-in-the-game. So, it was a very conscious decision on our part to create a competition to encourage people to think “what am I passionate about”, “what is Experian trying to deliver for our clients and consumers” and “is there a need for this that we can help fill and create social change” - and use that to apply to become one of Experian’s One Young World ambassadors. A: Abigail: And the way that we do this is ahead of the One Young World summit, our ambassadors identify local social challenges that they are passionate about so they can debate and find innovative solutions with like-minded individuals at the actual summit. When they return, they are fired up, they are ready to draw on the knowledge from the summit, and then they work with the local corporate responsibility teams in the regions to put their learnings into practice to help solve some of the biggest social challenges. Q: Is there a One Young World project that really stands out for you? A: Abigail: Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN) runs the Business Class Program (formerly governed by Schools Connect Australia), a non-profit organisation in Australia that matches companies with schools in disadvantaged communities to improve educational outcomes of students. Sarah Hughes, a member of our first cohort of One Young World Ambassadors leads the programme which is now in its fifth year. This programme has seen 400 employees from Experian volunteer their time and impart their knowledge and skills to students at McClelland College and their teachers. ABCN conducted a thorough evaluation of the students’ progress and found that with Experian’s support, around 600 students showed improvements in educational outcomes. This year, Sarah integrated an exciting new award-winning digital financial literacy programme, Banqer, into the school’s curriculum and it’s being rolled out to 250 students this year. For me, this is a fantastic example of how we can work together to Create a Better Tomorrow.
The following is written by Jan Barratt, Experian. We owe everything to the millions who lost their lives in the Great War, fighting for our freedom. Without their sacrifice, the world we know would be a very different place. This November marks a whole century since the guns finally fell silent on WW1. It’s only fitting we use this landmark anniversary to remember and celebrate everything they did for us. The Games of Remembrance 2018 is an opportunity to do exactly that. Inspired by a generation’s love of football and its ability to unify, The Games of Remembrance harnesses the power of the beautiful game to remind us all of the immense bravery and sacrifice of millions. We’re proud to sponsor the Games and to play a small part in helping those memories live on and to commemorate the people who lost their lives in the conflict. Furthermore, we’re thrilled that this year’s celebration comes to Nottingham, a place where Sir John Peace, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, and the late Eric Barnes built up Experian from its roots almost 50 years ago. Today, we employ more than 2,000 people across the East Midlands region. We’re proud to be sponsoring the Games of Remembrance, and we are proud to be part of the Nottingham community. We remember.
We recently participated in Finovate Fall, where we joined top fintechs and financial institutions from around the world to debate about the current state of the financial services industry and more importantly, its future. A future where the so-called ‘experience economy’ will unfold and those putting the customer at the center of their innovation will thrive. But, how to get there and remain relevant in an ever-challenging environment? Committing to a culture of technology and innovation that transforms interactions between businesses and consumers is the first step. Take financial institutions and fintechs, for example. Despite their different approaches to what it takes to serve their customers better, both traditional and non-traditional industry players agree that technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning play a pivotal role in their respective digital transformation strategies. But with the change comes the challenge: most of organizations recognize they still struggle to fully operationalize the output of their advanced predictive analytics. To be true to our own commitment to technology and innovation and help businesses execute machine learning models within their decision processes, we have launched a new release of our flagship decisioning platform. The latest PowerCurve release integrates machine learning to deliver a faster and better analysis of data. These actionable insights will help our clients identify the opportunities presented by each of their customers quicker and more easily. Leveraging today’s technology to sustain tomorrow’s growth We believe that enabling businesses to leverage their current technology investments to support future growth is key to ensure they get the full benefit of their commitment to innovation. The latest PowerCurve capabilities allow custom plug-ins to be added at any time to support the next generation of technology and decision-making strategies while ensuring consistent, precise and personalized experiences that satisfy consumers’ demands over time. This enhanced flexibility means that businesses can get value of their current data and technology investments today and keep at pace with the latest and most effective decision management strategies across the entire customer life cycle. In addition, PowerCurve will continue to satisfy compliance requirements and provide the necessary governance and explainability that is essential in today’s market. With the updates to our decisioning platform and incorporation of machine learning capabilities, businesses will be able to make the right decisions today, resting reassured that those decisions will remain precise and relevant in the future.