All posts by Scott Anderson
At Experian, advanced technology drives our commitment to enhancing the customer experience. For us, it’s all about innovation and creating products and experiences that meet the demands of today’s tech-savvy consumers, businesses and diverse client base. To accommodate ever-changing market conditions, we leverage a unique mix of our own data centers and cloud platforms, as well as provide standard APIs so developers can easily connect to our systems and data. And, machine learning plays a key role in this commitment to innovation. Steven Norton, reporter for the Wall Street Journal, recently reported on how we’re operationalizing machine learning technology to manage an increasingly complex IT environment, and drive business value for customers. Experian’s use of real-time monitoring has allowed CIO Barry Libenson to show an empirical decline in downtime and critical IT issues year-over-year. With companies looking to artificial intelligence to deliver insights into their customers and the business, credit reporting firm Experian PLC is tapping machine learning to better understand how its own applications behave, with limited human intervention. Click here to read the full article published in the Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal.
Experian MicroAnalytics has surpassed a record 5 billion credit offers, demonstrating our commitment to helping people in emerging markets create credit profiles and improve financial well-being. In emerging markets around the world, people have limited access to financial products, especially credit. At Experian MicroAnalytics we’ve developed a sustainable solution to provide billions of people with access to financial products, easily accessed through their mobile phones, unlocking the power of alternative data in countries across Latin America, Asia, Africa and beyond. “We’re thrilled to have extended over five billion credit offers,” said Elio Vitucci, CEO of Experian MicroAnalytics. “2017 was our fastest-growing year, and we are now extending over 270 million credit offers every month. Our goal is to help people in emerging markets build a strong financial identity. We build financial identities using mobile phone behavioral data, one of the richest sources of customer insight, and unlock an initial set of financial products. As customers use these products, they strengthen their financial identities and obtain access to an increasingly wider set of financial services.” While only a minority of people in emerging markets have access to banking services and even fewer have access to credit services, the vast majority have a mobile phone, most on a prepaid plan. Experian MicroAnalytics partners with mobile network operators around the world, using mobile behavioral data to start creating initial financial identities for people. With these financial identities, customers can start to gain access to simple but useful financial products, such as airtime credit. As customers continue to take and repay their borrowed airtime credits successfully, they strengthen their financial identities and progressively unlock a wider, more complete set of financial services. This creates a virtuous circle, where in time customers graduate to a full set of financial products. “We help consumers in emerging markets to build a financial identity, unlocking access to financial products such as loans, credit cards, insurance and more, all available via their mobile devices,” Vitucci added. “These financial products fuel economic development, stimulate growth and have a positive impact on the quality of life for billions of people.”
Elio Vitucci, CEO of Experian MicroAnalytics, authored the op-ed Financial Empowerment for the Emerging Market Consumer in U.S. News & World Report. To date, Experian MicroAnalytics has extended over 4.9 billion credit offers to the world’s unbanked people, and nearly half of those offers were in the past year. The new emerging market consumer is becoming empowered with tools and services needed for a better quality of life and economic vitality. Experian MicroAnalytics contributes to global progress by helping those with no credit history gain access to credit and financial products for their businesses and personal needs. In regions where financial history doesn\'t exist, understanding creditworthiness is a challenge. While only a small minority of people in emerging markets have access to credit services, the vast majority have access to mobile services — most of them on a prepaid plan. As such, an alternate credit identity can now be established. Financial services in the emerging world are drastically underserving the potential banked population. Long-term economic growth in the emerging world hinges on access to financial services. Unlocking the new consumer\'s credit capability is the new financial frontier. Learn more about how Experian is empowering emerging market consumers with financial products and services to improve quality of life and increase prosperity around the world.
Experian Marketing Services released its 2016 Digital Marketer Report. The eighth annual study reveals the challenges, priorities and other key issues impacting marketers worldwide.
The Experian Marketing Suite is recognized by The Relevancy Group for its innovative technology and functionality, offline and addressable TV solutions for marketers.
Partnership with Experian Marketing Services will help Bare Necessities offer its customers a more seamless and rewarding experience across touch-points, including call-center support and email communications Bare Necessities, the largest online specialty retailer of women’s and men’s branded and designer intimate apparel and lingerie, entered into an agreement with Experian Marketing Services, a recognized leader in data-driven marketing, that will help the retailer better understand and engage with its customers. Using the Experian Marketing Suite, Bare Necessities has the ability to plan, manage, execute and optimize all of its customer interactions in real time across any channel, all from within a single system. “Customers choose Bare Necessities because we offer them a better way to buy bras,” said Noah Wrubel, cofounder and chief executive officer, Bare Necessities. “The Experian Marketing Suite will help us take that customer experience to the next level, a more personal level, and meet our customers’ expectations each and every time, regardless of the channel.”
New research from Experian finds that nearly a third of all Americans use at least one type of smart or connected device; 14 percent of homes are smart homes. Experian Marketing Services published a new report today that tracks the recent rise and growing interest among consumers for connected devices and smart home products. A complimentary copy of the report, The Internet of Things: Opportunities through the rise in smart devices, can be downloaded here: http://ex.pn/1r0TJVp. The report found that consumer interest in three connected device categories has shown significant growth in recent years, with no signs of stopping. In fact, according to the report, nearly a third of all Americans use at least one type of connected device. Further, at least 14 percent of U.S. households are smart homes and have a connected home device such as connected lights, locks, thermostats, or electrical outlets, among others.
Experian Marketing Services’ senior vice president of global marketing, Ashley Johnston, was named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award for Woman of the Year in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations at the 11th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business on Friday, Nov. 14, in New York City. Johnston was also recognized with a Silver Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year for Business Services Companies with more than 2,500 employees. The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the world’s top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run. All individuals and organizations worldwide are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The 2014 awards received entries from 22 nations and territories. More than 1,200 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in more than 90 categories, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Company of the Year, Mentor of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Communications Campaign of the Year, among others. “This is a well-deserved honor for Ashley and a testament to her ability to inspire and empower our organization to have a positive impact each and every day,” said Matt Seeley, president, North America, Experian Marketing Services. “Throughout the 12 years she’s been with Experian, Ashley’s initiatives have accelerated Experian Marketing Services’ go-to-market strategy globally and evangelized our employees around our brand while also placing our clients directly in the center of our business and growth.” Over the past year, Johnston successfully led a global initiative to bring Experian Marketing Services’ portfolio, go-to-market strategy, culture and client base under a single, consistent global brand, for the first time. As a key part of this initiative Johnston introduced progressive and differentiated programs focused on driving lead generation, client engagement, awareness and sales-enablement support. Most notably, Johnston led the recent launch of the Experian Marketing Suite, a comprehensive, end-to-end marketing solution that enables brands to create and deliver authentic customer experiences every time, in any channel and via any device. The Marketing Suite showcases the power of Experian Marketing Services’ portfolio, which previously had been siloed into four business units, dozens of products, distinct client sets and cultures. Expressing her gratitude, Johnston added, “It’s an honor to be recognized alongside such an impressive roster of accomplished and exceptional women from countries around the world. This award is evidence of the success story of the Experian Marketing Services business and the talent of my team that continues to inspire me each and every day.” Experian Marketing Services was recognized with four Stevie Awards during the 2014 American Business Awards, all for work that Johnston and her team spearheaded, including the Client Summit, The 2014 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report, a global internal communications campaign and the cross-channel marketing platform. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards were presented to winners Friday night during a dinner event attended by more than 400 people at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The presentations were broadcast live across the U.S.A., and simulcast around the world, by Biz Talk Radio, and will be featured in a television special on Biz TV in January. Stevie Award winners were selected by more than 160 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process this year.
New research shows email marketers are two times more likely than all other marketers to integrate customer data across all channels According to a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Experian Marketing Services, maturity in cross-channel marketing is low and, despite the adoption of multiple channels in marketing programs, integration and coordination do not occur consistently. The global research study, entitled The Road to Cross-Channel Maturity, also found that marketers seasoned in email, more than any other digital channel, are in a position to be the ones to lead the transition to the cross-channel marketing era. A complimentary copy of the study can be downloaded at Experian Marketing Services’ Website. Please visit http://ex.pn/ZDxdEQ. In particular, Forrester Consulting found that marketers around the world struggle to integrate data sources and adopt effective data-management practices. Only 24 percent of marketers surveyed said they use contextual data and customer data for a real-time view across channels. Sophisticated email marketers demonstrated significantly higher rates of data-usage best practices, which was twice as much as the average respondent. Practices among marketers in Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries demonstrated the highest prevalence of this mature use of customer data at 36 percent, with China leading the pack at 47 percent. APAC also led other regions in overall cross-channel marketing maturity. Seventy-five percent of marketers that Forrester Consulting identified as “sophisticated marketers” use data in real time. In the study, Forrester Consulting states “…an email can provide a consumer with information or incentive to engage with other channels. As one of the most reliable, consistently used channels, email has an opportunity to be more than another transaction-driving medium… With cues from email, marketers can better provide interactions in other channels and touch-points.” The Forrester Consulting study recommends that marketers identify where email is most relevant and influential in the customer’s path to purchase and then incorporate additional channels along the path that tie all the communications together. To understand marketers’ maturity in cross-channel marketing, Experian Marketing Services commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate digital marketers’ attitudes about, experiences with and challenges related to cross-channel marketing, as well as the role email marketing has and will have in delivering cross-channel interaction. Forrester Consulting surveyed nearly 500 digital-marketing executives in various industries in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, including decision makers responsible for search, email, social, Website, mobile and display marketing strategy execution. It also conducted in-depth interviews with senior executives in the United States and Canada. A Webcast about the study conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Experian Marketing Services is available to view on demand at http://ex.pn/1Ftjhyx.