Dun & Bradstreet: Harnessing the Value of Big Data for Better Outcomes

Notes on a page of sheet music need to be interpreted by the artist to express the true meaning and feel of the song, just as analytics derive insights from data,” said Bob Carrigan, President, CEO and Director of Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). Being an avid banjo and guitar player, Carrigan echoes the correlation music has with data and analytics.

Today’s world is data-driven, and many companies are struggling to harness the value of big data while seeking credible, proven providers to help them identify their best prospects and grow their business. “For D&B, these challenges play to our strengths,” says Carrigan. “We have the indispensable content–by that I mean the data, analytics and insights–to help our customers succeed.” The Company’s global commercial database currently contains more than 235 million business records, and it sees tremendous opportunity ahead as new use cases for its data and analytics continue to grow. During 2013, in the analytics area, D&B introduced 10 new scores in six global markets. In 2014, D&B intends to nearly double the scores in many more markets.

The company continues to invest in its content, improve the quality and consistency of its data, develop new analytic tools and scores to improve the predictive capability of its content, and cultivate new proprietary data sources to combine with its existing data around the globe.

Carrigan notes that in addition to finding new use cases for D&B’s data and analytics, the company is also modernizing delivery of its content. Historically, the company has built products to deliver its data to customers.Today, it is making its content more open , accessible and customer-friendly through mobile, social and cloud technologies.

The push is on to deliver D&B’s data and analytics in new configurable and customizable ways that will generate greater insight and value for our customers

It is also partnering with experts in customer relationship management applications such as Salesforce.com who will embed D&B data directly into their apps to make it easier for customers to access and use it.

“The push is on to deliver D&B’s data and analytics in new configurable and customizable ways that will generate greater insight and value for our customers,” he says. For example, D&B’s largest technology customers are increasingly focused on improving their lead generation activities. D&B’s proprietary insights on commercial activities have enabled improved response rates through segmentation and behavioral analytics. By identifying triggers and shifts in activity, these customers can allocate traditional resources optimally and tailor interactions in the most meaningful manner possible. These anticipatory analytics help D&B’s customers’ optimize constrained sales and marketing resources.

“We want our customers to rely on our content for their business decisions and to find new ways to use our data beyond risk management or sales and marketing,” Carrigan said. “This is what our strategy to deliver indispensable content in modern ways to serve new customers’ needs is all about.