Data & Technology: from Big Data to Smart Data and unique credit insights

Because nowadays companies' needs go beyond simply accessing large sources of data in real time, Coface collects, cross-checks and analyses massive volumes of data (Big Data). Enhanced each day by the analyses of 700 risk management experts, this exclusive data generates unique insights for Coface's clients and partners. Or how to turn commercial risk into an opportunity for growth!

Data, this 21st century oil

At the heart of our new globalised and ultra-digitalised era, data and business information, seen as the "oil of the 21st century", are a key development lever for companies. Exploring a new market, analysing a client's financial health, knowing your supplier... To get away from non-paying clients or suppliers on the verge of bankruptcy, companies are constantly on the hunt for qualified, enhanced data to inform their decisions and guide their commercial strategy effectively.

Real-time access to qualified information has become vital for any company wishing to anticipate commercial risks, whatever its size or sector of activity. All the more so in an economic environment that is becoming ever more complex, facing unexpected and unique crises (economic, health, geopolitical, energy, etc.).

Data, a key component of Coface's risk management

At Coface, data is not an intangible asset stored in a cloud: it is an essential component of its risk management model. A strategic asset for the company, which centres its activities and businesses on data to serve its clients. As a global leader in trade credit insurance, Coface is in a unique position to access data and prevent client risk (non-payment, insolvency) and supplier risk (production and supply chains):

• +75 years of worldwide experience in trade credit insurance
• ~€685 billion of exposure managed in 100 countries
• Data on +195 million companies worldwide
• Information that is global, worldwide, standardized, qualified and constantly updated... 
• ... both micro (a company's financial health) and macro (sectoral or country risk);
• 700 risk experts who enrich this information and turn it into decisions!

It is from this database, which covers 195 million companies worldwide, and its cutting-edge risk management infrastructure, one of the best in its industry, that Coface relies to make 12,000 credit decisions each day, and to support its clients in their choice of trading partners. But how to convert these huge volumes of raw data from multiple sources of information into high value-added information that can be easily used to manage commercial risk?

Ensuring best in class data, delivering high value-added information

Coface's data follows robustgovernance and a journey focused on the expectations of the company's stakeholders (clients, partners) and aligned with the best market standards, which is based on 4 key indicators: coverage, completeness, accuracy, level of service and access (SLA). The aim: to provide you with the best in class data, ready to use, to give you a complete, accurate and up-to-date view of your risk exposure, based on your markets, your stakeholders and their geographies. Our motto: our clients benefit from the same data and expertise that underpins our underwriting decisions. If we don't rely on it, why should you?

Data quality matters right from the acquisition phase, in particular to make sure we have the most qualified data available. To complement its own proprietary data (payment behaviour, credit decision history, Coface assesments), which is already structured and directly actionable, Coface opts for a multi-sourcing strategy:

• Trade Credit insurance data from Coface's decision engines
• Data extracted from URBA360, Coface's information services platform: payment incidents, balance sheet analysis, financial information, company identification.
• Partnership with nearly 80 information providers worldwide, the best for each geography and business sector!
• Use of alternative, open and public data to strengthen our ability to identify companies.
• Data from Rel8ed, a Coface subsidiary specialising in data analysis and the design of innovative solutions based on Big Data and predictive analysis.
• In-depth scanning of information on the Web.

Coface's human expertise upgraded by data

Collecting, cross-checking, enriching and analysing information on creditworthiness is a core part of every stage of risk monitoring at Coface. In its areas of activities, such as Trade credit insurance and Business Information, Coface's ability to analyse and connect millions of data points is decisive in decision-making and exposure management. 

To effectively monitor debtor risk, Coface's data is enriched daily by:

• Payment behaviour and credit decision history reported by our 100,000 trade credit insurance clients.
• The DRA (Debtor risk assessment) drawn up by our 700 underwriting experts (credit analysts and risk underwriters) in 100 countries and ~200 markets.
• Exclusive insights from our economists: macro-economic analyses, country risk, sector assessments, thematic reports.
• Our 53 Enhanced Information Centres (EICs) around the world.
• Analyses of key indicators reported by our clients on our ~€685 billion of exposures: financial statements, payment experience, historical credit decisions, sector risk, country risk, weak signals, etc.
• Coface's internal Scores, constantly updated with each new piece of information added to our decision engines (compared with once a year for most information providers).

Once qualified and enriched, this data is centralised in a Data Lake, which facilitates immediate access for Coface's teams and speeds up response times to clients, particularly concerning credit limits.

Learn more about our Data and Business information solutions in your country to help you grow your business.