45 | Q4 2020 Oct20539 The B.I.G.ger Picture DueDil was created in response to the lack of technology-led solutions that facilitated transparency into private businesses, which meant SMEs were left on the back foot in the UK economy, particularly when trying to access financial services. Powered by the DueDil Business Information Graph (B.I.G), DueDil is able to offer richer business insights that allow their SME customers to flourish. We spoke to Co-Founder and CEO, Justin Fitzpatrick, to find out more. Based in London, DueDil is telling the story behind every business by digitally mapping the economy to help businesses, particularly SMEs, accelerate growth and take smarter risks. Working primarily with financial services providers, insurers and fintechs, DueDil guides them in understanding SMEs and how to quickly and effectively onboard them in a mutually beneficial manner. As Justin Fitzpatrick, Co-Founder and CEO, explains, DueDil was created to fill a significant gap in the market. “When we started DueDil there weren’t any good technology-led solutions to help understand what was happening with the 99.9% of companies that are private. This lack of transparency and understanding was particularly bad when it came to the millions of small and medium enterprises that contribute so much to our economy.” The lack of understanding between economies and SMEs was detrimental for both sides. One of the most notable issues faced by SMEs was their inability to access financial services quickly, or at competitive rates, because financial services providers found it too difficult or too costly to understand their businesses. Moreover, the solutions that were provided on the market prior to DueDil were similarly ineffective, as they were primarily provided by an ‘oligopoly of credit bureaus’ who were unable to meet market requirements, as Justin explains. “First, the information they provided was often of poor quality and out of date. Second, they provided it in static forms, either data dumps or reports. Third, their legacy technology made it difficult for them to address the first two challenges, and painful and expensive for their clients to integrate with them.” DueDil sought to create a solution that challenged all of these traditional issues and became the first cloud native and API-led provider on the market. The DueDil Business Information Graph (B.I.G) was built with technology, and is designed to ingest billions of data points on millions of companies every day. DueDil then analyses the data, making more than 270 million connections between companies, directors and shareholders. 45% of the information in B.I.G. is generated to provide a richer view of a business than is commonly available, allowing DueDil to provide insight on SMEs that is accurate, dynamic and contextualized. “We stay close to our clients, and there are always more opportunities to help them. We’re always pushing our product forward to meet these demands”, says Justin. In listening to their clients, Justin and his team have been able to see the evolution in their demands: “Even before COVID-19, we saw financial services providers making big investments in digital transformation programs. They realize that they need to automate to survive. The first wave of digital transformation has been about doing things faster and cheaper than the manual, paper-based processes that have dominated. The next wave will be about customer intimacy.” For too long, financial services providers have dealt with SMEs with a one-size-fits-all approach, but DueDil has recognised how a combination of data and technology to personalise services makes financial services more competitive. Whilst this personalisation has previously been withheld from SMEs, DueDil is now offering solutions that allow them to enjoy the benefits too. Covid-19 has accelerated this trend, showing financial services providers that they cannot afford to go back to the old model if they want to stay relevant to SMEs in the post-Covid-19 economy. With the help of his team, Justin is now able to look ahead and consider how DueDil will be able to continue assisting their clients in 2021 and beyond. Driven by the DueDil core values of grit, authenticity and team spirit, the firm has accrued a team culture that cares about doing the best for themselves and each other. This translates into the way DueDil builds helpful, fair and straightforward client relationships. As 2020 draws to a close, Justin outlines the shape of things to come: “COVID-19 has made the market for serving SMEs riskier. This creates challenges for financial services providers in being able to accurately measure and monitor their exposure to that risk. We’re working on a set of enhancements to our product that help our clients understand and manage their exposure throughout their relationship with their SME customers in real time, and will be continuing to expand the number of geographies we can do this in.” Contact: Justin Fitzpatrick Company: DueDil Web Address: www.duedil.com “Even before COVID-19, we saw financial services providers making big investments in digital transformation programs.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTY1MjI4