Companies are increasingly challenged by the cost and complexity of integrating multiple sources of internal and external data into decision making.
This problem will only intensify. Recent trends, from industry consolidation to fraud to changing regulations, require that companies access and exchange data from a growing number of sources and business partners—instantaneously and securely.
With these challenges in mind, Fair Isaac has invested in the network technologies necessary for clients to access external data, and interpret it precisely and consistently. Fair Isaac’s ScoreNet® network makes it easier for companies to augment internal data with several external data sources, apply analytic models to the combined data, and leverage scores and associated decision logic into operational systems. Furthermore, clients can use the same framework to communicate and exchange data with partners, as well as access Fair Isaac decision-making solutions.
“Successfully leveraging data is at the heart of any good decision,” says Craig Dillon, vice president, Fair Isaac. “The ScoreNet network facilitates access to vital data. It also helps clients deal with other complexities inherent to the high-volume automated decisions of Enterprise Decision Management, including secure communication with partners and streamlined access to EDM technologies and solutions.”
One client, for instance, was able to implement Fair Isaac collections and recovery software radically faster due to the ScoreNet ability to access and exchange business-critical data. The finance division of a major automobile manufacturer needed real-time communication with close to 650 external data and service providers—a two- to three-year project if the client were to build the solution on its own. But in less than three months, the client is live on the ScoreNet network, able to securely and reliably exchange sensitive consumer information and improve collections efforts.
“ScoreNet clients are finding that they can get up and running years ahead, when compared to having to build secure connections and interfaces on their own,” adds Dillon.
Raising the bar on proven technology
ScoreNet functionality improves upon existing Fair Isaac distributed network technology, the BridgeLink™ network. The BridgeLink solution has been widely used by mortgage lenders and the consumer lending collections and recovery market to manage and improve the flow of information necessary for decision making.
Mortgage clients can leverage built-in functionality, for example, to instantly access credit reports from a credit bureau of choice; merge data into a loan application, submit it to an investor’s underwriting system and get results back in real time; get a flood zone determination and then order a flood insurance policy; and obtain closing documents and distribute them to the closing agent.
As with the BridgeLink network, the ScoreNet foundation is built upon a rich collection of XML web services. The technology allows systems on any platform, built with any programming language, to easily tap into a single point of connectivity to the wide range of data and service providers on the network.
The ScoreNet network builds upon this architecture, expanding real-time access to additional EDM solutions, analytics and rules management technologies, and relevant data sources and partners. The network provides clients with three primary benefits:
- Faster implementation of Fair Isaac EDM technologies and solutions
- Access to a wealth of data, which can be leveraged in EDM decisioning
- Secure, real-time communication with business partners
Currently, the ScoreNet network serves more than 200 clients, pulling data from 70+ databases from 47 companies and linking to 2,000+ service providers.
Through a single interface, the ScoreNet network delivers business-critical scores and decisions to clients. Enabled by XML web services technologies, the network manages and distributes information between data sources and service providers, and applies analytics and decisioning on-demand.
Faster access to decision technology
The ScoreNet network serves as Fair Isaac’s Decision Services Provider (DSP) platform, permitting businesses to tap into the most current Fair Isaac solutions without having to update the software and models themselves. As a result, clients can benefit from EDM decisioning more quickly with the least impact on their IT environments.
For any given decision process, the ScoreNet network obtains the necessary input data (historical and transactional), uses it to determine the ideal decision or calculate a score, and delivers this result to the client.
“Using a DSP model, Fair Isaac product offerings are delivered to clients with pre-built interfaces to the ScoreNet network,” explains Jim Brown, vice president, ScoreNet division of Fair Isaac. “Clients buy software that’s already integrated with all the companies they do business with and the external data sources they need to access. Decisions and scores are delivered seamlessly via the network. That’s a significant value.”
On-demand data leads to stronger analytics
“Through a single interface with the ScoreNet network, clients often gain access to a wider array of external data sources than would be practical to develop on their own,” says Brown.
Clients can capitalize on Fair Isaac’s long-standing relationships with numerous data providers, including those for consumer credit, demographic, geographic, asset, product and utility information.
Real-time access to more data also provides a foundation for building stronger analytics. Fair Isaac EDM technologies—including analytic and business rule capabilities—reside on the network, controlled by a workflow engine. Once clients pull data from each data provider and merge it together, they can execute a ruleset through Fair Isaac Blaze Advisor or score the data using a predictive model—all on the network in DSP mode.
“To make analytics more powerful, there’s a trend to move away from a single data source and toward building datasets in real time using multiple data sources—as we do with our FICO® Expansion™ score for lending in the credit-underserved market,” says Brown. “To leverage multiple data sources most effectively, you need a platform that can augment internal client data on the fly with external data, build analytics on top of that, and provide decisions and scores for clients’ operational systems. That’s what the ScoreNet network does.”
Greater access to data will also benefit end-user clients of many Fair Isaac analytic solutions. Streamlined access to such extensive data sources during product development will help Fair Isaac launch new, creative analytic offerings and make existing products even better.
Secure, real-time partner communication
In addition to on-demand access to data and analytics, the ScoreNet network offers clients real-time, bi-directional communications with business partners and third-party service providers.
For each market segment, there is a community of companies that support decision making—collections and recovery, for instance, requires information exchanges with lenders, collections agencies, attorneys and others. The ScoreNet network dynamically routes data requests on the fly, exchanging various types of data between companies over a wide range of transport protocols.
As a result, ScoreNet clients can foster stronger partner relationships and increase operational efficiencies. The network reduces the need for the time-consuming, costly and error-prone methods traditionally employed to exchange information between partners, such as by mail, phone and fax.
Data and service providers benefit as well. Once integrated with the network, they have instant access to the leading companies in their industry using Fair Isaac solutions. Thus, they can start doing business virtually with a flip of a switch. This is why more than 750 providers have joined the network in the last year alone.
Another crucial advantage for ScoreNet clients is streamlined security and regulatory compliance related to third-party data. The ScoreNet network logs all data accessed and activity with third parties, allowing clients to track these interactions for reporting, analysis or auditing purposes.
“Every day, the bar is getting higher in terms of security and auditability,” says Brown. “Due to changing regulations, maintaining the technical infrastructure required to move consumer-confidential data across a network is incredibly expensive. With the ScoreNet network, Fair Isaac assists in keeping up with these requirements—and that’s a huge, costly burden taken off our clients.”
For more information on the ScoreNet network, go to www.fairisaac.com/scorenet. The page includes a white paper on the underlying technology infrastructure, titled “Smart Network Technologies and the Industry Service Bus.”