Leading analyst firm IDC has recognized Fair Isaac as the worldwide revenue leader in the business rules management systems (BRMS) software market for the second consecutive year.

The new IDC report titled “Worldwide Business Rules Management Systems 2007-2011 Forecast and 2006 Vendor Shares” (IDC #208989, October 2007) ranks Fair Isaac as the worldwide BRMS market leader in 2006 with revenues of $53.5 million, compared with revenues of $45.1 million in 2005.

IDC credits Fair Isaac’s 18.7 percent growth and 23.6 percent market share to the company’s continuing success with its Blaze Advisor™ business rules management system in the North American market. Fair Isaac’s revenue in North America was $45.1 million compared with $24.4 million for the closest competitor.

“Being named the clear market leader by IDC for the second straight year demonstrates the success of Fair Isaac’s continued investment in and commitment to Blaze Advisor as a cornerstone of our Enterprise Decision Management suite,” says Mark Layden, vice president, Product and Innovation Management, at Fair Isaac. “The market penetration is balanced globally and we have enjoyed growing market share for both software and services.”

Fair Isaac has introduced a comprehensive new suite of predictive scores at its 2007 Collections and Recovery User Group meeting in Las Vegas. Available immediately, Fair Isaac Collection Scores equip financial services providers in North America and the United Kingdom with a quick and effective way to reliably improve collection decisions and operational efficiency.

Fair Isaac Collection Scores allow credit grantors to leverage analytics quickly within their organization to manage their collection efforts more effectively and boost profits.  As an integral part of Fair Isaac's end-to-end collections and recovery solution—including Debt Manager™ solution for workflow management and PlacementsPlus® service for agency placement—Collection Scores can be easily implemented into lenders' existing collection systems, minimizing their IT investment required to get up and running.

"Fair Isaac Collection Scores build upon Fair Isaac's extensive experience in developing innovative analytic technologies for the collections and recovery industry," says Sally Taylor-Shoff, vice president of product management, Analytic Products at Fair Isaac. "The scores are an ideal first step for lenders looking to leverage analytics in collection decisions, without the burden of gathering historical data and waiting for the development period of custom models. Used on their own, or combined with Fair Isaac's end-to-end collections solution, they also can deliver immediate value to lenders while they plan and collect data for future custom model developments."

This October, Fair Isaac launched its Global FICO® score exclusively with the Irish Credit Bureau (ICB). The initiative provides the first credit bureau risk score for lenders in Ireland that combines Fair Isaac's proven analytic capabilities with the Irish Credit Bureau's electronic library of consumer credit data.

Global FICO® score applies Fair Isaac's industry-standard FICO® credit risk scoring technology to rank-order consumers according to their credit risk. "Global FICO score is now readily available to ICB members," says Séamus Ó Tighearnaigh, CEO of Irish Credit Bureau Limited. "By combining Fair Isaac's expertise in analytics with our extensive database, Global FICO credit risk scores enable members to increase their control of credit risk and consequently improve their costs and their profits."

"As the first global standard for consumer credit risk assessment, the Global FICO score is rapidly being adopted by regional lenders and by multinational financial institutions to ensure consistent portfolio management across local, regional and even global portfolios," said Brian Cooper, senior director of Credit Bureaus and Scoring at Fair Isaac. "Now that the Irish Credit Bureau is offering Global FICO score to its members, lenders throughout Ireland can immediately enjoy the benefits it brings to decisions throughout the customer credit lifecycle."

The Irish Credit Bureau and Fair Isaac have performed exhaustive testing of Global FICO® score on ICB data. The Global FICO® score demonstrated that it is a powerful and versatile credit risk score.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will utilize Fair Isaac's industry-leading fraud detection technology to deter misuse in its Purchase Card Program. The program enables authorized DoD personnel to purchase certain goods and services, such as office supplies and equipment, directly from private sector vendors. It is one of several charge card programs that the DoD operates to streamline business processes and reduce administrative costs.

Under terms of the agreement, Fair Isaac's wholly owned subsidiary HNC Software LLC will deliver a custom modified Falcon® Fraud Manager solution in an ASP environment to help the DoD combat misuse of purchase cards—including cardholder and vendor fraud.  Falcon Fraud Manager is recognized as the leading global payment card fraud detection system.

"The use of charge cards across federal agencies helps to streamline the procurement of goods and services, but it also requires reliable and efficient fraud management to prevent losses due to card fraud and abuse," says John McDowell, vice president, Government Solutions at Fair Isaac.