There can be little doubt that a collective of industry data is of benefit. Monitoring of insolvency trends, average payment days, invoice values, bad debts by postcode, sales by postcode – the list is endless.
It would therefore be logical to assume that big data runs in line with big business. That is certainly true to a degree. Big business can more readily afford the platforms and integration to optimise the use of big data and often have the volume of accounts and turnover to align with the cost.
Credit managers in the context of big data are often perceived to be heads of a department with a team of credit controllers. In reality a sole trader is their own credit manager. At the lower end of the business scale there is often a reliance on “friendly” providers that analyse the data and pull out the headline statistics. Examples of these are The Federation of Small Business, The Insolvency Service and Credit Protection providers. The monetary cost of subscribing to big data providers, integrating that into your process and system, to create an automated “…the computer says yes or no” decision can be high.
In respect of risk management big data works. It is also invaluable in respect of sales helping locate prime areas to target. GDPR compliance must be rigid and consistently monitored. Any data sold to you (as already verified as accurate) can then be proven to generate genuine leads and conversions however, in some industries this is difficult.
For the main part and for the foreseeable future it remains the case that the small and mid-tier business (which is the majority of businesses) will need to apply traditional credit management and risk management skills.
