Industry Dynamics

The objectives of the collaboration are lower cost and higher security in sharing cross-company data Cognizant has teamed up with 14 Indian insurance firms on the development of a blockchain solution for cross-company data sharing. The IT multinational said in a statement on Monday that the platform was designed to allow firms to securely share data with lower risk of ... Read More »

The competitive landscape for business and consumer information in Sweden and Finland is about to change with Finnish business data provider Asiakastieto said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy Swedish business and credit reference agency UC from Nordic banks for 340 million euros ($415 million) in cash and new shares. The current shareholders of UC, including SEB, Nordea, Handelsbanken, ... Read More »

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, and MuleSoft (NYSE: MULE), the provider of one of the world’s leading platforms for building application networks, have entered into a definitive agreement under which Salesforce will acquire MuleSoft for an enterprise value of approximately $6.5 billion and an implied 22.3x LTM revenue. MuleSoft will power the new Salesforce Integration Cloud, which ... Read More »

Moody’s Analytics has enhanced its software and service offerings for the banking industry by making its regulatory compliance and balance sheet management solutions available on the cloud.  Building on its existing cloud-enabled and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, this latest development comes at a time when banks are increasingly considering cloud-based and SaaS solutions as a way to reduce costs, improve speed of ... Read More »

The Australian government’s national cybersecurity adviser has urged social media companies to improve the way they treat personal data and encouraged users of those platforms to be more aware of what information they are offering up to the Internet. Amid the heightened debate around the use of personal data online, Alastair MacGibbon, who heads the Australian Cyber Security Centre, also suggested ... Read More »

Late-payers to be banned from UK government contracts following Carillion collapse Outsourcing giants that fail to pay suppliers on time will be banned from major contracts under new plans announced by the government today in the wake of Carillion’s collapse. The Cabinet Office has announced a package of measures which also aim to “level the playing field” so small businesses ... Read More »

Proxeus uses their blockchain workflow framework to expedite the Swiss business registry process – taking only 1 hour and 37 minutes from start to finish During the DigitalSwitzerland challenge held this week, Proxeus, along with IBM and other partners, have stepped up to the challenge presented to them by drastically reducing the time needed to register a business in Switzerland, ... Read More »

PayPal Makes a Move Toward Traditional Banking by partnering with small banks to offer debit cards, direct deposit to withdraw cash at ATMs and the ability to add funds to accounts by taking a photo of a paper check or by having employers direct-deposit earnings there. PayPal Holdings Inc. is nudging its customers closer to mainstream banking services.  The San Jose, Calif.-based ... Read More »

Advanced analytics in FICO® Falcon® Assurance Manager monitor 100% of procurement and T&E expenses to eliminate maverick spend and support financial assurance FICO® Falcon® Assurance Navigator is now available on AWS. FICO® Falcon® Assurance Navigator applies advanced analytics to monitor the entire procure-to-pay lifecycle across procurement, T&E expenses, and purchasing/travel cards, as well as suspicious vendor behavior. At its FICO® World 2018 conference in Miami ... Read More »

FactCheck Improves Mortgage Underwriting Experience by Increasing Efficiency, Accuracy and Standardization of Income Calculation CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today launched FactCheck, the mortgage industry’s most complete income calculation and analysis solution. Designed to automate, streamline and standardize the entire income calculation and analysis process, FactCheck delivers more consistent results in a fraction ... Read More »

Infogroup, a leading provider of data and data-driven marketing solutions, announced today that Tom Zawacki has been named to its executive leadership team as chief digital officer.   Zawacki will oversee development, planning and execution of digital strategy expansion and lead new product development and sales enablement programs. “Tom’s extensive knowledge and experience in technology, business strategy, product development and leadership ... Read More »

Speaking in London recently, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said that she is in discussions with the government to secure a stronger audit power in the UK Data Protection Bill than currently planned. Speaking about the Facebook / Cambridge Analytica investigation, Denham said: “Under the GDPR I will have the power to audit all those who hold, use and share personal ... Read More »

Participants see big potential in eliminating data exchanges in favor of real-time viewing. A test of blockchain technology conducted by several international corporations and a European customs organization indicates the technology can save global transport and logistics companies hundreds of millions of dollars a year by sharing and distributing relevant shipping data among participants, rather than by the traditional practice ... Read More »

Riskonnect, the leader in integrated risk management solutions, announced the hiring of Jim Wetekamp as CEO. Wetekamp has more than 20 years of product and leadership experience, most recently serving as CEO of BravoSolution, a Chicago-based cloud procurement solutions company.  Wetekamp joined BravoSolution in 2008 following its acquisition of VerticalNet, his former employer. As that company’s CEO, Wetekamp successfully navigated ... Read More »

Expands and Scales Data-Driven Valuations Platform Offerings CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, announced the completion of the Company’s acquisition of a la mode technologies, LLC (a la mode). a la mode provides subscription based software solutions to more than 40,000 appraiser professionals across the United States. The software solutions provided by a la ... Read More »

Acxiom Corp. of Conway said recently that it is cutting 2 percent of its global workforce as it combines two divisions into one business unit.  The cuts amount to about 66 people. Spokeswoman Sherry Hamilton told Arkansas Business in an email that, as of Dec. 31, the publicly traded data services firm (Nasdaq: ACXM) had about 3,300 employees worldwide. Acxiom declined ... Read More »

A blockchain-themed conference in Shanghai was recently abruptly suspended by police. The one-day event, dubbed the Global Fintech & Blockchain China Summit 2018 and organized by a business conference organizer called PTP International, was originally scheduled for April 12.  About mid-day the conferences was halted byu police, and all attendees and organizers of the event were removed from the venue. The ... Read More »