Customer Story
Experian streamlines processes and boosts compliance
214m
customers and businesses
1.5m
annual bankcard statements
9m
credit reports generated annually
Overview
A leader in credit reporting and direct marketing, Experian maintains credit information on over 200 million consumers and 14 million businesses, as well as demographic data on most U.S. households.
The organization provides address information for more than 20 billion promotional mail pieces to over 100 million households every year. And with all of that personal and financial data, enters a slew of strict guidelines to comply with.
Business challenges
Experian needed help solving two primary challenges:
1.
Highly complex document production process
With nearly 2 billion pieces of mail shipping annually from Experian’s mail processing centers, the company needed to find a solution that would help it simplify a highly complex document production process. In particular, Experian was looking for a solution that would help reduce data programming requirements, increase flexibility in the document generation process to allow for the production of highly customized customer correspondence, and simplify the overall document production workflow.
2.
Compliance with strict GDPR and FCA regulations
Experian also needed a solution to solve a number of challenges in their data office and governance domain, and sought a partner and platform to help solve those problems. Top of mind for the company was compliance with strict GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) guidelines and rules for handling personal and financial data.
Industry
Credit reporting & direct marketing
Results
- Reduced programming requirements for complex print jobs
- Strengthened compliance through streamlined governance
- Saved time with workflow automation
Solutions
“With EngageOne Compose, we can sort personalized data and print as we want. That lets us cut our programming requirements and greatly simplifies the process.”
Eileen Peschong, Team Manager of Imaging Programming
Challenge #1
Highly complex document production process
Solution
Peak process performance with EngageOne Compose
To address the need for flexible and scalable document automation technology, Experian relied on the combined expertise of Precisely and Océ. The partnership pairs highspeed Océ digital printing with EngageOne Compose composition software from Precisely to create a manageable, productive document factory. “We use EngageOne Compose to produce Experian’s personalized consumer credit reports,” said Steve Mears, Experian’s IT Director.
With the implementation of the EngageOne Compose solution, Experian can compose and preview documents on the desktop prior to printing. The company is able to generate Advanced Function Printing (AFP) by unit testing the application fully before executing EngageOne Compose on the mainframe. According to Mears, “Experian also uses the EngageOne Compose post-production engine to handle specific finishing requirements such as Optical Mark Recognition reprints, outsorting and other functions best performed after pages are composed.”
The EngageOne Compose production engine runs under Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/400 and can generate multiple outputs. EngageOne Compose generates AFP, which is sent to the Océ FlexServer systems. In addition to AFP, Océ handles a variety of other print data formats without conversion issues or rewriting of applications. The FlexServer system uses Océ PRISMA document management capabilities to route documents to the appropriate printers.
Experian has nine Océ printers, ranging from PageStream 372 models to four 466 duplex units and two DemandStream models for on-demand output. “The Océ FlexServer lets us transfer data from the offsite mainframe,” explained Mears. “We can bring print images in from the mainframe as soon as they are available, so we have them onsite and ready when we need to print.”
Whether it’s sensitive credit information or personalized direct mail, effectiveness depends on accuracy and quality. Precisely and Océ have brought together best-of-breed components that have helped Experian maintain the highest levels of performance on a daily basis.
“We can bring print images in from the mainframe as soon as they are available, so we have them on site and ready when we need to print.”
Eileen Peschong, Team Manager of Imaging Programming
Experian
Challenge #2
Compliance with strict GDPR and FCA regulations
Solution
Greater efficiency and compliance with Precisely Data360
The handling of personal and financial data means the need to comply with strict GDPR and FCA regulations – and to easily demonstrate that compliance.
While the IT and business teams at Experian had done good work separately around things like database monitoring and encryption, records of compliance, and impact assessments, a piece of the puzzle was missing: a single, centralized platform that could visualize where both organizations met hand-in-hand – providing full, holistic coverage of governance.
During the search, it was essential for the team to find a solution that didn’t force them to work backwards and undo any of the good foundation that had already been built with governance documents that demonstrated GDPR compliance. Workflow automations and integrations were key.
That’s how Experian landed on Precisely Data360. Having the ability to integrate new records of compliance with the company’s data assets meant they could do away with some of the older existing processes, and opt for a new, centralized tool for governance. “It certainly helps with a lot of time saving … a real big win there for us,” says John Taylor, Lead Architect & Data Tooling Manager.
Watch the interview with John to hear more about how Experian streamlined their compliance efforts, bridged the gap between IT and business teams, and saved time and effort through workflow automation using Precisely Data360.