Creditlines - Callcredit

0791 Creditlines Summer2008
21/7/08
11:07
Page 1
Summer 2008
Service Orientated Architecture –
the business case
One of the big “buzz-words” in
the IT press of the last couple of
years has been SOA (Service
Orientated Architecture) and all
its multiple spin-offs such as
SODA (Service Orientated Data
Architecture); Semantic Service
Orientated Architecture (SSOA)
plus many others too numerous
to mention.
My personal view is that SOA most
certainly isn’t the answer to all ails,
but its business benefits can be
huge – if it is implemented properly.
Let’s start at the beginning – what is
Service Orientated Architecture?
Unfortunately this is the part of the
article where acronyms run riot – my
apologies in advance! SOA’s origins
trace back to the beginning of
Object Orientated Programming,
which started to strain at the seams
when the application architecture
spread across multiple machines.
At the time most applications
communications protocols were
fairly “heavy” such as CORBA, IIOP
and DCOM closely linking application
components together – SOA forced
developers into utilising lightweight
and flexible protocols such as HTTP
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and
SOAP (Simple Object Access
Protocol) ensuring that application
components could be hosted on
different infrastructures built in
different environments but each
communicating in a standard way.
In non-technical terms SOA provides
the means to define the size, shape
and spacing of the blobs on your
“lego bricks”. The colour, size and
shape of the blocks can be varied at
will as long as you keep the interface
standard you’ll know they’ll fit
together enabling flexible and
powerful solutions to be built in a
very cost-effective way.
This basic philosophy is critical and
compelling – it enables higher
productivity of development teams
as it forces a “code re-use” mentality;
it enables decisions of new IT
platforms and products and suppliers
to be far more based upon individual
merit rather than pre-existing legacy
system compatibility; and it enables
applications based on combinations
of existing services. In other words it
separates stable system building
blocks
from
ever-changeable
business requirements.
SOA is pivotal to Callcredit’s delivery
of services. All online services for
credit risk, anti-money laundering,
identity verification, tracing and
affordability are provided via a SOA
based architecture over a SOAP
defined protocol. This enables
Callcredit to deliver focused and
flexible services over a readily
available open standard. It enables
our clients to then pick and choose
which services to integrate (and co-
“
Enabling flexible
and powerful solutions
to be built in a very
cost-effective way.
These are all massive benefits – new
system requirements can now often
be met by either changing existing
services, or creating new business
The tournament raised over £200 for local
charity Lineham Farm Children’s Centre,
who provide disadvantaged children with
free activity holidays on their farm
integrate) with their backend
systems in whatever permutation
they choose, using whichever
technology platform they feel most
comfortable in.
bags and trophies for their efforts and
commented,
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit information Group.
What do you think?
Send your comments to info@callcredit.co.uk
“It
is
fantastic
when
companies like Callcredit organise events
in aid of Lineham Farm as all the money
raised really does help us to continue to
provide free ‘access for all’ holidays for the
children of Leeds”.
Mike Green, Chief Executive at Callcredit
Information Group said, “Our first annual
netball
tournament
was
a
fantastic
success, with all six teams showcasing
based near Eccup, Leeds.
excellent team spirit and sportsmanship.
The money raised at the tournament will
be used to sponsor eight animals that live
on the farm, including Rodney the goat,
Malachi the shire horse and Nelson the
quirky turkey.
We are immensely proud to be supporting
After a well deserved buffet lunch Hannah
Scott, Events Coordinator at Lineham
Jo Newbould, Press Officer,
Lineham Farm Children’s Centre, and as a
local charity based in Leeds, we look
forward to visiting the animals we have
sponsored.”
Callcredit
Weetwood Playing
Fields, Leeds,
10am Saturday
20th September
2008
With a BBQ for players
and supporters
The charity event will take place at
Weetwood Playing Fields in Leeds on
Saturday 20th September 2008 with
businesses from Yorkshire and beyond
battling it out for the trophy.
The main focus for the event is to raise
awareness of Prostate Cancer. Denise
Bailey, Corporate Partnerships Manager
at The Prostate Cancer Charity, said:
“We are very grateful to everyone at
Skipton Building Society for their
support of The Prostate Cancer Charity
once again. Their efforts will help
The Prostate Cancer Charity continue to
raise awareness of the disease that kills
one man every hour in the UK. It is great
to see so many football teams and
players turn out to help tackle what has
been a much neglected cause.”
Focus on Technology, Summer 2008
Farm, presented the teams with goody
After the success of the Skipton
Information Group Prostate Cancer
Cup in 2007, CIG will be hosting a
football tournament again in aid of
The Prostate Cancer Charity.
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
development functions to be far
more flexible by ensuring any
solution is built on a series of
standard
building
bricks
with
intelligent glue – rather than any
monolithic beast.
Businesses from across Leeds
came together for the first
Callcredit
Information
Group
Netball
Tournament
on
Saturday 7th June. Teams from
Hammonds, Baker Tilly, Shulmans,
Lee & Priestley and Callcredit
Information Group battled it out
with local supporters on the
sidelines cheering the teams on.
The tournament came to a head
with a dramatic final between law
firm Shulmans and CIGnature,
a team from Callcredit Information
Group, with Shulmans emerging
the overall winners, netting
19 goals to CIGnature’s 5.
CIG team up for
Prostate Cancer Charity
”
Creditlines
Callcredit Netball Tournament raises
funds for Lineham Farm
£40 entry per team with the
full £40 going to charity
Each team will require
5-8 players
If you are interested in
competing in the tournament
please contact your
CIG relationship manager
or email:
football@callcreditgroup.com
The tournament has raised hundreds of
pounds for the charity in previous years
and will continue to do so with the
interest in this year’s event making it the
biggest yet!
Michelle Burley, Callcredit
Places are limited and allocated
on a first paid basis.
Registrations close
22nd August 2008
Technology as an enabler
Businesses are moving into a time of
uncertainty. This is especially true in
financial services markets where
more than ever there is a need to
leverage the power of data through
innovative technology solutions in
order to gain a strong competitive
position.
Callcredit’s philosophy is to take full
advantage of technology advancements
and pass the benefits of these onto our
clients. The benefits are numerous,
including the ability to react faster and
more accurately as well as breaking new
ground in availability and performance
management. These benefits lead to
improvements in our client’s internal
business processes as well as improved
service to their customers.
With cost control high on the corporate
agenda it is important that Callcredit’s
technology advancements continually
lower complexity whilst providing a highly
available infrastructure which is easily
supportable with low overheads and a
low carbon footprint.
Callcredit has always been at the
forefront of technological innovation,
providing solutions developed through
close co-operation with our technology
“
Callcredit has always
been at the forefront
of technological
innovation, providing
solutions developed
through close
co-operation with
our technology
partners.
”
John Eggleston
IT Director, Callcredit
partners, including Microsoft and Cable
& Wireless. It is important our clients
understand their key business risks and
drivers. Personally, I continue to get great
enjoyment through working for a clientcentric Group with a strong commitment
to technology and data innovation along
with a solid service ethic.
Creditlines where we can show some
I’m pleased to introduce this edition of
John Eggleston, IT Director, Callcredit.
of
the
benefits
gained
from
new
Database Technologies, Advanced Name
Matching, Service Oriented Architecture
and
give
exceptional
a
brief
insight
commitment
to
into
our
Security
Thought Leadership.
Skipton Information Group
rebrands as
Callcredit Information Group
Skipton
Information
Group
has
experience and capability.
rebranded to Callcredit Information
Ultimately, the rebrand will further
Group following recent acquisitions.
reinforce the Group’s ability to compete
The move comes in a bid to align
in the marketing services arena and
the businesses more closely within
ensure its continued success in the
the
credit referencing and financial services
Group;
Callcredit,
EuroDirect,
Legatio
and
industry.
reinforce
the
Mike Green, CEO of Callcredit Information
Group’s proposition to reflect its unique
Group said: “Rebranding to Callcredit
GMAP,
Broadsystem,
DecisionMetrics
and
Information Group underlines the value
and strength of the Group that has been
formed. The businesses are highly
successful in their own right and will
continue to be so, but also work well
together, and this allows us to align our
image and reinforce our depth and
breadth supported by having the
security and backing of the Skipton
Building Society.”
0791 Creditlines Summer2008
21/7/08
11:07
Page 2
Summer 2008
Microsoft solution boosts
Callcredit’s server infrastructure
Since its foundation in 2000,
Callcredit has worked to develop
a credit reference system based
on
stringent
requirements.
Callcredit needed a database
that could handle massive, and
ever expanding, data volumes.
Once in the database, each
individual data item has to be
loaded, cleared and live on the
system within two days and
available 24 hours a day, 365
days a year. Using Microsoft
technology, Callcredit achieved
a rapid arrival in the marketplace – its system runs at a
constant level of high performance, providing comprehensive,
real-time information to client
organisations.
“Our competitors with mainframebased solutions have taken 20 years
to establish the type of system that,
through our choice of technology,
we’ve created in seven years,”
explains Mark Davison, Technology
Development Director at Callcredit.
In the past seven years, Callcredit
developed credit reporting, risk
analysis, collections tools and antimoney laundering products from a
single data warehouse. This was
originally based on the Microsoft®
application platform, using Microsoft
SQL ServerTM version 7.0. Davison
says: “We evaluated a number of
systems based on performance,
cost of development and the levels
of user support required. Compared
to other database systems, SQL
Server came out on top across these
three areas.”
The final database was migrated to
SQL Server 2005 during October
2007.
The
Callcredit
product
implementation team, consisting of
developers, business analysts and
a separate quality assurance
team, tested functionality and
What’s in
a name?
Data security seminar for Government
and Public Sector organisations
Securely sharing the source of competitive advantage
“
Over the last year, a series of high
profile data losses have placed the
need for effective data security in
all organisations beyond question.
Companies such as Callcredit,
whose ‘bread and butter’ is data
security, are well placed to kickstart debate about this issue and
share their experiences and best
practice. This is exactly what
happened at Callcredit’s latest
industry seminar, which was held
on 20th May in Whitehall to
discuss
how
data
security
methods developed in commercial
businesses can be implemented
for the benefit of the Government,
Public and third sectors.
We evaluated
a number of
systems based on
performance, cost
of development and
the levels of user
support required.
Compared to other
database systems,
SQL Server came out
on top across these
three areas.
”
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
John McAndrew, Managing Director of
Callcredit,
chaired
the
event
and
welcomed the audience and panel of
performance. In addition, a systems
and network team concentrate
on the operating systems and
hardware – members from the
different teams work together on
the same phases of product
development. Davison says: “We
have agile working methods. These
methods fit perfectly within the
Microsoft development environment
because it means we can retain our
flexibility
and
remain
highly
innovative.”
Using SQL Server as its enterprise
data software, Callcredit has been
able to develop its products
well ahead of the milestone dates
in its business plan. The powerful
system delivers a comprehensive
real-time credit rating service online.
Additional features in the software
save time in data handling
and increase overall performance,
bringing improved customer service
for Callcredit clients and the services
its clients offer their customers.
The success story doesn’t stop
there. Callcredit turned a profit for
the first time in 2007 – two-and-ahalf years ahead of its business plan.
Davison explains: “A large part of
that is due to our server-based
infrastructure that means we can
develop products faster.”
Looking to the future, Callcredit is
keen to take advantage of the
analysis services within SQL Server.
“The Server will give us key strategic
insight into the data we currently
don't have,” says Davison.
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about the
Microsoft server product portfolio,
go to: www.microsoft.com/servers/
default.mspx
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit information Group.
experts. Maitland Hyslop, CEO, Onyx
must streamline its IT systems to allow
protection strategy of the ICO will involve
information
taking a risk based approach to data
to
be
shared
securely
This
security: “It’s not up to us to nanny the
would enable those service levels to be
public – at the end of the day, they must
both raised and maintained.
decide who they give their data to,” he
John Spence, Non-Executive Director of
said.
the Callcredit Information Group, then
Phil Gibson, Head of Transformational
took the floor to discuss how preventing
Government, Cable & Wireless, was keen
ID fraud can be linked to increased
to emphasise the benefits of sharing
competitiveness.
information across different government
“If we liken data security to a sea wall
departments
defence and the risk of data breaches to
He illustrated his point with the tragic
between
various
departments.
the sea,” he said, “Whitehall runs the risk
of setting itself so watertight that it can’t
see the sea because the walls are so
high. Recognising the scale of the
problem is the key to solving it.”
“Unfortunately lapses in security will
always happen, but an organisation can
only be deemed negligent if it knew
about the weakness in its defences and
did nothing about it.”
Group, a veteran of both Public and
The
Private Sector organisations, gave the
Holbrook,
Head
first presentation with his opinion on the
Practice
at
the
differences between the two. Whereas
Commissioner’s
Office
the
organisations
presentation outlined the strategies and
encourage disruption of the status quo
priorities for the ICO as it moved forward
to
in light of the high profile data breaches
Private
drive
hierarchical,
Sector
progress,
he
rules-based,
said,
the
bureaucratic
third
panellist
of
was
Data
Jonathan
Protection
Information
(ICO),
whose
of the last year.
example
of
and
public
Victoria
services.
Climbie,
where
12 different agencies were found to be
aware that she was a victim of child
abuse
but
failed
to
support
her
adequately due to a lack of inter-agency
communication.
John Hughes, Senior Manager, IT Advisory,
KPMG, was keen to point out that in the
complex
security
environment
of
governmental departments, “penetration
testing of IT systems is not enough to
gain assurance.” He took the audience
through the range of external security
standards with which an organisation can
choose to comply: CTAS, CHECK and
ISO 27001/27002.
Ultimately
though,
out
of
the
presentations and debate came a strong
sense of the potential secure data
structure of the Public Sector had a
He highlighted results of a recent survey
sharing has to improve service levels and
tendency to hinder the adoption of new,
conducted by the ICO; 80% of consumers
productivity in the Commercial, Public
more efficient processes. With the public
are checking their bank statements more
and Charity Sectors.
expecting ever-higher levels of service
regularly since the HMRC breach and over
delivery in health, education, policing and
50%
so on, Hyslop said that the Government
organisations with their data. The data
of
people
no
longer
trust
Unlike many other countries,
there is no easy method in the
UK to uniquely and unambiguously identify a person or a
house. There is no readily
available National Identification
Number like the Social Security
Number in the US. Our own
National Insurance Number,
which is the closest available, is
unfortunately limited to the
administration of state benefits
and tax. Thus any consumerbased database faces the core
problem of the identification of
the single view of party via
comparison
of
name
and
address – which is an often
mistakenly trivialised problem.
This problem is compounded by the fact
that there is no clear legislation about
how a name or address is depicted.
There is naturally a huge amount of
emotion attached to any person’s
representation of their own name or
address, complicated further by the fact
that
people
can
have
multiple
concurrent and/or sequential names or
address variants.
To illustrate this, consider how we
represent an individual’s details. Taking
the example of “Dr Christina Claire SmithJones BSc PhD” born on “1st May 1970”
might easily and very legitimately
represent her details as
Jo Newbould, Press Officer,
Callcredit
‘Doctor’, ‘Dr’, ‘Mrs’, ‘Ms’ etc
‘Christina’, ‘Chris’, ‘Tina’ ‘C’, ‘T’,
“
The Government must streamline its IT systems
to allow information to be shared securely between
various departments. This would enable those
service levels to be both raised and maintained.
Maitland Hyslop,
Chief Executive Officer, Onyx Group
”
‘Claire’, ‘C’, ‘Kris’, ‘Christie’,
‘Krissy’, ‘Christy’, ‘Christine’ etc
‘Smith-Jones’, ‘Smith’, ‘Jones’ etc
‘BSc’, ‘BSc PhD’, ‘PhD’, etc
‘1/5/1970’, ‘5/1/1970’,
‘1970/5/1’, ‘1-5-70’, ‘5-1-70’ etc
From this example we immediately see
“
We have
developed state
of the art cleaning
and matching
routines that
have been used
to process billions
of records.
They are proven,
they are accurate,
and they work.
”
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
that we have to deal with 2,160
permutations. Admittedly, one could
argue, the above example seems rather
contrived but they don’t begin to offset
the additional complications added to
the problem if we tried to take
into consideration typo’s, misspellings,
data field truncation, OCR misrepresentations, Anglicisation etc. Even
putting to one side data input and
processing
errors,
it
must
be
remembered and respected that it is any
individual’s right that they can choose
the representation of their own name
depending on the circumstance!
Plus many other combinations such as
Address matching includes very similar
pitfalls to individual matching. Consider
an address such as “The Penthouse,
High Towers, 2 Brandenburg Place,
Leeds, LS6 1AA”. Common, reasonably
valid representations could be:
due to the higher perceived standing it
‘The Penthouse, 2 Brandenburg
Place, Headingley, LS6 1AA’
the business of solving issues of this
old versions of postcode; common
abbreviations; different field permutations etc. Unfortunately to date,
people feel that their address is not
simply a definition of their address point,
it is a description of themselves. Hence
vanity addressing is often found where
people corrupt their address to suit
what they feel is a more attractive
address. Common examples of innocent
distortion of address field are named
(but un-registered) houses; or attaching
themselves into a neighbouring locality
carries; or a more preferential county,
even if that county no longer exists.
As can easily be seen, problems of this
nature can be a daunting task to tackle.
Callcredit Information Group have been in
type for nearly twenty years. We have
developed state of the art cleaning and
‘Flat 101, High Towers, Leeds,
LS6 1AA’
‘The Flat, 2 Brandenburg Pl,
Leeds, West Yorkshire’
‘LS6 1AA 2D (postcode and DPS)’
matching routines that have been used
to process billions of records. They are
proven, they are accurate, and they work.
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
0791 Creditlines Summer2008
21/7/08
11:07
Page 2
Summer 2008
Microsoft solution boosts
Callcredit’s server infrastructure
Since its foundation in 2000,
Callcredit has worked to develop
a credit reference system based
on
stringent
requirements.
Callcredit needed a database
that could handle massive, and
ever expanding, data volumes.
Once in the database, each
individual data item has to be
loaded, cleared and live on the
system within two days and
available 24 hours a day, 365
days a year. Using Microsoft
technology, Callcredit achieved
a rapid arrival in the marketplace – its system runs at a
constant level of high performance, providing comprehensive,
real-time information to client
organisations.
“Our competitors with mainframebased solutions have taken 20 years
to establish the type of system that,
through our choice of technology,
we’ve created in seven years,”
explains Mark Davison, Technology
Development Director at Callcredit.
In the past seven years, Callcredit
developed credit reporting, risk
analysis, collections tools and antimoney laundering products from a
single data warehouse. This was
originally based on the Microsoft®
application platform, using Microsoft
SQL ServerTM version 7.0. Davison
says: “We evaluated a number of
systems based on performance,
cost of development and the levels
of user support required. Compared
to other database systems, SQL
Server came out on top across these
three areas.”
The final database was migrated to
SQL Server 2005 during October
2007.
The
Callcredit
product
implementation team, consisting of
developers, business analysts and
a separate quality assurance
team, tested functionality and
What’s in
a name?
Data security seminar for Government
and Public Sector organisations
Securely sharing the source of competitive advantage
“
Over the last year, a series of high
profile data losses have placed the
need for effective data security in
all organisations beyond question.
Companies such as Callcredit,
whose ‘bread and butter’ is data
security, are well placed to kickstart debate about this issue and
share their experiences and best
practice. This is exactly what
happened at Callcredit’s latest
industry seminar, which was held
on 20th May in Whitehall to
discuss
how
data
security
methods developed in commercial
businesses can be implemented
for the benefit of the Government,
Public and third sectors.
We evaluated
a number of
systems based on
performance, cost
of development and
the levels of user
support required.
Compared to other
database systems,
SQL Server came out
on top across these
three areas.
”
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
John McAndrew, Managing Director of
Callcredit,
chaired
the
event
and
welcomed the audience and panel of
performance. In addition, a systems
and network team concentrate
on the operating systems and
hardware – members from the
different teams work together on
the same phases of product
development. Davison says: “We
have agile working methods. These
methods fit perfectly within the
Microsoft development environment
because it means we can retain our
flexibility
and
remain
highly
innovative.”
Using SQL Server as its enterprise
data software, Callcredit has been
able to develop its products
well ahead of the milestone dates
in its business plan. The powerful
system delivers a comprehensive
real-time credit rating service online.
Additional features in the software
save time in data handling
and increase overall performance,
bringing improved customer service
for Callcredit clients and the services
its clients offer their customers.
The success story doesn’t stop
there. Callcredit turned a profit for
the first time in 2007 – two-and-ahalf years ahead of its business plan.
Davison explains: “A large part of
that is due to our server-based
infrastructure that means we can
develop products faster.”
Looking to the future, Callcredit is
keen to take advantage of the
analysis services within SQL Server.
“The Server will give us key strategic
insight into the data we currently
don't have,” says Davison.
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about the
Microsoft server product portfolio,
go to: www.microsoft.com/servers/
default.mspx
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit information Group.
experts. Maitland Hyslop, CEO, Onyx
must streamline its IT systems to allow
protection strategy of the ICO will involve
information
taking a risk based approach to data
to
be
shared
securely
This
security: “It’s not up to us to nanny the
would enable those service levels to be
public – at the end of the day, they must
both raised and maintained.
decide who they give their data to,” he
John Spence, Non-Executive Director of
said.
the Callcredit Information Group, then
Phil Gibson, Head of Transformational
took the floor to discuss how preventing
Government, Cable & Wireless, was keen
ID fraud can be linked to increased
to emphasise the benefits of sharing
competitiveness.
information across different government
“If we liken data security to a sea wall
departments
defence and the risk of data breaches to
He illustrated his point with the tragic
between
various
departments.
the sea,” he said, “Whitehall runs the risk
of setting itself so watertight that it can’t
see the sea because the walls are so
high. Recognising the scale of the
problem is the key to solving it.”
“Unfortunately lapses in security will
always happen, but an organisation can
only be deemed negligent if it knew
about the weakness in its defences and
did nothing about it.”
Group, a veteran of both Public and
The
Private Sector organisations, gave the
Holbrook,
Head
first presentation with his opinion on the
Practice
at
the
differences between the two. Whereas
Commissioner’s
Office
the
organisations
presentation outlined the strategies and
encourage disruption of the status quo
priorities for the ICO as it moved forward
to
in light of the high profile data breaches
Private
drive
hierarchical,
Sector
progress,
he
rules-based,
said,
the
bureaucratic
third
panellist
of
was
Data
Jonathan
Protection
Information
(ICO),
whose
of the last year.
example
of
and
public
Victoria
services.
Climbie,
where
12 different agencies were found to be
aware that she was a victim of child
abuse
but
failed
to
support
her
adequately due to a lack of inter-agency
communication.
John Hughes, Senior Manager, IT Advisory,
KPMG, was keen to point out that in the
complex
security
environment
of
governmental departments, “penetration
testing of IT systems is not enough to
gain assurance.” He took the audience
through the range of external security
standards with which an organisation can
choose to comply: CTAS, CHECK and
ISO 27001/27002.
Ultimately
though,
out
of
the
presentations and debate came a strong
sense of the potential secure data
structure of the Public Sector had a
He highlighted results of a recent survey
sharing has to improve service levels and
tendency to hinder the adoption of new,
conducted by the ICO; 80% of consumers
productivity in the Commercial, Public
more efficient processes. With the public
are checking their bank statements more
and Charity Sectors.
expecting ever-higher levels of service
regularly since the HMRC breach and over
delivery in health, education, policing and
50%
so on, Hyslop said that the Government
organisations with their data. The data
of
people
no
longer
trust
Unlike many other countries,
there is no easy method in the
UK to uniquely and unambiguously identify a person or a
house. There is no readily
available National Identification
Number like the Social Security
Number in the US. Our own
National Insurance Number,
which is the closest available, is
unfortunately limited to the
administration of state benefits
and tax. Thus any consumerbased database faces the core
problem of the identification of
the single view of party via
comparison
of
name
and
address – which is an often
mistakenly trivialised problem.
This problem is compounded by the fact
that there is no clear legislation about
how a name or address is depicted.
There is naturally a huge amount of
emotion attached to any person’s
representation of their own name or
address, complicated further by the fact
that
people
can
have
multiple
concurrent and/or sequential names or
address variants.
To illustrate this, consider how we
represent an individual’s details. Taking
the example of “Dr Christina Claire SmithJones BSc PhD” born on “1st May 1970”
might easily and very legitimately
represent her details as
Jo Newbould, Press Officer,
Callcredit
‘Doctor’, ‘Dr’, ‘Mrs’, ‘Ms’ etc
‘Christina’, ‘Chris’, ‘Tina’ ‘C’, ‘T’,
“
The Government must streamline its IT systems
to allow information to be shared securely between
various departments. This would enable those
service levels to be both raised and maintained.
Maitland Hyslop,
Chief Executive Officer, Onyx Group
”
‘Claire’, ‘C’, ‘Kris’, ‘Christie’,
‘Krissy’, ‘Christy’, ‘Christine’ etc
‘Smith-Jones’, ‘Smith’, ‘Jones’ etc
‘BSc’, ‘BSc PhD’, ‘PhD’, etc
‘1/5/1970’, ‘5/1/1970’,
‘1970/5/1’, ‘1-5-70’, ‘5-1-70’ etc
From this example we immediately see
“
We have
developed state
of the art cleaning
and matching
routines that
have been used
to process billions
of records.
They are proven,
they are accurate,
and they work.
”
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
that we have to deal with 2,160
permutations. Admittedly, one could
argue, the above example seems rather
contrived but they don’t begin to offset
the additional complications added to
the problem if we tried to take
into consideration typo’s, misspellings,
data field truncation, OCR misrepresentations, Anglicisation etc. Even
putting to one side data input and
processing
errors,
it
must
be
remembered and respected that it is any
individual’s right that they can choose
the representation of their own name
depending on the circumstance!
Plus many other combinations such as
Address matching includes very similar
pitfalls to individual matching. Consider
an address such as “The Penthouse,
High Towers, 2 Brandenburg Place,
Leeds, LS6 1AA”. Common, reasonably
valid representations could be:
due to the higher perceived standing it
‘The Penthouse, 2 Brandenburg
Place, Headingley, LS6 1AA’
the business of solving issues of this
old versions of postcode; common
abbreviations; different field permutations etc. Unfortunately to date,
people feel that their address is not
simply a definition of their address point,
it is a description of themselves. Hence
vanity addressing is often found where
people corrupt their address to suit
what they feel is a more attractive
address. Common examples of innocent
distortion of address field are named
(but un-registered) houses; or attaching
themselves into a neighbouring locality
carries; or a more preferential county,
even if that county no longer exists.
As can easily be seen, problems of this
nature can be a daunting task to tackle.
Callcredit Information Group have been in
type for nearly twenty years. We have
developed state of the art cleaning and
‘Flat 101, High Towers, Leeds,
LS6 1AA’
‘The Flat, 2 Brandenburg Pl,
Leeds, West Yorkshire’
‘LS6 1AA 2D (postcode and DPS)’
matching routines that have been used
to process billions of records. They are
proven, they are accurate, and they work.
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
0791 Creditlines Summer2008
21/7/08
11:07
Page 2
Summer 2008
Microsoft solution boosts
Callcredit’s server infrastructure
Since its foundation in 2000,
Callcredit has worked to develop
a credit reference system based
on
stringent
requirements.
Callcredit needed a database
that could handle massive, and
ever expanding, data volumes.
Once in the database, each
individual data item has to be
loaded, cleared and live on the
system within two days and
available 24 hours a day, 365
days a year. Using Microsoft
technology, Callcredit achieved
a rapid arrival in the marketplace – its system runs at a
constant level of high performance, providing comprehensive,
real-time information to client
organisations.
“Our competitors with mainframebased solutions have taken 20 years
to establish the type of system that,
through our choice of technology,
we’ve created in seven years,”
explains Mark Davison, Technology
Development Director at Callcredit.
In the past seven years, Callcredit
developed credit reporting, risk
analysis, collections tools and antimoney laundering products from a
single data warehouse. This was
originally based on the Microsoft®
application platform, using Microsoft
SQL ServerTM version 7.0. Davison
says: “We evaluated a number of
systems based on performance,
cost of development and the levels
of user support required. Compared
to other database systems, SQL
Server came out on top across these
three areas.”
The final database was migrated to
SQL Server 2005 during October
2007.
The
Callcredit
product
implementation team, consisting of
developers, business analysts and
a separate quality assurance
team, tested functionality and
What’s in
a name?
Data security seminar for Government
and Public Sector organisations
Securely sharing the source of competitive advantage
“
Over the last year, a series of high
profile data losses have placed the
need for effective data security in
all organisations beyond question.
Companies such as Callcredit,
whose ‘bread and butter’ is data
security, are well placed to kickstart debate about this issue and
share their experiences and best
practice. This is exactly what
happened at Callcredit’s latest
industry seminar, which was held
on 20th May in Whitehall to
discuss
how
data
security
methods developed in commercial
businesses can be implemented
for the benefit of the Government,
Public and third sectors.
We evaluated
a number of
systems based on
performance, cost
of development and
the levels of user
support required.
Compared to other
database systems,
SQL Server came out
on top across these
three areas.
”
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
John McAndrew, Managing Director of
Callcredit,
chaired
the
event
and
welcomed the audience and panel of
performance. In addition, a systems
and network team concentrate
on the operating systems and
hardware – members from the
different teams work together on
the same phases of product
development. Davison says: “We
have agile working methods. These
methods fit perfectly within the
Microsoft development environment
because it means we can retain our
flexibility
and
remain
highly
innovative.”
Using SQL Server as its enterprise
data software, Callcredit has been
able to develop its products
well ahead of the milestone dates
in its business plan. The powerful
system delivers a comprehensive
real-time credit rating service online.
Additional features in the software
save time in data handling
and increase overall performance,
bringing improved customer service
for Callcredit clients and the services
its clients offer their customers.
The success story doesn’t stop
there. Callcredit turned a profit for
the first time in 2007 – two-and-ahalf years ahead of its business plan.
Davison explains: “A large part of
that is due to our server-based
infrastructure that means we can
develop products faster.”
Looking to the future, Callcredit is
keen to take advantage of the
analysis services within SQL Server.
“The Server will give us key strategic
insight into the data we currently
don't have,” says Davison.
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about the
Microsoft server product portfolio,
go to: www.microsoft.com/servers/
default.mspx
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit information Group.
experts. Maitland Hyslop, CEO, Onyx
must streamline its IT systems to allow
protection strategy of the ICO will involve
information
taking a risk based approach to data
to
be
shared
securely
This
security: “It’s not up to us to nanny the
would enable those service levels to be
public – at the end of the day, they must
both raised and maintained.
decide who they give their data to,” he
John Spence, Non-Executive Director of
said.
the Callcredit Information Group, then
Phil Gibson, Head of Transformational
took the floor to discuss how preventing
Government, Cable & Wireless, was keen
ID fraud can be linked to increased
to emphasise the benefits of sharing
competitiveness.
information across different government
“If we liken data security to a sea wall
departments
defence and the risk of data breaches to
He illustrated his point with the tragic
between
various
departments.
the sea,” he said, “Whitehall runs the risk
of setting itself so watertight that it can’t
see the sea because the walls are so
high. Recognising the scale of the
problem is the key to solving it.”
“Unfortunately lapses in security will
always happen, but an organisation can
only be deemed negligent if it knew
about the weakness in its defences and
did nothing about it.”
Group, a veteran of both Public and
The
Private Sector organisations, gave the
Holbrook,
Head
first presentation with his opinion on the
Practice
at
the
differences between the two. Whereas
Commissioner’s
Office
the
organisations
presentation outlined the strategies and
encourage disruption of the status quo
priorities for the ICO as it moved forward
to
in light of the high profile data breaches
Private
drive
hierarchical,
Sector
progress,
he
rules-based,
said,
the
bureaucratic
third
panellist
of
was
Data
Jonathan
Protection
Information
(ICO),
whose
of the last year.
example
of
and
public
Victoria
services.
Climbie,
where
12 different agencies were found to be
aware that she was a victim of child
abuse
but
failed
to
support
her
adequately due to a lack of inter-agency
communication.
John Hughes, Senior Manager, IT Advisory,
KPMG, was keen to point out that in the
complex
security
environment
of
governmental departments, “penetration
testing of IT systems is not enough to
gain assurance.” He took the audience
through the range of external security
standards with which an organisation can
choose to comply: CTAS, CHECK and
ISO 27001/27002.
Ultimately
though,
out
of
the
presentations and debate came a strong
sense of the potential secure data
structure of the Public Sector had a
He highlighted results of a recent survey
sharing has to improve service levels and
tendency to hinder the adoption of new,
conducted by the ICO; 80% of consumers
productivity in the Commercial, Public
more efficient processes. With the public
are checking their bank statements more
and Charity Sectors.
expecting ever-higher levels of service
regularly since the HMRC breach and over
delivery in health, education, policing and
50%
so on, Hyslop said that the Government
organisations with their data. The data
of
people
no
longer
trust
Unlike many other countries,
there is no easy method in the
UK to uniquely and unambiguously identify a person or a
house. There is no readily
available National Identification
Number like the Social Security
Number in the US. Our own
National Insurance Number,
which is the closest available, is
unfortunately limited to the
administration of state benefits
and tax. Thus any consumerbased database faces the core
problem of the identification of
the single view of party via
comparison
of
name
and
address – which is an often
mistakenly trivialised problem.
This problem is compounded by the fact
that there is no clear legislation about
how a name or address is depicted.
There is naturally a huge amount of
emotion attached to any person’s
representation of their own name or
address, complicated further by the fact
that
people
can
have
multiple
concurrent and/or sequential names or
address variants.
To illustrate this, consider how we
represent an individual’s details. Taking
the example of “Dr Christina Claire SmithJones BSc PhD” born on “1st May 1970”
might easily and very legitimately
represent her details as
Jo Newbould, Press Officer,
Callcredit
‘Doctor’, ‘Dr’, ‘Mrs’, ‘Ms’ etc
‘Christina’, ‘Chris’, ‘Tina’ ‘C’, ‘T’,
“
The Government must streamline its IT systems
to allow information to be shared securely between
various departments. This would enable those
service levels to be both raised and maintained.
Maitland Hyslop,
Chief Executive Officer, Onyx Group
”
‘Claire’, ‘C’, ‘Kris’, ‘Christie’,
‘Krissy’, ‘Christy’, ‘Christine’ etc
‘Smith-Jones’, ‘Smith’, ‘Jones’ etc
‘BSc’, ‘BSc PhD’, ‘PhD’, etc
‘1/5/1970’, ‘5/1/1970’,
‘1970/5/1’, ‘1-5-70’, ‘5-1-70’ etc
From this example we immediately see
“
We have
developed state
of the art cleaning
and matching
routines that
have been used
to process billions
of records.
They are proven,
they are accurate,
and they work.
”
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
that we have to deal with 2,160
permutations. Admittedly, one could
argue, the above example seems rather
contrived but they don’t begin to offset
the additional complications added to
the problem if we tried to take
into consideration typo’s, misspellings,
data field truncation, OCR misrepresentations, Anglicisation etc. Even
putting to one side data input and
processing
errors,
it
must
be
remembered and respected that it is any
individual’s right that they can choose
the representation of their own name
depending on the circumstance!
Plus many other combinations such as
Address matching includes very similar
pitfalls to individual matching. Consider
an address such as “The Penthouse,
High Towers, 2 Brandenburg Place,
Leeds, LS6 1AA”. Common, reasonably
valid representations could be:
due to the higher perceived standing it
‘The Penthouse, 2 Brandenburg
Place, Headingley, LS6 1AA’
the business of solving issues of this
old versions of postcode; common
abbreviations; different field permutations etc. Unfortunately to date,
people feel that their address is not
simply a definition of their address point,
it is a description of themselves. Hence
vanity addressing is often found where
people corrupt their address to suit
what they feel is a more attractive
address. Common examples of innocent
distortion of address field are named
(but un-registered) houses; or attaching
themselves into a neighbouring locality
carries; or a more preferential county,
even if that county no longer exists.
As can easily be seen, problems of this
nature can be a daunting task to tackle.
Callcredit Information Group have been in
type for nearly twenty years. We have
developed state of the art cleaning and
‘Flat 101, High Towers, Leeds,
LS6 1AA’
‘The Flat, 2 Brandenburg Pl,
Leeds, West Yorkshire’
‘LS6 1AA 2D (postcode and DPS)’
matching routines that have been used
to process billions of records. They are
proven, they are accurate, and they work.
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
0791 Creditlines Summer2008
21/7/08
11:07
Page 1
Summer 2008
Service Orientated Architecture –
the business case
One of the big “buzz-words” in
the IT press of the last couple of
years has been SOA (Service
Orientated Architecture) and all
its multiple spin-offs such as
SODA (Service Orientated Data
Architecture); Semantic Service
Orientated Architecture (SSOA)
plus many others too numerous
to mention.
My personal view is that SOA most
certainly isn’t the answer to all ails,
but its business benefits can be
huge – if it is implemented properly.
Let’s start at the beginning – what is
Service Orientated Architecture?
Unfortunately this is the part of the
article where acronyms run riot – my
apologies in advance! SOA’s origins
trace back to the beginning of
Object Orientated Programming,
which started to strain at the seams
when the application architecture
spread across multiple machines.
At the time most applications
communications protocols were
fairly “heavy” such as CORBA, IIOP
and DCOM closely linking application
components together – SOA forced
developers into utilising lightweight
and flexible protocols such as HTTP
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and
SOAP (Simple Object Access
Protocol) ensuring that application
components could be hosted on
different infrastructures built in
different environments but each
communicating in a standard way.
In non-technical terms SOA provides
the means to define the size, shape
and spacing of the blobs on your
“lego bricks”. The colour, size and
shape of the blocks can be varied at
will as long as you keep the interface
standard you’ll know they’ll fit
together enabling flexible and
powerful solutions to be built in a
very cost-effective way.
This basic philosophy is critical and
compelling – it enables higher
productivity of development teams
as it forces a “code re-use” mentality;
it enables decisions of new IT
platforms and products and suppliers
to be far more based upon individual
merit rather than pre-existing legacy
system compatibility; and it enables
applications based on combinations
of existing services. In other words it
separates stable system building
blocks
from
ever-changeable
business requirements.
SOA is pivotal to Callcredit’s delivery
of services. All online services for
credit risk, anti-money laundering,
identity verification, tracing and
affordability are provided via a SOA
based architecture over a SOAP
defined protocol. This enables
Callcredit to deliver focused and
flexible services over a readily
available open standard. It enables
our clients to then pick and choose
which services to integrate (and co-
“
Enabling flexible
and powerful solutions
to be built in a very
cost-effective way.
These are all massive benefits – new
system requirements can now often
be met by either changing existing
services, or creating new business
The tournament raised over £200 for local
charity Lineham Farm Children’s Centre,
who provide disadvantaged children with
free activity holidays on their farm
integrate) with their backend
systems in whatever permutation
they choose, using whichever
technology platform they feel most
comfortable in.
bags and trophies for their efforts and
commented,
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit information Group.
What do you think?
Send your comments to info@callcredit.co.uk
“It
is
fantastic
when
companies like Callcredit organise events
in aid of Lineham Farm as all the money
raised really does help us to continue to
provide free ‘access for all’ holidays for the
children of Leeds”.
Mike Green, Chief Executive at Callcredit
Information Group said, “Our first annual
netball
tournament
was
a
fantastic
success, with all six teams showcasing
based near Eccup, Leeds.
excellent team spirit and sportsmanship.
The money raised at the tournament will
be used to sponsor eight animals that live
on the farm, including Rodney the goat,
Malachi the shire horse and Nelson the
quirky turkey.
We are immensely proud to be supporting
After a well deserved buffet lunch Hannah
Scott, Events Coordinator at Lineham
Jo Newbould, Press Officer,
Lineham Farm Children’s Centre, and as a
local charity based in Leeds, we look
forward to visiting the animals we have
sponsored.”
Callcredit
Weetwood Playing
Fields, Leeds,
10am Saturday
20th September
2008
With a BBQ for players
and supporters
The charity event will take place at
Weetwood Playing Fields in Leeds on
Saturday 20th September 2008 with
businesses from Yorkshire and beyond
battling it out for the trophy.
The main focus for the event is to raise
awareness of Prostate Cancer. Denise
Bailey, Corporate Partnerships Manager
at The Prostate Cancer Charity, said:
“We are very grateful to everyone at
Skipton Building Society for their
support of The Prostate Cancer Charity
once again. Their efforts will help
The Prostate Cancer Charity continue to
raise awareness of the disease that kills
one man every hour in the UK. It is great
to see so many football teams and
players turn out to help tackle what has
been a much neglected cause.”
Focus on Technology, Summer 2008
Farm, presented the teams with goody
After the success of the Skipton
Information Group Prostate Cancer
Cup in 2007, CIG will be hosting a
football tournament again in aid of
The Prostate Cancer Charity.
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
development functions to be far
more flexible by ensuring any
solution is built on a series of
standard
building
bricks
with
intelligent glue – rather than any
monolithic beast.
Businesses from across Leeds
came together for the first
Callcredit
Information
Group
Netball
Tournament
on
Saturday 7th June. Teams from
Hammonds, Baker Tilly, Shulmans,
Lee & Priestley and Callcredit
Information Group battled it out
with local supporters on the
sidelines cheering the teams on.
The tournament came to a head
with a dramatic final between law
firm Shulmans and CIGnature,
a team from Callcredit Information
Group, with Shulmans emerging
the overall winners, netting
19 goals to CIGnature’s 5.
CIG team up for
Prostate Cancer Charity
”
Creditlines
Callcredit Netball Tournament raises
funds for Lineham Farm
£40 entry per team with the
full £40 going to charity
Each team will require
5-8 players
If you are interested in
competing in the tournament
please contact your
CIG relationship manager
or email:
football@callcreditgroup.com
The tournament has raised hundreds of
pounds for the charity in previous years
and will continue to do so with the
interest in this year’s event making it the
biggest yet!
Michelle Burley, Callcredit
Places are limited and allocated
on a first paid basis.
Registrations close
22nd August 2008
Technology as an enabler
Businesses are moving into a time of
uncertainty. This is especially true in
financial services markets where
more than ever there is a need to
leverage the power of data through
innovative technology solutions in
order to gain a strong competitive
position.
Callcredit’s philosophy is to take full
advantage of technology advancements
and pass the benefits of these onto our
clients. The benefits are numerous,
including the ability to react faster and
more accurately as well as breaking new
ground in availability and performance
management. These benefits lead to
improvements in our client’s internal
business processes as well as improved
service to their customers.
With cost control high on the corporate
agenda it is important that Callcredit’s
technology advancements continually
lower complexity whilst providing a highly
available infrastructure which is easily
supportable with low overheads and a
low carbon footprint.
Callcredit has always been at the
forefront of technological innovation,
providing solutions developed through
close co-operation with our technology
“
Callcredit has always
been at the forefront
of technological
innovation, providing
solutions developed
through close
co-operation with
our technology
partners.
”
John Eggleston
IT Director, Callcredit
partners, including Microsoft and Cable
& Wireless. It is important our clients
understand their key business risks and
drivers. Personally, I continue to get great
enjoyment through working for a clientcentric Group with a strong commitment
to technology and data innovation along
with a solid service ethic.
Creditlines where we can show some
I’m pleased to introduce this edition of
John Eggleston, IT Director, Callcredit.
of
the
benefits
gained
from
new
Database Technologies, Advanced Name
Matching, Service Oriented Architecture
and
give
exceptional
a
brief
insight
commitment
to
into
our
Security
Thought Leadership.
Skipton Information Group
rebrands as
Callcredit Information Group
Skipton
Information
Group
has
experience and capability.
rebranded to Callcredit Information
Ultimately, the rebrand will further
Group following recent acquisitions.
reinforce the Group’s ability to compete
The move comes in a bid to align
in the marketing services arena and
the businesses more closely within
ensure its continued success in the
the
credit referencing and financial services
Group;
Callcredit,
EuroDirect,
Legatio
and
industry.
reinforce
the
Mike Green, CEO of Callcredit Information
Group’s proposition to reflect its unique
Group said: “Rebranding to Callcredit
GMAP,
Broadsystem,
DecisionMetrics
and
Information Group underlines the value
and strength of the Group that has been
formed. The businesses are highly
successful in their own right and will
continue to be so, but also work well
together, and this allows us to align our
image and reinforce our depth and
breadth supported by having the
security and backing of the Skipton
Building Society.”
0791 Creditlines Summer2008
21/7/08
11:07
Page 1
Summer 2008
Service Orientated Architecture –
the business case
One of the big “buzz-words” in
the IT press of the last couple of
years has been SOA (Service
Orientated Architecture) and all
its multiple spin-offs such as
SODA (Service Orientated Data
Architecture); Semantic Service
Orientated Architecture (SSOA)
plus many others too numerous
to mention.
My personal view is that SOA most
certainly isn’t the answer to all ails,
but its business benefits can be
huge – if it is implemented properly.
Let’s start at the beginning – what is
Service Orientated Architecture?
Unfortunately this is the part of the
article where acronyms run riot – my
apologies in advance! SOA’s origins
trace back to the beginning of
Object Orientated Programming,
which started to strain at the seams
when the application architecture
spread across multiple machines.
At the time most applications
communications protocols were
fairly “heavy” such as CORBA, IIOP
and DCOM closely linking application
components together – SOA forced
developers into utilising lightweight
and flexible protocols such as HTTP
(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and
SOAP (Simple Object Access
Protocol) ensuring that application
components could be hosted on
different infrastructures built in
different environments but each
communicating in a standard way.
In non-technical terms SOA provides
the means to define the size, shape
and spacing of the blobs on your
“lego bricks”. The colour, size and
shape of the blocks can be varied at
will as long as you keep the interface
standard you’ll know they’ll fit
together enabling flexible and
powerful solutions to be built in a
very cost-effective way.
This basic philosophy is critical and
compelling – it enables higher
productivity of development teams
as it forces a “code re-use” mentality;
it enables decisions of new IT
platforms and products and suppliers
to be far more based upon individual
merit rather than pre-existing legacy
system compatibility; and it enables
applications based on combinations
of existing services. In other words it
separates stable system building
blocks
from
ever-changeable
business requirements.
SOA is pivotal to Callcredit’s delivery
of services. All online services for
credit risk, anti-money laundering,
identity verification, tracing and
affordability are provided via a SOA
based architecture over a SOAP
defined protocol. This enables
Callcredit to deliver focused and
flexible services over a readily
available open standard. It enables
our clients to then pick and choose
which services to integrate (and co-
“
Enabling flexible
and powerful solutions
to be built in a very
cost-effective way.
These are all massive benefits – new
system requirements can now often
be met by either changing existing
services, or creating new business
The tournament raised over £200 for local
charity Lineham Farm Children’s Centre,
who provide disadvantaged children with
free activity holidays on their farm
integrate) with their backend
systems in whatever permutation
they choose, using whichever
technology platform they feel most
comfortable in.
bags and trophies for their efforts and
commented,
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit information Group.
What do you think?
Send your comments to info@callcredit.co.uk
“It
is
fantastic
when
companies like Callcredit organise events
in aid of Lineham Farm as all the money
raised really does help us to continue to
provide free ‘access for all’ holidays for the
children of Leeds”.
Mike Green, Chief Executive at Callcredit
Information Group said, “Our first annual
netball
tournament
was
a
fantastic
success, with all six teams showcasing
based near Eccup, Leeds.
excellent team spirit and sportsmanship.
The money raised at the tournament will
be used to sponsor eight animals that live
on the farm, including Rodney the goat,
Malachi the shire horse and Nelson the
quirky turkey.
We are immensely proud to be supporting
After a well deserved buffet lunch Hannah
Scott, Events Coordinator at Lineham
Jo Newbould, Press Officer,
Lineham Farm Children’s Centre, and as a
local charity based in Leeds, we look
forward to visiting the animals we have
sponsored.”
Callcredit
Weetwood Playing
Fields, Leeds,
10am Saturday
20th September
2008
With a BBQ for players
and supporters
The charity event will take place at
Weetwood Playing Fields in Leeds on
Saturday 20th September 2008 with
businesses from Yorkshire and beyond
battling it out for the trophy.
The main focus for the event is to raise
awareness of Prostate Cancer. Denise
Bailey, Corporate Partnerships Manager
at The Prostate Cancer Charity, said:
“We are very grateful to everyone at
Skipton Building Society for their
support of The Prostate Cancer Charity
once again. Their efforts will help
The Prostate Cancer Charity continue to
raise awareness of the disease that kills
one man every hour in the UK. It is great
to see so many football teams and
players turn out to help tackle what has
been a much neglected cause.”
Focus on Technology, Summer 2008
Farm, presented the teams with goody
After the success of the Skipton
Information Group Prostate Cancer
Cup in 2007, CIG will be hosting a
football tournament again in aid of
The Prostate Cancer Charity.
Mark Davison, Group Technology
Development Director,
Callcredit Information Group
development functions to be far
more flexible by ensuring any
solution is built on a series of
standard
building
bricks
with
intelligent glue – rather than any
monolithic beast.
Businesses from across Leeds
came together for the first
Callcredit
Information
Group
Netball
Tournament
on
Saturday 7th June. Teams from
Hammonds, Baker Tilly, Shulmans,
Lee & Priestley and Callcredit
Information Group battled it out
with local supporters on the
sidelines cheering the teams on.
The tournament came to a head
with a dramatic final between law
firm Shulmans and CIGnature,
a team from Callcredit Information
Group, with Shulmans emerging
the overall winners, netting
19 goals to CIGnature’s 5.
CIG team up for
Prostate Cancer Charity
”
Creditlines
Callcredit Netball Tournament raises
funds for Lineham Farm
£40 entry per team with the
full £40 going to charity
Each team will require
5-8 players
If you are interested in
competing in the tournament
please contact your
CIG relationship manager
or email:
football@callcreditgroup.com
The tournament has raised hundreds of
pounds for the charity in previous years
and will continue to do so with the
interest in this year’s event making it the
biggest yet!
Michelle Burley, Callcredit
Places are limited and allocated
on a first paid basis.
Registrations close
22nd August 2008
Technology as an enabler
Businesses are moving into a time of
uncertainty. This is especially true in
financial services markets where
more than ever there is a need to
leverage the power of data through
innovative technology solutions in
order to gain a strong competitive
position.
Callcredit’s philosophy is to take full
advantage of technology advancements
and pass the benefits of these onto our
clients. The benefits are numerous,
including the ability to react faster and
more accurately as well as breaking new
ground in availability and performance
management. These benefits lead to
improvements in our client’s internal
business processes as well as improved
service to their customers.
With cost control high on the corporate
agenda it is important that Callcredit’s
technology advancements continually
lower complexity whilst providing a highly
available infrastructure which is easily
supportable with low overheads and a
low carbon footprint.
Callcredit has always been at the
forefront of technological innovation,
providing solutions developed through
close co-operation with our technology
“
Callcredit has always
been at the forefront
of technological
innovation, providing
solutions developed
through close
co-operation with
our technology
partners.
”
John Eggleston
IT Director, Callcredit
partners, including Microsoft and Cable
& Wireless. It is important our clients
understand their key business risks and
drivers. Personally, I continue to get great
enjoyment through working for a clientcentric Group with a strong commitment
to technology and data innovation along
with a solid service ethic.
Creditlines where we can show some
I’m pleased to introduce this edition of
John Eggleston, IT Director, Callcredit.
of
the
benefits
gained
from
new
Database Technologies, Advanced Name
Matching, Service Oriented Architecture
and
give
exceptional
a
brief
insight
commitment
to
into
our
Security
Thought Leadership.
Skipton Information Group
rebrands as
Callcredit Information Group
Skipton
Information
Group
has
experience and capability.
rebranded to Callcredit Information
Ultimately, the rebrand will further
Group following recent acquisitions.
reinforce the Group’s ability to compete
The move comes in a bid to align
in the marketing services arena and
the businesses more closely within
ensure its continued success in the
the
credit referencing and financial services
Group;
Callcredit,
EuroDirect,
Legatio
and
industry.
reinforce
the
Mike Green, CEO of Callcredit Information
Group’s proposition to reflect its unique
Group said: “Rebranding to Callcredit
GMAP,
Broadsystem,
DecisionMetrics
and
Information Group underlines the value
and strength of the Group that has been
formed. The businesses are highly
successful in their own right and will
continue to be so, but also work well
together, and this allows us to align our
image and reinforce our depth and
breadth supported by having the
security and backing of the Skipton
Building Society.”