Item: D&B Finance Analytics
Rating: 8
Author: Scott WIlson

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use D&B as a first review for extending commercial credit to the construction trade, and to other companies needing our materials or labor. Generally, I have very swift fulfillment of our credit review needs, and reliable information on the customer's creditworthiness in a very short time.

Pros and Cons

Swiftly provides credit information
Detailed reports help determine marginal cases
Easy to locate potential alternative companies

I am logged off only minutes after getting on; used to be over an hour.
Two screens to log on each time is unnecessary.
I can't locate the investigation link we used previously.

Return on Investment

It gives us confidence in extending credit, which lowers our DSO overall.

Finance Analytics Performance

Again, it helps us make good credit decisions by providing an overview of the customer's creditworthiness.

Implementation and Deployment

Fairly easy to implement; we were using the existing software regularly. By myself I used as many as 100+ searches a week. We were already fairly efficient with our use of the platform. One inefficiency that crept in was the much shorter window to use it or be logged off. I used to be able to count on being on for up to an hour between searches, but now it's a much shorter window, and I regularly have to log in three or four times daily. The screen when it kicks me out doesn't allow another log-in, so I have to close that window and open another to continue working. Otherwise, no significant changes to efficiency.

Alternatives Considered

Experian Credit Risk

We used Eperian BusinessIQ reports for a couple of years in the department. They were a back-up for D&B, and especially useful in Canada, giving more robust results than D&B. The company decided to move exclusively to D&B in early 2020, and it has been sufficient for our needs, including Canada. We also use it in our international territories as well.

Support Rating

Customer service has been responsive. I've primarily needed it for updates on the occasions when D&B is offline. We get fairly quick answers on outages, and are usually back in operation within two hours. Since D&B is critical to our credit risk management and evaluation of new and existing customers, this is very appreciated.

Key Insights

Do you think D&B Finance Analytics delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with D&B Finance Analytics's feature set?

Yes

Did D&B Finance Analytics live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of D&B Finance Analytics go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy D&B Finance Analytics again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Teams, Cisco AnyConnect

Likelihood to Recommend

Very useful for getting a snapshot of current credit information for most businesses. A little slow in making updates to addresses, changes in legal status (e.g., bankruptcy), but overall a good value.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

D&B Lookup
D&B Alerts
Business reports

Difficult Tasks

Investigation of new/small customers

Usability

It's very good, but takes some getting used to the differences between this version and the previous version. I don't like the fact that I can no longer hit Enter when looking up a company and have it start the report immediately. Also, I used to enter the two-letter abbreviation for the states and bring it right up; with the new platform, that doesn't seem to be an option, and is a little frustrating because I have to search out the right button, instead of just gong on.

Good, solid software with few bugs.

Overall Satisfaction with D&B Finance Analytics