Automated compliance screening of 60,000 customers
Originally founded in 1984 in the Netherlands by a group of students, software company Exact has its head office in Delft. Exact offers a complete portfolio of business software for SMEs. More than 550,000 companies in the Benelux rely on one or more Exact solutions. Exact's cloud software automates the business processes of small and medium-sized companies and their accountants: from finance to HR and from logistics to project management.
EXACT
550.000
customers
2.000
colleagues/specialists
27
branches in 11 countries
Altares Dun & Bradstreet was very flexible during our close collaboration. This was crucial, because we, at Exact, are innovative and change quickly. We are constantly developing, improving and updating our software, and a partner must be able to keep up with that pace."
1. The Challenge
An onboarding and compliance process for large numbers of customers
"Automation is the only way to make significant progress"
Exact Payment Service is Exact's payment service provider. This service enables Exact customers to import bank transactions into their administration and swiftly and easily process payments to their suppliers and employees. Naturally, De Nederlandsche Bank sets strict conditions for such a payment service. And especially when it comes to Exact's extensive customer base, this entails a huge challenge with regard to compliance, which takes the form of a thorough onboarding and compliance screening. Each new customer is pre-screened to check its compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Since such a screening and onboarding process is extremely time consuming, Exact decided to make some changes.
"We had to get a lot of customers through our onboarding process in a short time span," says Joko Tenthof van Noorden, Director Exact Payment Services & Governance Risk & Control. “That's 50,000 to 60,000 companies that wanted to become customers of Exact. In order for that to happen, they all had to be screened in a short period of time. We used to ask new customers to fill out questionnaires to that effect, but this placed a lot of strain on these prospects because they had to get through many different steps. This process had to be revamped and automation would play a key role in this new version. Automation is the foundation of Exact after all; automation is the only way to make significant progress, reduce margins of error and offer real-time insights to support our customers in the best possible way.”
2 The solution
A specific Compliance API built by Altares
“There was a lot of manual work involved in onboarding our customers and we wanted to get rid of that. It was because the data we received was actually insufficient and said too little about individual customers that so much manual work was involved, as this meant we had to carry out further research,” says Tenthof van Noorden. “Altares Dun & Bradstreet then created a specific Compliance API for us. This software interface allows two applications to communicate with each other. Based on the company data supplied by Altares Dun & Bradstreet and our rules, we are now able to very easily and quickly determine who exactly our prospects are; for example, who is the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO), is this person and/or one of the directors on Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) or other sanctions lists and to what extent should important news facts be included in my assessment? Since virtually the entire process can be automated in this way, that process ends up running more and more smoothly and error-free. With these solutions, we have been able to get approximately 60,000 customers through the onboarding process in a turnaround time of several months.
1984
100
2.000
Tenthof van Noorden looks back on the successful start to this collaboration. “Altares Dun & Bradstreet was very flexible during our close collaboration,” adds Tenthof van Noorden. "This was crucial, because we, at Exact, are innovative and change quickly. We are constantly developing, improving and updating our software, and a partner must be able to keep up with that pace. If a partner makes us wait for months, it won't work. Altares Dun & Bradstreet kept up with us at this fast pace and was always ready to support us. We really appreciate their flexible attitude; it provided a good basis for our partnership.”
3. The result
A major efficiency gain for Exact and its customers
"Thanks to the solution provided by Altares Dun & Bradstreet, we've been able to greatly simplify the onboarding process, for the customer and for Exact. Having all the data already available to us has also significantly increased the happy flow among our customers.”
“Exact customers are looking for a fast and effective way to do their accounting. This would not have been possible without our partnership with Altares Dun & Bradstreet. By automating our entire process, we've made significant improvements in terms of acceptance, customer ratios and, especially, efficiency - which is ultimately the biggest win-win for us and our customers.”
What other customers say
"As a company with an international focus, it is important for us to have a stable solution available based on global data."
'Every new customer we want to check. It sleeps much better for everyone if you know that companies you are owed money from can actually pay it.'
"To make sure we are sourcing good, reliable dealers everywhere, we need the expertise of Altares Dun & Bradstreet"
"We can now act proactively when it comes to credit risk"
"We had another business information provider, but in testing we found that with their data we were only covering 45 percent of our customers"
"Doing business based on current, complete and accurate data"
"Only by automating can we make substantial gains"
"Improved customer insight and optimal service"
"'For Barco, it is important to support your strategy and decisions with market data"
"Altares Dun & Bradstreet's Marketing Insight solutions have provided ten times higher conversion from 'suspects' to 'prospects' in the Benelux"
"Altares Dun & Bradstreet understands the data and the business. Together we will take steps toward the sustainable future"
"We obviously don't want to do business with individuals or organizations that are subject to sanctions"
