Dun and Bradstreet

Introduction

There aren’t many businesses that have existed as long as Dun and Bradstreet have, and with their experience comes the knowledge of what makes a business work well and be a contender in modern times. They offer credit reporting and provide commercial data analytics to offer insights into the market through their cloud-based data information.

Whether it’s a local business or a Fortune 500 company, Dun & Bradstreet is unparalleled in what it offers. However, the one thing they are most known for is their Data Universal Numbering System. Their D-U-N-S Number is the most used number for identifying businesses across the United States.

Mission Statement

Dun & Bradstreet has a singular focus: offer quality help to businesses and help their performance through data, insight, and analytics. They want to provide a long sustainable growth and modernize all aspects of a company, letting them be a contender in the 21st century. By leveraging their superior data through the use of its data cloud, they’re able to provide quality support to all who ask.

Products

Possibly, the most well-known service from Dun & Bradstreet is the D-U-N-S Number. It’s a unique nine-digit identifier for businesses that help predict reliability and financial stability. It’s used by companies and corporations worldwide.

Dun & Bradstreet offer a variety of products that can help every unique business with any issue they may come across. Each product offers a solution to credit, risk, marketing, sales, analytics, and more.

If you’re looking for something regarding credit and risk management, the D&B Credit Advantage is a great way to start. It takes your accounts receivable data and blends them with Dun & Bradstreet’s industry-leading scores to offer personalized and customized risk assessments.

The D&B Credit Reporter provides an assessment of potential customers with easy to read business credit reports. The D&B Credit is the primary credit risk management solution that allows a business to monitor and assess credit reports. It provides customers with a way to automate credit decisions and gives businesses the ability to systemically manage risk and reduce waiting times by streamlining the process.

Sales and marketing are a massive factor of any business, and Dun & Bradstreet provide products that will assist in marketing and sales. One such product is the D&B Hoovers, a sales intelligence solution that delivers critical intelligence during the point of interaction to improve communication. It effectively identifies the most valuable prospects to increase sales and seamlessly integrates into CRM platforms.

Another product is the D&B Optimizer for Salesforce. It uses the D-U-N-S Number to go through the market in the appropriate segments, managing your data quality inside the Salesforce environment so you can put your focus on other things. There’s also an optimizer for Microsoft so that you can improve your business’ data by inserting firmographic data directly into your Microsoft applications.

The D&B Audience Targeting product provides access to the Dun & Bradstreet data cloud, which hosts over 300 million business records, and maps the data to 350 million cookies and mobile device IDs. It provides your company with the ability to deliver ads across all the tech devices, including tech players, social media, and TV.

The D&B Optimizer streamlines data management to provide you with accurate insight and predictions, allowing your company to make better-informed decisions and act more quickly. The D&B Customer integration enables you to use the data within Dun & Bradstreet to give insight to better market and sell to customers.

The D&B Spend Intelligence offers full visibility into corporate spending to make better-informed spending decisions. You can also use the D&B Supplier Risk Manager to monitor supplier relationships and avoid costly disruptions.

Wanting to know who you’re doing business with is essential, and Dunn & Bradstreet understands this immensely. The D&B Compliance FATCA & CRS Classifier leverages data to accelerate the FATCA & CRS Compliance process, reducing time to classify clients. D&B Onboard quickly vets third-party corporations, providing you with a reduced risk better peace of mind. It’s different, however, to the D&B Compass, which is a cloud-based automated workflow management tool that’s powered through AI, utilizing the D-U-N-S Number to make sure that everything and everyone is who they say they are.

One such product that is recommended for every business to use, however, is the Human Trafficking Risk Index. It incorporates data from the over 300 million companies that are serviced by Dunn & Bradstreet and the Department of State and ILAB data to identify risks and potential risks of places using forced labor. The supplier index is updated quarterly to better detect any changes in risks, while the index itself is updated 5 million times a day.

Dun & Bradstreet has been helping companies across the globe for decades, providing much-needed clarity through its products throughout its history. The products that are offered provide insight into Dun & Bradstreet’s database and allows businesses to manage their business in a variety of customizable ways to their advantage.

History

Dun & Bradstreet can be traced back about 178 years ago on July 20, 1841, to a man named Lewis Tappan. He recognized a need for a centralized credit reporting system during the formation of his Mercantile Agency in New York. Tappan created a kind of network of correspondents around the city that would function as a way to provide and maintain a source of reliable and unbiased credit information. His Mercantile Agency would be one of the first formed solely for this purpose.

In 1849, Tappan handed over the agency to Benjamin Douglas, who capitalized on the new and improved mode of transportation and communication of the time and provided the business with new clients. Douglas hired new employees full time, who soon became experienced in reading and interpreting credit information; becoming a creditor soon became a highly respectable profession.

A rival organization, the John M. Bradstreet Company, was founded in 1849 and popularized the credit rating system almost two years later. The two agencies would be rivals for the next few decades. In 1859, Douglas turned his company over to his brother-in-law, Robert Graham Dun, who rebranded it as the R.G. Dun & Company and continued its expansion that started under Douglas. Dun relentlessly expanded across the globe, entering new countries and advancing the vision of its founder, Lewis Tappan, well into the next century.

During the economic depression in the 1930s, the John M. Bradstreet Company and the R.G. Dun & Company merged to form Dun & Bradstreet, surviving the Great Depression and continuing the services both companies began. Arthur Whiteside was the architect of the merger and began offering services on top of the products that the two separate companies had provided previously.

The introduction of computers and the vastly improved methods of communication launched Dun & Bradstreet well into the information and beyond. Not only did the fast communication of the modern times provide Dun & Bradstreet to improve their credit scoring system, but they were able to begin offering commercial data and insights as well as solutions that leverage that information for every unique business need.

In 1963, Dun & Bradstreet introduced the Data Universal Numbering System (also known as the D-U-N-S Number) to identify businesses in the computer age of today. Today, the D-U-N-S Number has become the standard business identifier for countless companies around the world.

Today, Dun & Bradstreet holds over 300 million records, providing many services and products to any and all businesses around the globe. The company attracted the interest of an investor group led by CC Capitol Cannae Holdings, Bilcar, LLC, Black Knight, Inc. and funded by Thomas H. Lee Partners, who acquired the company in February 2019.

Contacting Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet is always open and ready to hear from anyone who has a question or is providing feedback on services. The simplest method to contact them, is through their website. The instant messaging feature is incredibly useful. It allows you to connect with a customer service representative quickly. However, they also have an email form you can fill out, and they’ll get in touch with you quickly. You can also call them at (800) 526-9018.

The company’s corporate headquarters is available on the site, along with the corporate phone number if you need to head to them in person. Their corporate address is 103 JFK Parkway, Short Hills, NJ 07078, and the corporate number is (973) 921-5500.

How to Report an Error on Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet typically offers the most up to date credit reporting information that it can, but nothing is perfect, and sometimes, the reporting may not be up-to-date. If you find that there is an error or inaccurate information on the Dun & Bradstreet database, there are ways you can correct the information.

First, call customer service at 800-234-3867 and follow the instructions to discuss your report. Another way will involve having your D-U-N-S Number; to find this, head over to the iUpdate section at the D&B website. After you provide your business information, you’ll receive your number in a few days.

You can also register as a user for iUpdate to submit updates on the Dun & Bradstreet information report. This is beneficial, as having continuously updated information will improve your credibility among banks and other companies. You’ll be able to adjust any information accurately; you may receive a phone call to verify the information, however.

For billing disputes, challenging payments and outdated public filings that appear on your report, contact customer service. Dun and Bradstreet will have agents ready to verify payments and make changes as needed. They will also clear up any issues that have already been settled or dismissed, but still appear on your report. You will be asked to submit documentation to verify a settlement or dismissal; if you cannot, Dun & Bradstreet will recheck the status of your public filing.

As with any tech company in the 21st century, Dun & Bradstreet is not immune to the occasional Error Message. If you find yourself encountering a Critical Error message, the best thing to do is to complete a form and reporting the error. The form is simple. It will ask for your information, including the tracking code, and any information you have that can help solve this problem.

Conclusion

Dun & Bradstreet is committed to providing quality service by engaging in the business of collecting, maintaining and providing commercial business information and providing an online database with information on public and private companies. It provides data and analytics for businesses worldwide to make better decisions. Basically, Dun & Bradstreet’s purpose is to help companies succeed, and by offering a variety of products and services, and making identifying and reporting credit easier, it can do just that.