Until the end of the last century, the business of business information had the great advantage of aggregating information scattered over several sources and giving its customers a quick and reliable way to evaluate a company be it a customer, a supplier or even a competitor. This characteristic is no longer an asset, due to the development of new technologies for access to information and the measures taken by several Governments in making information available to make the market more transparent. In turn, the business information companies have seized this opportunity, modernized, and started to add more value to the information collected.
The industry has developed ways to integrate its services with those of its clients; it has created an automated set of indicators that allow easy and fast analysis of a company and its industry; and it is now providing updates at all levels of analysis of a company, almost in real time. This change has democratized the cost of the service, making it more accessible to all.
This service has been around for more than 100 years and has been a key part of how companies assess credit risk. Over time it has gone from research to data collection, to generating information, to predicting future behavior of companies and markets; it has gone from a paper report, to a standard or tailored digital report and is now integrated into the IT systems of its clients.
If for Bartercard business information services are essential for analyzing the credit risk of members and network, for business information companies, Bartercard is a potential customer. Beyond this obvious relationship, everyone would have much more to gain if the collaboration between Bartercard and business information companies was more than a traditional client-supplier relationship.
In all the new markets where Bartercard intends to establish itself in continental Europe, business information companies are already present. These companies have up to date information about the companies and the market and a commercial network that knows and accompanies their customers. But if these companies added the Barter model to the service they already provide, actively promoting commercial transactions (not only between their clients, but potentially with all the companies that are part of their databases), the additional business potential and advantages for all parties involved would be much greater.
Business information companies can monetize new business relationships between entities that are part of their databases. As they have concrete information about the behavior of companies in their commercial transactions, enriching the information with additional data will be made available. They can facilitate commercial transactions between smaller companies, many of which are not covered by traditional financial products/insurers. This will then add value to their business, while strengthening the economy.
Companies in general will discover an additional channel for gaining and maintain clients and accessing a tool that allows them to make secure transactions without fiat money - saving Euros and improving cash flow. This is also specially designed for SMEs, who often do not have access to tools that facilitate credit risk management.
A close collaborative relationship between Bartercard and business information companies, brings these and other advantages to all stakeholders.
The business information companies could count on with all the tools from Bartercard to launch this new line of business quickly and successfully with the following additional products:
- Business transaction management platform
- Online access technology for customers via web and mobile app
- Company and services and/or products directory
- Training and support documentation
- Support in operationalization and credit risk management
For us, it is one of the fastest and most effective ways to launch a Bartercard in each European country.