36 blog posts tagged "Data governance"

This June, Klarna and PayPal made some big moves into the physical card space. Klarna teamed up with Visa to launch a BNPL (buy-now-pay-later) debit card, while PayPal’s partnership with Mastercard aims to help the brand make the jump from phone to wallet. Coupled with other wave-making announcements like Stripe’s all-in moves on AI and stablecoins, PayPal and Klarna’s announcements emphasize a broader industry shift as fintechs transform from niche digital players to comprehensive financial services platforms.

Ask most product owners about their address data, and they’ll probably tell you that “it’s good enough. ” But when it comes to address data integrity, the word “enough” should give you serious pause. When it comes to address data, “close enough” is how businesses end up with wasted marketing spend, compliance headaches, failed deliveries, and policies that don’t hold up. It doesn’t matter if you're underwriting insurance on a home, scheduling a broadband install, or mailing a benefits enrollment kit—accuracy isn’t a nice-to-have.

Healthcare fraud isn’t just an occasional headache—it’s a $20 billion-a-year black hole draining financial institutions. And that’s just the fraud we know about. As healthcare systems become more complex, fraudsters are also getting smarter, faster, and more creative at exploiting vulnerabilities, especially in address verification. The healthcare industry is an easy target. Medical data can be more valuable than credit card numbers, billing systems are a tangled mess, and the sheer complexity of transactions creates endless opportunities for fraud to slip through unnoticed.

Address autocomplete is a powerful tool for improving form completions and ensuring users select real, deliverable addresses at entry. However, to maintain long-term data integrity and enhance address-related insights, address verification is a necessary complement. Here’s why:1. Gain up to 55 points of metadata per verified addressAutocomplete provides real-time address suggestions, while address verification appends additional metadata. Address verification enhances each address with up to 55 points of data, such as:ZIP-9 level accuracy geocoordinates (rooftop accuracy also available)ZIP+4 CodesResidential Delivery Indicator (RDI) to identify residential vs.

There are plenty of address data solutions in the sea. You might need to let them off the hook if:Their data accuracy is sufferingToo many false positivesSpotty data availability (lack of international support? Beuller?)Off-the-mark geocoding (not truly rooftop-level accurate)Missing data enrichment (RDI, FIPS, unique ID, secondary addresses, etc. )They don’t flirt nicely (or at all) with your existing systemsThey don’t have an accurate address autocomplete solutionYour relationship with them has become robotic and mundane (When you need help, you have to talk to a robot instead of a real person for support… ew.

Shipping optimization is rapidly evolving the retail landscape with advancements in shipping technology. From using robotics to increase efficiency and protect workers from dangerous jobs to autonomous vehicles and drones taking items to hard-to-reach areas, shipping has drastically evolved from the infancy of ecommerce in the 1990s. Sure, the 90s are currently having a pop culture resurgence, but your customers don’t want their shipping experience to go retro. One of the most impactful ways to ship effectively is to use a Shipping Execution System (SES).

Here is a day to consider protecting sensitive data, whether it's names, addresses, social security numbers, telephone numbers, email addresses, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, financial data, or biometric records! Today's the day to double-check your systems and ensure accurate information management. It’s Computer Security Day, baby! 2-factor authentication? Check. Fingerprint and facial recognition? Check. Passwords over 15 characters long with alternating capital and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers? Check!Your IT team is metaphorically making you double-pull on that yellow tab to ensure you’re strapped in securely.

In an age where we treat digital devices like freshly-grown appendages, our obsession with Generative AI is only natural. With minimal prompting, GenAI can write songs, novels, poetry, and more. Some GenAI creations turn out pretty okay, and some turn out less okay (look at this bear/fish hybrid we made), but that’s part of the fun. As GenAI becomes more prominent in our personal and work lives, so too do concerns about its effects. Artists, writers, marketers, and developers alike are becoming nervous that robots will replace them in their careers.

Webinar recap: In a recent webinar, we showed how address data tools help managers improve business performance in the following areas:Network PlanningAsset ManagementCustomer Acquisition and RetentionData BlendingMail and Parcel DeliveryFraud Reduction1. Network planningAccurate address data plays a critical role in overcoming network planning challenges. We presented solutions at each of the following steps in the network planning process: Clean existing address data with US Address VerificationKeep incoming data clean with US Address AutocompleteMap all addresses using our US Master Address List and hyper-accurate US Rooftop GeocodingAdd context to maps with enriched US Property DataAnalyze, get spatial insights, and make confident business decisions 2.

In a world where the lines between digital and physical spaces blur, the health of our computers has a massive impact on our productivity and overall ability to perform well at work. Clean Out Your Computer Day, observed on the second Monday of February, is the perfect opportunity to ensure that we declutter and optimize our virtual spaces. Just as we regularly clean our homes and offices, this day underscores the importance of maintaining a streamlined, efficient computer setup. The digital declutter: Where to startStarting with the basics, sift through your files and programs.

Smarty™ recently hosted an enlightening webinar on Project US@, a vital initiative in health information technology. The webinar, led by Wes Arnold, Team Lead of Product Marketing, provided insights into Project US@ and its significant role in patient data management. What is Project US@?Project US@ is led by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in collaboration with HSC and AHIMA. The final version 1. 0 was released on January 7, 2022. The goal? The initiative's main objective is to establish a standard approach for representing patient addresses across all health IT systems.

In the mystical and beloved land of Middle-earth envisioned by J. R. R. Tolkien, we find a powerful lesson encapsulated in the gentle beings of the Shire, the hobbits. As the world celebrates Hobbit Day today, we at Smarty™ take a moment to reflect upon the substantial parallels between Tolkien's humble hobbits and the fundamental principles steering the realm of address data intelligence. In the grand scheme of things, it’s often easy to overlook the small, the quiet, the unassuming. This is one of the several clever reasons JRR Tolkien chose these garden-loving creatures as his heroes.

Address keys can be used to improve data blending, update and enrich addresses, reduce data processing time, and protect personally identifiable information. In this webinar, we brought in our product marketing manager John Hickey to teach about what they are, how they work, why they're crucial for data management, the different types available, what to look for in one, and what to avoid. Ultimately, John pointed out five primary uses for address keys:1. Update Address Changes2. Simplify Data Blending3.

Crowd-source data is a term that has gained significant traction in recent years. In a recent webinar, we brought in our own Adam Charlton to talk about what can and can’t be trusted when using Open Source or Crowd-Sourced address data. Defining crowd-source dataAt the outset, it's imperative to understand what we mean by crowd-source data. It essentially refers to data that is both gathered and curated by individuals. The distinguishing feature here is that the data's curation process isn't dictated by a centralized authority or stringent verification system but by the same community that's gathering and supplying the data.

Handling address data is such a routine occurrence for health insurance providers that it’s not the first thing that would come to mind as being a liability. However, the reality is that discrepancies and inaccuracies in address data can have far-reaching consequences, posing serious privacy and compliance risks. Healthcare fraud, reputational damage, and financial penalties are just a few examples of the potential hazards. In this article, we’ll delve into three common types of privacy and compliance risks resulting from incorrect or incomplete address data.

When it comes to physical health, sometimes the smallest things can have a big impact. A microscopic virus or a small injury can develop into a life-threatening infection before you even know it’s there — and conversely, a tiny pill or ointment can save a life. The little things matter when it comes to health data, too. In particular, address data is a small part of a patient profile that can have far-reaching effects if it is incorrect or incomplete. Address data is a key information point at the center of billing and communication with patients, and even a slight mistake in an address—a missing unit number or a misspelled street name—can make mail undeliverable.

Ever since the first Blue Cross health insurance plan was provided to Texas schoolteachers in 1929 for a monthly fee of $6, health insurance providers have formed the backbone of the American healthcare system. Today, as that system faces ongoing scrutiny, health insurance providers are still at the heart of the action, striving to connect patients to the highest possible quality of care while navigating significant changes including rising costs, digital transformation, medical advances, customer expectations, and ever-present regulations.

Your business generates data with every digital ad you run, every purchase order, every promotional mailing, and every customer survey you do. And every time one campaign wraps up, another starts. Developing a solid database cleansing and consolidation strategy can help prevent a database full of holes and information gaps. Why does database cleansing matter? Your revenue will diminish if you rely on bad data to make strategic business decisions. In our ebook, 5 Ways Companies Use Address Verification to Improve Business Results, we discuss how to use address verification software to cleanse databases and merge datasets.

Picture this. You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!Can you hear the 🎵 dee dee dee doo dee dee dee doo 🎵?That is the familiar introduction to a show that would boggle our minds and twist reality as we know it. Today, apparently, is Twilight Zone Day. Celebrate how you will. Another thing that boggles our minds and seems to twist reality as we know it is when addresses change or when they go by an alias, or when you ship something to someone's house at the exact address they told you, and it still gets returned for some reason.

If you’ve decided to embark on a journey of data governance, you’ll want to check out the full ebook “Data Governance: An Executive’s Survival Guide. ” The following is but one chapter of the guide. Tools available for data governanceBy outlining and implementing data quality control guidelines, data governance software helps organizations meet regulatory standards, improve security, and increase employee efficiency. While some software is designed explicitly for data governance, it's also possible to find master data management and data quality software with built-in tools for data governance processes.

We have the luxury at Smarty of working with some fantastically intelligent, kind, friendly, and in many cases, funny individuals. Today we showcase one of those fantastic individuals, Ryan Cox. Ryan has a history of high-quality performance while problem-solving and team-building at large software companies along Silicon Slopes. You want experience? Ryan has experience. We're talking 61 years collectively in Java, Javascript, Typescript, SQL, Angular, AWS, and loads more. As a key developer at each company he's ever worked at, he's keeping the ball rolling by improving the quality of work we do here at Smarty every day.

Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22, raising awareness about environmental issues and encouraging people to take action to protect our planet. But have you ever considered the connection between Earth Day and clean address data?You probably haven't. But don't worry, because we have. Let's take a look at the importance of maintaining clean and accurate address data and how it can contribute to a healthier environment. The importance of clean address dataKeeping your address database clean and up-to-date is essential for businesses of all sizes.

In today's digital age, businesses collect vast amounts of data on their customers, including their addresses. However, federal laws are yet to be enacted to protect consumers from businesses that misuse or from hackers who abuse personal data. Consumers looking for protection must, for now, rely on various State legislation and privacy protection laws. Businesses must keep abreast of the multiple laws governing consumer rights and take extra measures to protect consumers' personal information, including address data.

Dirty data, which is incomplete, incorrect, inaccurate, or irrelevant data can lead to misinformed decisions and missed opportunities. That's why ensuring your organization's data is clean and accurate is essential. Data cleansing is finding and removing corrupt or inaccurate records from a set of data. It allows you to identify which elements in your database are bad data and ensures your data is accurate and trustworthy. After cleansing, it is best practice for organizations to enrich or append their data to ensure it’s complete, up-to-date, and reliable.

Successful data governance requires more than just rules and policies. It requires a dedicated team of professionals with clear roles and responsibilities to effectively manage and protect the data. We recently published “Data Governance: An Executive’s Survival Guide”, an ebook that you can download right now. In it you’ll find information on data governance and other important factors in the address data game. The following is an excerpt on the section about the different roles and responsibilities involved in data governance.

In today's data-driven world, data security is more important than ever. Data is always at risk for attacks and misuse, and lack of security is an increasing threat. With the rise of phishing attacks and other cyber threats, organizations must be vigilant to protect their data from unauthorized access, theft, and misuse. The following is an excerpt from our newest ebook, “Data Governance: An Executive’s Survival Guide”. You can download the entire guide here. According to Forbes, in 2019 phishing attacks rose to their highest level since 2016, and the time it took to detect and resolve data breaches also increased that year.

We recently published an ebook titled “Data Governance: An Executive’s Survival Guide”. The following is a sampling of the chapter on data quality. The value of data qualityData is the lifeblood of modern organizations, providing crucial insights that can drive decision-making and innovation. However, the value of data is only as good as its quality. Poor quality data can lead to costly mistakes, misinformed decisions, and reputational damage. That's why it's essential to ensure your organization's data fits its intended purpose.

Master data management is but one section of our recent ebook “Data Governance: An Executive’s Survival Guide”. You can download the full ebook for free here. What is master data?Master data is all the data critical to your business's operation. It's the data that multiple departments depend on to make decisions and drive success. From customer data to product data, financial data to inventory data, master data is the backbone of many organizations. Without it, businesses would struggle to operate efficiently and effectively.

We're thrilled to share a sneak peek of one of the sections in our latest ebook, "Data Governance: An Executive's Survival Guide. " This guide is a must-have for anyone with a database, and we have packed it with an abundance of critical points and examples that will enlighten and entertain you. One of the most valuable assets businesses have is the digital data we work with every day. As more and more data is collected and used, it's important to have a system to manage it effectively. Enter data governance frameworks.

Certain surprises are fun. Finding out the person in front of you at Starbucks paid for your coffee? Java-tastic! Finding out you've been shipping products to addresses that don't exist? That's a postal catastrophe. Luckily, many shipping snafus can be prevented by using address validation software. Address validation (or verification) is the process of checking a mailing address against an authoritative address database. If the address matches an address in the known database, it is marked “valid”—meaning it's real.

It’s November, and online shopping is ramping up to its climactic end-of-year blitz. www. blackfriday. com estimates that between Thanksgiving and Black Friday of this year, consumers will spend approximately $13 billion (1). That’s great news for your business. But if you don’t have the right tools in place to help you meet that demand, you might be left wishing you had better prepare. Staffing may be one issue for many businesses. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, the wholesale and retail trade industry has experienced the second-highest quit rate of all industries since November 2020(2).

You've asked for it, and now you’ve got it. The next time you log into your Smarty account, you’ll see the option to log in to Smarty using your Google account. Merge an existing Smarty account with GoogleMerging your account with your Google account will not affect your available lookups, security keys, or any other part of your Smarty account. Merging your Smarty account will:Increase security by reducing the number of managed passwords and how often you have to enter your password. Allow you to leverage additional security features offered by Google, such as 2-factor authentication when you log in with Smarty.

No matter the industry, data security is, and always will be, paramount. Data breaches can cause significant revenue loss and customer trust. No doubt you remember the 2017 Equifax data breach. This breach affected 148 million records, including social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and, in some cases, driver's license numbers and credit card information. Equifax paid out $700 million in damages to help people affected by the data breach, and suffered through reputational damage and congressional inquiries.

Since the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe in early 2020, organizations have realized that being successful in the digital age requires agility not just in software development and delivery, but also in business strategy and operational execution. Achieving agility in your business's actions and reactions requires a culture of continuous improvement—and the right software to support those actions!Every company relies on a network of complex systems and software, including Customer Relation Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Business Intelligence (BI), Geocoding, Address Validation, and more.

Are you looking to use an API to verify addresses and convert them to latitude and longitude coordinates?Maybe you also need to standardize addresses in order to de-duplicate records across millions of addresses in your database too. That's right, we're talking about validating, standardizing, and bulk-processing geocodes with a geocoding API. There are several options out there, so let us tell you how speed sets Smarty apart from the rest. Smarty is fast. Now, we're not just talking about fast like Usain Bolt.

September 22, 2020 - PROVO, UTAH - SmartyStreets, the leader in location data intelligence, announces the release of their US Rooftop Geocoding and US Reverse Geocoding. These new products will provide customers with the highest precision geocodes available in the market today. Most other geocoding providers provide “parcel-centroid” geocodes. That means that the geocodes are approximations of the center of a property or parcel. While providers in the past have called their geocodes “rooftop accurate,” in reality, their geocodes are often quite far from the actual rooftop of a property.