Customer analytics is increasingly becoming an essential offering for consulting service businesses. In the age of 5G and digital connectivity, a tremendous amount of data is being collected and stored. Data is like the new oil. It can be used to construct insights and aid essential decisions. Take lending as an example. Companies with data about customer credit and past behavior can quickly underwrite smaller loans. Technology allows such companies to underwrite and then disburse such loans in a day. Therefore, the demand for critical customer data is huge. Companies like TransUnion have spent decades compiling such data. They specialize in consumer credit rating. Therefore, such companies have now begun to monetize this data through consulting and analytics. If you are looking for consulting services industry stock, then you may want to go beyond the traditional powerhouses like Bain, BCG, and McKinsey.
How TransUnion Became A Credit Rating Giant
There are three big credit bureaus in the US: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. They dominate the credit report business and financial institutions trust their data. TransUnion was founded in 1968. One year later, it acquired a credit rating business called the Credit Bureau of Cook County. That acquisition gave TransUnion access to 3.1 million accounts which was the start of TransUnion’s ascent. Over the next few decades, TransUnion got acquired and it also bought smaller businesses at the same time to grow. In 2015, the company went public. By then, it was already one of the top 3 credit bureaus in the US. Today, TransUnion has data of 200 million accounts. Even though it is the smallest of the big 3, it still counts over 65000 companies as its customers. TransUnion is one consulting services stock that investors should track closely.
Consulting Services Industry Stock
In the age of big data, TransUnion’s biggest asset is its collection of data of 200 million accounts. It can monetize this data by analyzing it and creating actionable insights for its clients. It all becomes part of the massive disruption that is going on in the financial space.
