4 ms·

D&B is one of those companies that I wonder: Why are they still around? There should be a better way. They feel extremely legacy. Interfacing with their softwar

• meri_dian 9y ago
  Companies have no incentive to share information about themselves to anyone other than the government and credit agencies. So given that constraint what D&B does is the most efficient way. And they're already so dominant it's hard for competitors to break into their business. So they have monopoly power and can afford to have bad software.
• tyingq 9y ago
  Seems like their business model only works because of the fragmented, state by state nature of getting 3rd party business info in the US. I imagine they aren't used much in places like the UK, where the government offers centralized business info lookup.
• arethuza 9y ago
  I've worked at a company that used D&B data and services a fair bit and while I agree that the process is painful I'm not aware of anyone else that can offer a comparable service - particularly not internationally.
• Animats 9y ago
  Historically D&B was the business credit company that actually sent people to look at a business. They'd report back "2 story brick building on busy street in good condition with good customer traffic". Somebody has to collect data on the ground.
• willstrafach 9y ago
  Their reporting and "past performance" info gets used by USG if you are interested in federal contracting.