Understanding Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)
Dun & Bradstreet, fondly known as D&B, isn’t just a company—it’s nearly a sovereign state in the business intelligence kingdom. Founded in the time when top hats were trendy (the 1840s, just for clarity), D&B has been keeping the business world afloat with its cutting-edge analytics and mammoth data collections—all this long before “big data” was even a twinkle in the tech world’s eye.
Key Takeaways
- Global Reach: Touching the lives of businesses in over 243 countries, D&B is the ‘Santa Claus’ of data, knowing if you’ve been naughty or nice (financially speaking).
- Revenue Standings: With a handsome revenue of $1.7 billion in 2020, D&B proves that data really is the new oil.
- DUNS Influence: The DUNS number, a numerical whisper among businesses, positions companies uniquely in the global marketplace, making it the ‘social security number’ for businesses.
History Made Humorous
The saga began with Lewis Tappan spinning the wheel with the Mercantile Agency in New York, the pioneering talisman of modern credit reporting. Moving through time, in came R.G. Dun & Co. and Bradstreet, rivals in data danced their way to a merger in 1933, thus giving birth to the titan now known as D&B. Not just content with their colossal databases, they leapt into the digital age with tools like their DUNSRight® Quality Process, which isn’t just another corporate tool—it’s the “Excalibur” in the stone of business data management.
Data Universal Numbering System
A brainchild of 1963, the Data Universal Numbering System or DUNS is not just a number—it’s the golden ticket to the global business chocolate factory. It’s a unique nine-digit identifier that D&B assigns to each business entity, facilitating galactic levels of data connectivity.
Exploring Further
D&B isn’t just about crunching numbers and spitting out data; it’s about delivering intelligence that businesses leverage for enhancing profitability, managing risk, and painting global maps with their clientele footprints.
Related Terms
- Business Intelligence: The magic wand that transforms raw data into insightful corporate decisions.
- Credit Rating: A report card showing how financially naughty or nice a business has been.
- Risk Management: The corporate crystal ball used to foresee and manage potential business calamities.
Suggested Reading
- “The Data Warehouse Toolkit” by Ralph Kimball
- “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
- “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely
Through the mists of corporate history and landscapes littered with data, Dun & Bradstreet emerges as a beacon of intelligence, wit, and financial forethought in the modern business realm—an entity not simply moved by trends, but one that moves them.
