The Economist has called data this century’s oil. However, as this century continues to progress and evolve, we at GDC see data not as the “new oil”, but the “new water.” We contend that water, just like data, is a resource. And like water, data is a resource that has varying degrees of quality, needs to be curated, treated, and delivered through a service to achieve the best results. 

Water comes from a myriad of different sources, for example: ground-water wells, glaciers, lakes, and reservoirs. Water can be favored, sparkling or still, and range in quality – coming different locations around the globe.  But prior to consumption, all water is treated & curated to remove pollution, chemicals, sediments, and filter it to drinking quality. 

These processes transform a raw water source into quality water delivered as a service.

Data requires very much the same treatment. There are millions of “data wells” around the world. Like water, these data wells need to be refined, treated, and curated to be useful and actionable assets. 

Our team at GDC identifies & discovers data in all corners of the world. Our Consortium of data partners allows us access to data sources, and through a rigorous onboarding and integration process, we finally make that data accessible through our platform to power electronic Identity Verification (eIDV), KYC (Know Your Customer), and KYB (Know Your Business) solutions. 

Before water even reaches a treatment facility, water sources need to be discovered and experts need to determine if the source is viable. GDC provides the expertise to identify data wells, determine if the data is viable to provide eIDV services, ensure that the quality, compliance, and permitted use around the data source is met. We apply matching and standardization software to the data to enable cross alphabet matching, support for structured and unstructured inputs, and machine learning to achieve the highest pass rates or quality with the data. We then “pipe” it and hundreds of similarly curated sources globally through our service for consumption through a single API.  In this way our Worldview platform produces the Pellegrino of identity data & verification. 

GDC carefully vets the sources throughout the lifetime of our relationship with a provider. We do this with a due diligence process that determines if data is authoritative, independent, and reliable enough to become part of our industry-leading, KYC identity verification Worldview platform. We then manage the privacy and permitted use challenges that must be met to include the source in our service. Next, we run a proof of concept to see if data sets provide match rates that meet our stringent standards. Finally, if we determine the data source has true value, we “pipe” it in with other sources in the market and make it available through Worldview. The quality and accuracy of each data source is in each country is constantly monitored and improved to maintain an Evian level of results through Worldview. 

Let’s explore a simple example. In August 2020, a major international fintech player initiated a proof of concept (PoC) with GDC to test our global identity verification capabilities. This test consisted of customer data associated with 54,700 individuals across 15 countries. We identified our “data wells”, curated the sources to produce a service that meets the customer’s compliance rules and element by quality level.  We then used our Worldview platform to deliver via API a best-in-industry match rate & result. These 15 countries had different alphabets, languages, name and address structures, available input elements, and national ID formats. The 15 countries also had differing matching criteria and regulatory rules and standards for each market. GDC curated the different “data wells” applying the necessary technology and rule sets to each source to produce a standardized, optimized output. The result – GDC’s platform transformed the curated data sources into a compliant, high quality, and curated data driven Identity service configured to the customer’s exact requirements. 

We discover new “data wells” and make sure that data is curated and of the highest quality available for identity verification purposes. This process produces an API based service in Worldview that gives our customers the best available identity pass rates and helps prevent costly fines and fees.  

So, as you evaluate your needs in eIDV, KYC, and KYB do you really want to risk “turning on the faucet and getting tap” or do you want the best data quality, curated to be a data experience from Worldview – the Evian of Identity. 

Ready to learn more? Click here for proof of concept information.