Today is a memorable day for GDC. 18 months ago our first customer went live with our Worldview product, relying on GDC and Worldview to provide Address Verification. This client took a chance –to meet their needs for the best verification rates possible, they had to embrace a new model.

When we first speak with clients we explain our model – we find, qualify and integrate local companies that have the best address processing technology in their country. We harmonize our partner’s technologies and serve up all of that global value with a single OnDemand API. We understand that this model differs from other companies who build a single product, from a single data source, delivered the same way year-after-year.

Our clients embrace Worldview for innovative use cases. Companies validating address information as a key component of Identity Verification. eCommerce companies supporting cross-border commerce. Global organizations verifying and locating millions of points of interest. Delivery companies testing addresses to de-risk their logistics processes.

Now that we have been live for 18 months we can test the assumptions we made at the beginning. We had certain beliefs at the onset, how did we do? Let’s look at 4 of our initial suppositions.

Local Partners = Local Insight

We believed at the beginning that local partners would understand their country best and three themes have emerged. Within their country our partners handle regional variation, bad data patterns, and multilingual challenges better than anyone else.

Local Partners = Access to Unique Local Data

We thought that our partners would have insight on accessing, integrating and utilizing additional local data into their solution. GDC partners understand how to blend unique data into their solution, and they have the time and focus to do this work. Over half of our partners are using some form of data that is not being used by a global player.

Local Partners = Battle Tested Technology

Great address technology only gets great because it gets utilized; no one starts with an A+ product. We surmised our partners’ technology would be battle tested. For example, one partner’s offering is used by their country’s national post, and is accessed over a million times per week; the national post validates the goodness of their technology. This is representative of all of our partners – their technology is great because it gets used in-country, by clients that demand the best results.

Local Partners = Awesome Responsiveness

We knew our partners would be responsive in many ways. Our partners react quickly to new use cases and new address forms. Last month one of our customers had an issue with how a certain address suffix type was being handled, a pattern that would never be used in-country. Our partner enhanced their behavior and a correction was available the following day. Our partners are creating the next required services. A great example is our India partner that launched an advanced service. Our partners must continuously innovate; they don’t have the luxury of only revisiting their technology once a year, or when enough complaints for their country have piled up.

Where Are We Now?

After 18 months we have proven our beliefs at the beginning of this journey. We have worked with partners and clients that are willing to challenge conventions for how global address processing gets done. We continue to add countries to Worldview, and continue to tune Worldview to handle innovative eCommerce, Identity Verification, global point of interest, and delivery logistics use cases.

So that’s where we are 18 months since going live. Let’s see what the next 18 months brings. As always, we enjoy speaking with clients about how we can help you solve your business problems. Give us a shout and let’s see how we can expand your Worldview.