The Germans are extremely persistent. They have staying power, are resistant and adaptable. But before jumping in at the deep end, they startle a little. So what can be done in times of change? German version here Volker Maiborn stands in front of a wall. In front of him 500 employees who are silent. On the photo wall every employee of the Munich IT consultancy Maiborn-Wolff is immortalized with his image and name. The new ones are marked with a colored curl. For a long time

Employers need to protect their employees from job-related dangers to life, limb and psyche. Especially the latter is not easy - in mental risk assessment, small and middle-sized enterprises lag behind. The effort, however, can be worthwhile. Time pressure, constant availability, the tormenting certainty that nothing will remain as it is: working life in times of digitization is intense. Not everyone can handle it. More than half of the employees in Germany suffer from the hi

When "trust" in your trading partner can impact the development of your international business strategy. Remember what Reagan used to say "Trust, but verify!" Find out about the recent trends concerning insolvencies in Europe. Slight increase in insolvencies in Western Europe In Western Europe (EU-15 plus Norway and Switzerland), the number of corporate insolvencies rose slightly in 2018. At 165,213, the total was 0.3 percent higher than in 2017 (164,798). This represented th

Experian has been recognized as one of the World's most innovative companies by the magazine Forbes. Innovation is at the heart of our business and our culture. It is one of the reasons we’re proud to be named one of the top 100 most innovative companies in the world for the fifth year in a row by Forbes magazine. In the publication’s eighth annual list of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies,” Experian climbed to the rank of 57th and is amongst the top 10 most innovative

But an adventure is not something you do not prepare! Make sure you are ready for the entrepreneurial adventure thanks to our representative in Ireland: Experian! Experian Ireland Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit r

Corporate social responsibility results from an awareness that a company's performance is not only measured by its financial results but must also take into account the effects of its activity on its employees, business partners, the environment and more generally on society as a whole. The CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) approach, initially voluntary, is becoming more and more regulated and a "requirement" (law relating to Due Diligence). Large companies must put in pl

This could be the headline of a great article about old school credit evaluation and how to avoid the risk of clients not paying their invoices. But in 2019 business risk comes in more shapes and sizes than ever before and bad actors are not only associated with the risk of bad debt. Saying “yes”

Experian Ireland has been a key active member of the BIGnet Alliance for many years, supporting the goals and development of the Alliance as well as providing high quality Irish business data and services to its international partners. Ireland’s economy has been among the fastest growing economies in Europe for the last 5 years and has many of the largest global companies with shared service centres and operations located across the country. As such, it regularly appears quit

Most of us believe that a company’s international activity consists of a bunch of lucky guys in suits that enjoy frequent holidays abroad, international meals, get some drinks of local alcohols and have fun all around the world. All of it is obviously… true. But imagine the stress that they must feel once they have to give some feedback to their management in order to keep having all the advantages we just mentioned! And we know there are always two sides to a story. So yes,

Four out of five senior decision-makers now see investment in data, analytics and AI, as critical to their business growth New research shows the vast majority (+80%) of CEOs readily acknowledge the importance of data, analytics and AI, plays in enabling them to make faster, more relia- ble and better-informed decisions. But despite widespread adoption in key areas, many firms continue to be challenged by rising costs of customer acquisition, retention, fraud and bad debt. Th

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in force for three quarters of a year. It is actually aimed at the world's major data collectors. However, this shot foreseeably went wrong and missed the mark. Facebook, Google and Co. are even among the profiteers, for they have succeeded in implementing the required data protection measures in record time and at enormous financial expense. Their business continues to run like clockwork, while hundreds of thous

Luxemburg 2020 - Are companies sufficiently prepared for generational change? Luxemburg, too, will see more and more "baby boomers" take retirement around the year 2020. Several thousand companies in Luxemburg will be concerned. It is not uncommon that the involved individuals are the same entrepreneurs who have been responsible for decades of successful existence and the development of company success stories. Compared to the rest of Europe, Luxemburg is above average in the

Experian UK Experian UK has been a key active member of the BIGnet Alliance for many years , with five of our Country Credit Bureaus participating in BIGnet including UK, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and USA. Learn how to safeguard your business to ensure you make the right credit decisions with Experian’s international data and monitoring capabilities. Meet Experian UK, our BIGnet partner. Think BIG. Think BIGnet.

COMPANY INSOLVENCY STATISTICS 1st half of 2018 Corporate insolvencies stagnating thaks to positive economy The final figures of Creditreform's corporate insolvency statistics for the first half of 2018 show that corporate insolvencies have decreased slightly by 1%. After the historic low of 2017 and a slight growth in the first quarter of 2018, insolvencies are now stagnating at a total of 2,685 cases. The proceedings opened have fallen by 2.4% to 1,578 and the insolvencies t

Data isn't like petrol you can just pump into a car and drive away. You need to process it before you can put it in the tank. Ever heard of a zettabyte? That's the equivalent of 1,000 exabytes. One exabyte is the equivalent of 1,000 petabytes, which is the number we get when we put together 1,000 terabytes. And one terabyte – as you might already know - is the same as 1,000 gigabytes. Keeping up so far? More and more data available As early as 2012, the IT company EMC commiss

Over 6 billion Euros: that is the total turnover of the international association BIGnet Alliance in 2017. 18 experts from 12 different nations came together in Athens to attend the 62nd international meeting of the Alliance. This biannual meeting was set to discuss market opportunities and the best strategies to respond those opportunities. “Forsee in order to act”- Auguste Comte, French philosopher In an environment where qualified information is the key to business decisio

Meet Cerved, our Italian BIGnet partner. Cerved is the leader on the risk management market in Italy, the European fourth more secured and more informed. Think BIG. Think BIGnet.

To have just a little information can create unnecessary risks to companies but to have too much or badly structured information can lead to what was defined a few years ago as Infoxication. And this intoxication produced by the excess of information can also lead to problems as important as insufficient information. In addition, some information may come from multiple sources that we must identify and track. To do so, it is convenient to use business intelligence tools that

Trust is good, solvency check is better! The aim of any business activity is success - but even one wrong credit decision can cause significant financial losses. Risks do not always appear at the start of a business connection but can become apparent over time. This is a particularly crucial point for international business activities. With an international credit report from Creditreform (BIGnet representative in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland…) you will be able t

Belgium is a rather small but very open economy. Thanks to its central location in Europe, performant harbours and airports but also the very dense road network, the country offers an important logistic hub for the entire continent. Since competition is fierce, a large number of foreign companies settle in the country to directly access the European market. As a consequence, nearly every SME has business partners abroad, mostly within Europe. In this perspective, internationa