Much more than just a resource, Data is now a real competitive advantage for companies. But relying on a qualified database isn't enough: how you use it is what creates value. Find out how to simplify accessibility and speed up data adoption within your organisation.
A strategic necessity for companies
Make data accessible to everyone is no longer just a Tech challenge: it's a key competitive advantage. Companies that succeed in converting their data into actionable insights and intelligent solutions improve their decision-making, adapt more quickly to market changes and create richer and more innovative client experiences. But to turn data access into a competitive advantage, companies need to set up the right infrastructure.
Virtual data lake: centralise without adding complexity
To be able to leverage their data and use it effectively, many companies are turning to data virtualisation technologies. These technologies provide real-time access to an overview of the company's various data sources without having to replicate them in a repository. This technological solution combines data management (in particular commercial data) with operational flexibility.
This is why Coface equipped itself with a Virtual Data Lake. Offering a unified view of company data, regardless of its geographical location, this secure, high-performance platform also strengthens data governance. This Virtual Data Lake allows our clients' SaaS applications to access our data via our API suite or internal applications.
Our Virtual Data Lake is now the single point of access for all Coface data, feeding not only our CRM but also our Data Scientists and other business software.This Tech solution breaks down organisational silos and offers a higher level of collaboration between IT and business, while reducing storage costs
Samia Boujatioui, Head of Data Management at Coface's Data Office.
Data virtualisation offers both economic and performance benefits. Since Coface implemented its Virtual Data Lake, the company has reduced the cost of integrating new data sources by more than 60%. In addition, the time required to prepare data for analysis has been reduced by approximately 70%.
Data Marketplace: empowering business lines
At the heart of the data accessibility strategy, the rollout of an internal Data Marketplace, a digital platform solely dedicated to data, is a logical next step. Currently under development, Coface's internal Data Marketplace aims to offer a self-service experience to business users, who will have complete autonomy to access qualified data sets. As a result, IT teams are freed from the significant volume of data extraction requests. ‘’Our Data Marketplace aims to increase the autonomy of our business users and reduce the workload of Coface's IT teams," emphasises Samia Boujatioui.
In addition, combining this Tech solution with artificial intelligence (AI) features is really promising in terms of uses and potential for development.
Coface's Data Marketplace will also include AI-optimised data sets, enabling business teams to speed up decision-making and improve its relevance.
Samia Boujatioui
Governance and a 'data-driven' approach: accelerating Data and AI adoption
Often perceived as a bureaucratic obstacle, data governance must move towards a more facilitating model that protects data while simplifying its use.
“Beyond technology itself, it is above all data governance and access that can transform data into a business advantage,” says Samia Boujatioui. That said, reinventing data governance to accelerate adoption and integration at all levels of the organisation requires overcoming certain barriers.
These include technical challenges, but also cultural ones, as it is crucial that all employees adopt a data-driven approach. For Coface, one of the keys to success lies in the Customer Data Improvement Project. This project focuses on improving the quality of client data and aligning the definitions of key performance indicators (KPIs). By ensuring greater data reliability, this project has improved our relationships with our clients and partners, optimised our costs through a Data Product approach that shares resources, and maximised the use of internal data. At Coface, this has contributed to the implementation of agile processes that empower business teams to take ownership of data, eliminating organisational silos and facilitating the adoption of new practices.
"Today, Coface's Product Owners are involved in all stages of a data project's implementation. We support the business in change management around data consumption. Depending on the use case, the level of maturity and data culture increases. Today, the business units are themselves collecting the data and analytical views or reports they need from our Data catalogue,” summarises Samia Boujatioui.
Data & AI as growth drivers: a concrete reality at Coface
At Coface, we firmly believe that Data and AI are not buzzwords, but a concrete operational reality that is fundamentally transforming our business. This is thanks in particular to our unique global data patrimony, the result of nearly 80 years of global leadership in commercial risk management.
By adopting a data-driven strategy, we are empowering ourselves to support our clients and partners in a constantly changing environment, while optimising our internal performance
Samia Boujatioui
Coface's Data access and governance strategy has had several tangible impacts, notably strengthening the client focus of Coface's teams and improving the overall client experience, with rapid results at the business level. Data and AI are now performance levers that are firmly embedded in Coface's reality and concrete drivers of growth for the company. As a strategic pillar of our trade risk management operations, Data enables Coface to deliver unique information and value-added services to its clients, remain competitive and, above all, continue to innovate by leveraging robust infrastructure and technologies. Proof of this is that Business Information Services, now a key activity for the Group, contributed €70 million in revenue in 2024.
Simplifying access to data and accelerating its adoption is therefore no longer just an IT project: it is a fundamental strategic investment for any company that wants to remain competitive. By equipping themselves with appropriate infrastructure such as Virtual Data Lake and Data Marketplace, companies are transforming their governance and corporate culture to implement agile processes that convert their data into a growth lever. Successfully completing this transformation puts companies in a better position to anticipate market and client behaviour trends, and even generate opportunities for innovation in terms of real-time adaptability and predictive solution design.
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