Equifax 2007 Annual Report Download - page 20

• Increase penetration of our customers’ information solutions
needs. We continue to increase our share of our customers’
spending on information-related services through the
development and introduction of new products, pricing
our services in accordance with the value they create for
customers, increasing the range of current services utilized
by customers, and improving the quality of sales and customer
support interactions with consumers.
• Deploy enabling technology systems and analytics globally.
We continue to invest in new technology to enhance the
cost-effectiveness, security and functionality of the services
we offer and differentiate our products from those offered
by our competitors. In addition to custom products for large
customers, we seek to develop off-the-shelf enabling technol-
ogy platforms that are more cost-effective for medium- and
smaller-sized customers.
• Invest in unique data sources. We continue to invest in unique
sources of credit and non-credit information to enhance the
variety and quality of our services and improve our customers’
confi dence in data-based business decisions. Our North
America Personal Solutions business is investing in data to
enable consumers to more effectively manage their identity
using online tools. Our TALX business will continue to add
employee fi les in the TWN Services database. Areas of focus
for investment in new sources of data include, among others,
positive payment data, real estate data and new commercial
business data.
• Pursue new vertical markets and expand into emerging
markets. We see numerous opportunities to expand in related
or emerging markets both in the U.S. and internationally.
As an example, we acquired TALX, which has employment
data that expands on the types of services we can offer our
customers. Internationally, we intend to add to our business
growth through expansion into new developing and emerging
markets such as India, Russia, Mexico and China.
COMPETITION
The market for our products and services is highly competitive
and is subject to constant change. Our competitors vary widely in
size and the nature of the products and services they offer.
Sources of competition are numerous and include the following:
• Competition for our consumer information solutions and
personal solutions products varies by both application
and industry, but generally includes two global consumer
credit reporting companies, Experian Group Limited, or
Experian, and TransUnion LLC, or TransUnion, both of
which offer a range of consumer credit reporting products
that are similar to products we offer, as well as a large
number of smaller competitors who offer competing products
in specialized areas such as fraud prevention, data vendors,
providers of automated data processing services, and software
companies offering credit modeling rules or analytical
development tools. We believe that our products offer our
customers an advantage over those of our competitors because
of the quality of our data fi les, which we believe to be superior
in terms of depth and accuracy and the differentiated
information solutions services and decisioning technology
that provides customers greater value. Our competitive
strategy is to emphasize product features and quality while
remaining competitive on price. Our marketing services
products also compete with the foregoing companies and
others who offer demographic information products, including
Acxiom Corporation, or Acxiom, Harte-Hanks, Inc. and
infoUSA, Inc. We also compete with Fair Isaac Corporation
with respect to our analytical tools.
• Competition for our commercial solutions products primarily
includes Experian and The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.
We believe our small business loan information from
fi nancial institutions creates a unique database and product
for the small business segment of that market.
• Competition for our employment and income verifi cation
services includes large employers who serve their own
needs through in-house systems to manage verifi cation
as well as outsourcers who manage verifi cation services
through a call center. Competition for complementary TWN
Services includes payroll processors such as Automatic
Data Processing, Inc., or ADP, Paychex, Inc. and Ceridian
Corporation. Competitors of our Tax Management Services
include in-house management of this function primarily by
large employers; ADP; and a number of smaller regional
fi rms that offer tax management services (Barnett Associates,
Thomas & Thorngren, UC Advantage). Talent Management
Services competitors include assessment service providers
that offer proprietary content (Previsor, Inc., Development
Dimensions International, Brainbench, Inc.), human resources
consulting fi rms (AON Corporation, Watson Wyatt Worldwide,
Inc., Right Management Consulting) and assessment or
test publishers that have proprietary delivery platforms
(Devine Group, Inc., Hogan Assessments Systems, Inc.,
SHL Group plc).
We believe that none of our competitors offers the same mix
of products and services as we do. Certain competitors may have
larger shares of particular geographic or product markets or operate
in geographic areas where we do not currently have a presence.
We assess the principal competitive factors affecting our
markets to include: technical performance; access to unique
proprietary databases; availability in application service provider
(ASP) format; product attributes such as quality, adaptability,
scalability, interoperability, functionality and ease-of-use; product
price; quickness of response, fl exibility and customer services
and support; the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts;
existing market penetration; new product innovation; and our
reputation as a trusted steward of information.
MARKETS AND CUSTOMERS
Our products and services serve clients across a wide range of
industries, including fi nancial services, retail, telecommunications,
utilities, automotive, brokerage, healthcare and insurance
industries, as well as state and federal governments. We also
18 EQUIFAX | 2007 ANNUAL REPORT