First Look – GDS Link

I got an update from GDS Link recently, a risk management solutions company focused on data access, decisioning and model implementation. Launched in 2006 by folks former Experian – Scorex management, the company’s core product is Dataview360 (launched in 2007). They have 23 customers worldwide.

As I have noted before, a common problem in financial services / risk management generally is that it is very time consuming to deploy models – it often takes 6-12 months, lots of models don’t get implemented and those that do often have their accuracy degraded by the time it takes. GDS Link set out to address this issue and do so without requiring lots of changes to the legacy applications. DataView360 is the result.

DataView360 supports originations, customer management, fraud and other analytical solutions. It was built as a toolkit, consisting of three workbenches:

• Connector Workbench
  This is designed to make it easy to integrate data from legacy systems. Rapid integration is one of their key differentiators with a wide range of pre-built connectors in their library, though clients do have to negotiate with the data providers directly.
• Aggregator Workbench
  Users take in the raw information and use a scripting language that is similar to SAS (code can be almost dropped in with only minor change) to define the attributes and characteristics they want to use in scoring/decisioning.
• Processor Workbench
  This allows a user to define the steps in a loan or other decisioning process with call outs to different sources, champion/challenger etc.

They have now integrated a complete rules engine  into the solution, though it is more a value added option . The overall environment is designed to be low-maintenance, web-services based and can be delivered on premise or as a service hosted by GDS Link.

While the vision was of a toolkit for customers to build or maintain their own solutions, most of the 23 customers had GDS Link develop and deliver complete solutions. Access to the data is clearly a critical value-add for most customers but the primary value is the ability to develop risk management software that has access to this data. Customers value GDS Link’s ability to enable more rapid, more sophisticated risk management solutions without having to replace legacy applications.

GDS Link has a focus is in financial services, though anyone in risk management  is a potential customer. Different customers use different parts of the stack, including some just using to eliminate data integration issues they were facing in a decisioning environment. DataView360 is sold as an annual license.