In this week's episode, I interview Amber Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Enformion.
Amber shares Enformion’s rich history in “people data” and how her company has quietly become one of the largest aggregators of publicly available data. She discusses how people data and people search has evolved over the past two decades. We also cover how Enformion's services can be used for identity verification, age verification, marketing intelligence, skip tracing, and more.
Amber highlights critical data privacy regulations including Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the growing number of state-level privacy initiatives that are critical for financial services and other industries to to track.
RESOURCES:
Connecting with Amber Higgins
Amber Higgins’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberhiggins/
Enformion’s Website: https://www.enformion.com/
Companies & Resources Discussed
Enformion is an analytics solution provider, offering an unparalleled view of people, businesses, and their interrelationships. Its 30+ years in the data technology industry has resulted in a database of 120 billion up-to-date records for more than 240 million American adults, including hard-to-verify populations, from 6000+ data sources. Venkat Bhardwaj, as mentioned in the podcast, is the Chief Product Officer for Enformion.
US Search is a transparent and informative source for finding addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses with the US.
Bureau is an identity decisioning platform for fraud prevention and compliance management.
Privacy regulations referenced during the podcast:
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
CPRA/CCPA (California Privacy Rights Act / California Consumer Privacy Act)
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
State Data Privacy Laws: Vermont, Utah, Colorado are three states with data privacy laws that were referenced; however, there are currently 15 states with data privacy laws, according to the Bloomberg state privacy law tracker.
Community and charitable organizations referenced:
Established in 1931, Sandpipers is a 100% volunteer organization dedicated to serving the needs of the South Bay community through charitable and philanthropic programs.
Heal the Bay staff work to mobilize LA’s diverse communities to protect its coastline, restore its waterways, and speak out for clean water policy across its watersheds.
Ocean Cleanup develops and scales technologies to rid the oceans of plastic
Conferences referenced:
IdentitiyWeek (USA)
Money 20/20 (USA)
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Steve Craig: Welcome to the PEAK IDV EXECUTIVE SERIES video podcast, where I speak with executives, leaders, founders, and changemakers in the digital identity space. I'm your host, Steve Craig, Founder and Chief Enablement Officer for PEAK IDV. For our audience, this is a video first series. So if you're enjoying the audio, please check out the video recording on executive series.pkidv.com where you can watch the full video. You can read the transcript and access any of the resources or links discussed in today's conversation. In this week's episode, I'm delighted to speak with Amber Higgins, CEO of Enformion.
Enformion empowers companies to make informed decisions with data and advanced analytics. They help enterprises achieve better outcomes in identity verification, fraud, sales, and marketing intelligence. Amber has over 20 years of building and scaling data as a service organizations, leading and executing growth strategies in business development, P&L, marketing, engineering, and product management.
Amber joined Enformion as VP of business development in 2010 and led traffic acquisition, product development, advertising, and business development efforts. She became the company's CEO in 2018. Prior to joining Enformion, Amber led business development for US Search, a division of First Advantage Corporation, where she scaled their strategic partnerships. Welcome, Amber. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast.
Amber Higgins: Great to be here. Thank you. That was a nice intro.
Steve: You're very welcome. Let's get started. How do you describe Enformion to those that might not have heard of the company? Like what's your typical elevator pitch?
Amber: Sure. So I'll start with Enformion thrives on the power of data analytics and really data driven solutions.
I guess my elevator pitch would be that over the last two decades, we've quietly become one of the largest owners and aggregators of publicly available data, credit header data, proprietary data assets, unique data assets. All powered by an entity resolution engine that really aggregates billions of records to resolve to an identity, and then layering on what you mentioned in the intro, analytics to really to build out the most comprehensive view of a consumer in the US.
And then recently we took our person identity resolution engine and recreated that on the business side to really build out a business entity resolution engine. Again, taking in disparate data sets to build out a comprehensive view of a business in the US. So, you know, our solutions really touch the entire enterprise customer life cycle, if you will.
You mentioned sales and marketing intelligence, kind of top of funnel, customer onboarding, customer acquisition, identity verification, authentication, and then all the way around to collections and recovery.
Steve: It's fascinating. In preparing for this particular episode, I was browsing through Enformion's website. I see you have a family of solutions, People Finders, Tracers, and Endato, can you share a brief history of the company and how those business properties came together?
Amber: Perfect. Yeah. So, you know, these brands or solutions, if you will, really is a testament of our history. We've been definitely-- have been around the block. So, with 25-plus years, data aggregation, data as a solution, there are a few brands or solutions that Enformion is or was associated with over the years. People Finders, most people know that brand. It was actually the first people search engine on the internet in 1999. And so really same ownership, the team built out a consumer platform utilizing the underlying data asset, but that ultimately allowed us to build out and reinvest to build out the go to market for Enformion.
So, I, and the management team -- gosh maybe seven years ago -- started spending more time on B2B solutions that included the initial build out of an identity verification solution and an investigative platform. And then several years ago, Enformion acquired and merged with Tracers, and Tracers was really a leading skip tracing investigative platform really focused on investigations and legal customers.
And then lastly, Endato. Endato is just another solution by Enformion. And it really is meant to be a self service platform, really focused on API integrations for sales and marketing intelligence. So self service, self signup, but all under kind of the Enformion umbrella, if you will.
Steve: That's great. Thank you for sharing the background and looking into your professional background, I see you got started in internet oriented businesses, internet marketing roles you joined US Search. You were working with people data on the internet. Can, can you take us back to that time period in the early 2000s, [Amber: Sure] the problems that you were working on back then?
Amber: Yeah, sure. So going back to US Search, I'm old, I suppose, but back then, you know, this was all new access to publicly available data-- data-- or publicly available data on the internet. So the data was always available, but not in an easy to access, easy to consume manner with a single aggregated source.
And so that was then now made available for consumers and then certainly to businesses. And so, as I think back to US Search, when I first joined literally it was called 1-800-US-SEARCH. It was a phone number that you dialed and you were looking for a phone number, or an address, or for more information about a person.
And so that then ultimately converted to online, making again the data more available to consumers, but also to small businesses. And then I think the use of the data and information back then was still about trust and safety. But maybe we didn't use those words, but that ultimately evolved over time to ‘are they see who they say they are, can I trust them, should I, should I do business with that-- with that person or that business?’
And so I think making these data solutions and really information services available online really changed the world and, right, changed the market.
Steve: And I'm old enough to remember when they used to drop these big heavy books on your porch. It was either the yellow pages [Amber: Old white pages] -- colored yellow pages -- or the white pages, which had people information in it [Amber: That’s right] and you get one of those. Felt like every year they were bringing them and sometimes they would stack up and we'd have to put them in the cycle.
Amber: Exactly, you start a fire with them.
Steve: Yeah, you file, they give-- they become a fire kindling, I guess, at some point, if you're starting your barbecue up.
You found your way to People Finders and as more businesses were starting to use the internet and people started to get internet access. How was the industry evolving and changing through the early 2000s? Were there any major events or milestones that accelerated it?
Amber: Jeez, yeah, I mean, I think it does go back to the availability and the access to information services became more mainstream, right?
But that was largely driven by technology and then changes in consumer behavior. And therefore, businesses had to build out new solutions to market to, to interact with, and then provide services to consumers. So if I think about e-commerce growth for one, right, of course, exponential consumers turned to online solutions and then they expected immediate results, right? Immediate gratification as we all know today. And so robust e-commerce platforms then became the norm, right? And then again, with more consumers online, businesses -- if you think about digital marketing and advertising -- they had to shift their marketing dollars from print to digital. There was no more of the yellow pages or the white pages, right?
They had to use targeted advertising based on data that really revolutionized the way I think businesses market their services going back to kind of white pages online. It's not sort of like direct mail, right? We used to get postcards in the mail. We were targeted by a business because we fit a certain profile, but now all of that is turned online.
And so it's more information, but also much better targeting. I would add that smartphones, you know, that ultimately changed the way, right, we access the internet in a huge way. And so that expanded the e-commerce growth, fintech, FI, and, you know, really any business today needs to have a mobile commerce presence.
And then lastly, I just think that, you know, cybersecurity, regulatory changes certainly has had an impact and has continued to evolve over the last two decades, plus social media, certainly the launch of Facebook, Instagram. More users online, more content available, so it really has evolved very quickly, if you think about it, over the last two decades,
Steve: When you think about social media in particular, where people are putting a lot of sensitive information that might not have been publicly available. And now suddenly they're putting it in a Facebook profile or they're taking pictures and putting on Instagram. How has that influenced and change the people data market? Has that been more data or is it harder?
Amber: I think more data for sure, right? I don't know if it's influenced, but definitely impacted the people data market, right? So, we know today social media platforms collect an unbelievable amount of data on their users, right? Including demographic information, interests, behaviors, preferences, and then obviously they monetize this data. Facebook is free, but not really. They're monetizing your data via targeted advertising.
And so I think that ultimately drove and still drives more data driven solutions because now you have more data about people. So now we can build insights around consumer behavior and identify market opportunities. But I think the biggest piece, really, is the influence or the ability to connect the dots between an online identity and an offline identity, right? And so that's certainly a major factor and so we use that today. I think an identity verification, if you think about biometrics, we have an email, a phone number, a person, a smartphone, and then making all of those connections certainly has impacted the people data market.
Steve: In catching up on recent history, Amber, you mentioned that in the last few years, your team got together and you started to build more solutions for identity verification and businesses. I've known of Enformion as a brand for many years as a B2B2B company, powering some of the biggest identity verification providers out there. But in the last few years, you started to get more direct with enterprises. How is your go to market evolving and changing in the last few years?
Amber: Yeah, I mean, that's a great point. I mean, I think our go to market has definitely evolved, you know. First specifically within IDV, I think it's actually across other verticals as well. Our initial focus to your point was a channel or a partner approach, and we've seen terrific growth and adoption, right? And so naturally, I think a next phase in our growth is really focused on the direct relationships. Direct sales, which ultimately allows us to work directly with the end user to build solutions that meet their challenges.
Steve: What are some of the verticals or industries that you're serving in that direct path?
Amber: Yeah, so we look at verticals as solutions, right? So just going back historically a little bit, you know, we were focused on markets, such as investigation, legal, collections and recovery. And now we're-- we hang our hat… we still work there, right, but now we're hanging our hat and our growth trajectory is really focused within two verticals or solutions, right? Fraud and identity verification, and then sales and marketing intelligence.
I think they're both similar in that with fraud and IDV, we have that channel platform approach, right? But now going direct to financial institutions, fintech, and then e-commerce, though we provide solutions to e-commerce today, just indirectly, right, through a channel or a partner. And I think a similar approach on sales and marketing intelligence, vertical, or that solution about contact enrichment, right? A similar play with partnership approach via martech marketing and data aggregators and now going direct to brand enterprises.
Steve: You mentioned when you were talking about the evolutionary changes -- regulation aspect -- and I'd love to get your perspective on how financial services companies that have a KYC or AML requirement, how they've started to adapt to data signals and then how you compare that to what you're seeing in e-commerce and payments? Like, where is there overlap? Where are you seeing some similar practices and where are they different?
Amber: Yeah, I think there are similar solutions, but the financial institutions and that regulatory landscape is a lot more complex and a lot more mature, right? So, financial institutions have had KYC and AML requirements for decades, right? You think about OFAC and the Patriot Act. So their identity verification processes and solutions have to be more robust, if you will. They need to meet the compliance mandates. They probably need to audit, right? And then on the flip side, e-commerce and marketplace, relatively new. So they're newer, I think, to the regulatory environment focused on other areas like age verification seller identity checks, fraud prevention.
Ultimately, I think it's a combination of safety and trust, right? Plus the regulatory compliance. I do think that ultimately similar solutions will-- are needed to address both FI and e-commerce, might have slightly different flavors, right? But we'll continue to evolve, and I think you'll see e-commerce and marketplace that will continue to evolve more rapidly, right? As the-- as identity verification, fraud mitigation becomes really a critical solution that e-commerce and marketplace need today.
Steve: Yeah, IDV is so foundational, not just to regulation-- regulations and compliance, but fighting fraud, building trust and safety in e-commerce and marketplaces.
I see Enformion has a really robust suite of IDV solutions. You have eIDV, ePre-fill, eIndicators, and eAgeComply. What's your overall approach to the category of identity verification?
Amber: Yes, I think. Enformion’s philosophy and how we approach it is that there is a-- there has to be a balance of customer onboarding, reducing customer friction, improving, or at least helping, to enhance the customer experience, but also mindful of bad actors.
And that's where our product team, you know, focuses to solve that entire life cycle. So you mentioned eIDV. Well, eIDV solves for authentication, onboarding and trust and safety. ePrefill more solves for that customer detail enrichment and; therefore, reducing friction. And then the eAgeComply piece aligns with, I think, the increasing regulatory focus on protecting minors online.
So I think we take a holistic approach to identity verification, really working with partners and customers to truly understand their risk profile.
Steve: And can you go a little deeper into the eIndicators product? I think the other ones make sense from a-- what they are eAgeComply or eIDV, but the eIndicators-- I'd love to hear more about that.
Amber: Yeah. So I talked a little bit about the-- this mass data asset that we've amassed in our ability to match disparate data assets and then layering on analytics on top of that. Analytics is only as good as the underlying data, right? And so the eIndicators really include adverse risk indicators.
So if you think about-- you have Amber Higgins and here's all of her phone numbers, emails, et cetera. Well, now we can match bankruptcies, foreclosures, liens to that individual. But on the flip side, we can also match other indicators, including business ownership, professional license data, property ownership, for example.
So you have a person, a phone number and email, and then we can customize solutions that include these risk indicators, but then we can also monitor for changes in these indicators over time. And so we look at it, the eIndicators is really a robust solution for fraud and risk reduction, ongoing due diligence, or pre due diligence, and then trust and safety and onboarding.
Steve: That's powerful. You know, as you were describing that, I couldn't help but to think about identity graphs. [Amber: Yes] You're creating a person at the center of all of their various digital footprints, and in some cases, things that aren't quite digital. When I've worked with companies in the space that are in financial services, a lot of them rely on just the credit header data, just a credit bureau check, and that's KBA, the knowledge based authentication. But that leaves a lot of people behind that don't have credit histories or if they don't have documents to prove themselves. How can some of your data assets help more underserved populations or underbanked individuals with getting access to these resources.
Amber: So we hang our hat on what we call, or the industry kind of calls the thin file population, it’s the underserved population, the underbanked, the younger Gen Z and those that just don't have credit, right? And so we do this through alternative data sources, not only relying on credit header data, and that's really important.
And really, when you think about identity verification, the goal again, is to keep out the bad actors while reducing friction to onboard good actors. And if you can't identify a good actor due to poor coverage, right? Then to your point, you're excluding a key population and a set of customers. And so it does come down to, I think the sources of information, the sources of unique data assets, but also how Enformion aggregates scores and analyzes the data.
I recall in late 2021 there was a huge increase in the usage of BNPL-- buy now, pay later, pay later, right? And a leading provider faced a challenge because they were unable to verify a pretty large subset of their potential customer base because of this thin file, right? And so that's where I think Enformion fits in quite nicely because of the 6,000 data sources we amass. We address the challenges really to cover for this thin file population.
Steve: That's great. A lot of the people who watch this podcast are solution providers and they're in the document world where they capture ID documents, they're doing selfies and biometrics, and that's often the solution to thin file worlds. I will ask them for the documents, but these people often don't have documents either. [Amber: Right] You know, they're-- aren’t able to go to the DMV or they haven't created an identity card. For the solution providers, how might they partner with Enformion to help expand their coverage?
Amber: Yeah, look, so we can be very complementary with these, you know, DocV solutions. We do take a different approach because we're really focused on verifying identities through the data and the data analytics and assets. And that really, I think, can be completed ahead of a high friction point like document capture. So-- and we certainly recognize that there is a drawback in the experience of requiring to upload an ID, a selfie, and by putting that up front, you know, you're adding the additional friction.
So if we can augment that service with -- by using our authoritative sources verify -- and then you can use document capture as an additional layer of defense when needed. So I think again, it's all about balancing the user experience and customer success and while ensuring that those bad actors are blocked.
Steve: One of the use cases you mentioned-- you have a product for the eAgeComply is verifying that people can access certain goods and services. You have age restricted commerce, you have websites that are more adult oriented. You want to prevent children from accessing those, but often those individuals might not want to provide a driver's license or ID card or submit a biometric to that.
I'm interested in how you are doing age assessment without some of those pieces using your identity data graph. Can you share your approach on age estimation [Amber: Yeah] or age verification?
Amber: Yeah, yeah, I mean, our eAgeComply solution -- that's a mouthful -- but we take a comprehensive approach, right? And it all goes back to the data and analytics, less so the high friction document verification, right?
There was a recent study by Liminal -- that I think they came out -- that 87% of respondents expressed that they wanted an alternative mechanism to document verification as part of age assurance or age verification. And so again, I think that aligns with our solution, our philosophy, that document capture should be a part of more of a multifaceted approach rather than the starting point, which can negatively impact that user experience, right?
So, our solution goes beyond just simply estimating a user's age through techniques like facial analytics, right? We're actually using data and analytics that we've amassed and built out for dealing with age restricted goods, services, and content. And so, because we can provide this age verification layer, it's secure, it's private, it's compliant with the latest regulations. We think that’s a great approach to start with age assurance and age verification.
Steve: There have been a lot of debates in the market and following local politics where people are trying to prevent these age restriction laws from coming out because they worry about that friction. And there's different extremes, sometimes it's just fill out your date of birth and people just have to select a year that's over the age [Amber: Yeah] to get access. I think they're really important to do to protect people from getting access to things they shouldn't get access to. So it's great that you have a solution that's not necessarily requiring that picture step or that ID step that they can do that through your identity graph.
Amber: Absolutely. I mean, we all should want to protect, you know, minors online from accessing inappropriate content, products, and goods.
Steve: Absolutely. One of the unique things about Enformion, in my opinion, is what you mentioned earlier is this marketing and data enrichment side of it. So you certainly have the identity risk and the fraud signals compliance, but then you have this other component. Are your customers typically using you for both or these distinct businesses? How do you think about those customer bases?
Amber: Well, I think that would be amazing if they use them for all three, right. I mean, I think that's our ultimate goal as we continue to expand and certainly think that's part of our value proposition, so thank you for calling that out. You know, that said, ultimately within the same organization, if we think about sales and marketing intelligence, fraud and IDV, and then collections and recovery, they are different buyer personas, which is why we have within our organization by vertical, right? So our sales and marketing team is built out by vertical. And so ultimately that allows us to have subject matter experts across all three that we can bring in to address the different buyer personas within a single organization.
Steve: When I think about how that would work from a customer life cycle is like, you want to make sure your marketing to the right people and they’re age appropriate and then get them to your front door. Then you want to make sure that they are who they claim to be and verify their identity. And then ultimately, if it's lending or if there's risk for loss, then you need to be able to attract those people through and recover. So I do think that that is a unique value proposition, but you're right. It is different use cases, different buyers, different scenarios.
I was also looking into Enformion's relationships with other companies, and you certainly-- you provide data to companies, you also do channel partnerships, and I noticed there was a recent one just in the last few months with a company called Bureau, a startup, that had a lot of press. Can you share more about that particular partnership?
Amber: Yeah, that's great. I'm really excited about that partnership actually. So I think we probably put out the release maybe a couple of weeks ago, but essentially we just forged more of a deeper alliance to introduce a full suite of figurable identity orchestration workflows with Bureau and then the workflows provided by Bureau are integrated with our data and analytics engine.
And so whether it's ID document verification, biometrics, device intelligence, clients and customers using a combination, right? The partnership of Bureau and Enformion can compose a unique identity workflow, really tailored, again, it goes back to their risk profile. And then we have built in UI customization and the solutions really integrate seamlessly with both the platform orchestration along with the data and analytics.
Steve: And as you see those two, the Enformion and Bureau interoperating and working together is the AI and machine learning aspects of that? Like, how does that work into how you're serving that partnership?
Amber: Great question. AI and ML have been buzzwords for a long time, right, and now is mainstream. Like, if you're not talking about ML and AI in your company's messaging and marketing, regardless of your use, you need to kind of step it up.
So about two years ago we brought on a chief product officer, Venkat Bhardwaj and specifically to expand upon our machine learning analytics. Which is really-- is now a critical, crucial role, I guess, in Enformions ability to provide entity resolution, identity data correlation across all of our products.
So we employ essentially machine learning powered identity resolution engine in a couple of different ways. But, and allows us to correlate and stitch together data from the 6,000 data sources that really allows us that thin file coverage for one, right, of covering over 98% of the US adult population. And then additionally, the data science team that sits in-- within our product group uses these advanced analytics via really unsupervised learning techniques to detect and build out anomalies and attributes within the data. And so this ultimately benefits our B2B customers, but then it also allows us to improve our risk scores internally within our data assets.
Steve: The AI engines today, they're powered by data, massive amounts [Amber: Yeah] of training data. And in the last 10 years, we've seen a lot of regulations emerged like GDPR in Europe and then there's GDPR for UK with Brexit. And then there's CCPA with California and there's patchwork of these different regulations coming into play in the US.
How should companies think about the data they capture, how they label that data and balancing this process of trust with the protection of data privacy?
Amber: Yeah. So, I mean, I think there's a balance of data privacy, security, and user experience, and we've talked a lot about that balance, right?
And that is a critical challenge that I think all organizations online -- but, or offline, frankly -- have to navigate carefully, especially this ever changing regulatory landscape within the US, right? On the one hand, we have GDPR, CCPA and the dozens of other state laws within the US privacy that really, you know, aim to give consumers more control and protection.
And then on the other hand, you have the fraudsters. And so I think that Enformion and right-- we believe really, it's driven by intelligent data stewardship and innovation. And I think this is central to our product and privacy by design, where we bake into our data handling practices that include data tokenization, encryption, anonymous-- anonymization, that allows us to extract valuable signals without exposing that raw PII.
But again, it goes back to your point. The, you know, AI machine learning analytics is only as good as that underlying data. And you certainly need to be conscious of the data privacy and security with that over time in the evolving landscape.
Steve: Are there any regulations that you're tracking that you would recommend companies have on their radar?
Amber: I mean, I think they're countless at this point, but I'll just give a high level. So, I mean, we talked about eAgeComply, right? So clearly we track you know, anything requiring age assurance. So the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, of course, there's industry specific rules about areas around gambling, cannabis, age restricted content. So we're monitoring those. Of course, there's CPRA, which is the next gen of CCPA. And there are a slew of data privacy regulations-- Vermont, Utah, Colorado, that for the most part have parity with California. And then I think lastly, we are tracking closely talk of a federal data privacy regulation.
And I think frankly, anyone in our industry would welcome a federal data privacy regulation law because it's difficult to track 50 different states, and that would ultimately standardize at the national level. So I think those are kind of the hot ones for us.
Steve: Yeah, that patchwork of 50 states plus territories and then if you're a business that crosses boundaries with other countries, keeping up with that is really tough. So I think it's great that Enformion is tracking those and that you're able to help your customers on how they use that data, whether it be for the age use case, [Amber: Absolutely] identity verification, or really the training of AI and ML models. Really fascinated by how you're doing the tokenization and anonymization. Maybe that's for a different episode in the future.
We're getting towards the end of the podcast. I'm really curious about your future facing plans, like the balance of 2024. Is there anything that you can share that you're working on from a road map or new product introduction that can be put out there publicly?
Amber: Yes. So certainly we're poised for an exciting, I think, phase of growth and innovation, you know, without revealing specifics. You know, we restructured our sales and marketing organizations to focus on two main verticals identity verification for both consumers and businesses and then sales and marketing intelligence solutions again, both for consumers and businesses.
And so I think the strategic alignment, or realignment, will allow us to double down on more targeted value and solutions for our customers. Within the IDV space, I think that we're uniquely positioned really as one of the few privately held companies that can effectively solve for both consumer verification, but also I mentioned at the top, business entity resolution and verification. So I think that's really exciting and we'll-- and that product roadmap includes significant investment in this area in 2024 and into 2025.
And then lastly, the roadmap-- product roadmap and data roadmap is really-- has always been centered around proprietary and unique data assets that advance our analytics capabilities. And so that will continue to be a strong focus for us.
And then, you know, lastly, unwavering focus on not only the data, but the analytics that we drive from that. We have always had a customer first mentality. We truly work with our customers and that's a lot of wonderful feedback that we've received and to provide unique solutions that really fix their challenges or solve their challenges that they're-- that they are experiencing; especially as we continue in a very fast evolving landscape.
Steve: I hadn't heard about your plans around the business entity verification in KYB. Are there particular use cases or markets that you plan to serve as you roll that out?
Amber: Yeah, good question. I think we're going to have-- we have the same same strategy with that channel and partnership approach for KYB.
Again, we've had some really good feedback with specifically within the last couple of months rolling out some tests within the KYB market. So very much like KYC and kind of person identity resolution-- same strategy with business taking more of that orchestration approach, partner approach first, and then expanding that to direct sales and marketing.
Steve: That's great. That's great. And when you zoom out and you think about where Enformion is going in the next five years or 10 years, what is your vision for the company? Where would you like it to head in the next decade?
Amber: Well, I mean, I think that I mentioned, we've quietly become one of the largest owners and aggregators and analytic solutions provider. And so-- and we've done so successfully, right? So I think continuing with that very methodical approach to the market, and building solutions and solving problems for businesses and ultimately really working aside our partners and our customers to continue to collaborate. That's really the-- that's what makes it fun. And that's really, I think, what's driven our growth over the last decade or so, and we'll continue for the next five years.
Steve: Excellent. Excellent. Thank you for sharing. Well, Amber, before we close out, if you've seen any of the episodes of EXECUTIVE SERIES, I like to go just a little bit further than the LinkedIn profile. I was reading your company bio and it says that when you're not working and leading Enformion, you volunteer. So I'm curious, what are some organizations that are important to you and any particular causes?
Amber: First, I have two girls, preteen and teenagers. And so having girls and kids, I've wanted to instill customer serv… or community service and giving back. So a lot of the volunteer work is with my girls. There's a local organization called Sandpipers in Los Angeles that empowers women and young girls to leadership positions. So I love that.
I love Heal the Bay. It's also more of a local organization in Los Angeles. We do beach cleanups-- that's-- I love that, right? Just go on the beach, clean up the beach with my kids. I don't volunteer, but I do love the Ocean Cleanup Project on Instagram. I follow them on social media. I don't volunteer, but I 100% support them. So probably those are the top three.
Steve: Those are great, great, great organizations. It also said that in your leisure time, you like to do stand up paddle boarding and skiing. What are your favorite spots to do that?
Amber: I love Deer Valley. I don't snowboard. So Deer Valley is one of the only places I think in the US that there are no snowboarders. I mentioned I have two girls who beat me down the mountain easily now. So I like, you know, to smell the roses or the evergreens. I'm not in the-- I'm not racing down the hill. But yeah, I would say Utah is probably my favorite. I have not skied Europe yet. So ask me next year, maybe I'll change my mind.
And then paddle boarding. I mean, on any vacation, I'll take a paddle board out. It's really such a good workout and peaceful and I enjoy it.
Steve: So versatile because wherever there's a body of water that's relatively still.
Amber: Yeah, relatively still. I definitely surf them in and that's challenging. I wouldn't want to see that on video; however, yeah, flat water is always better.
Steve: Well, that's great. Well, as we wrap up today, for those that are watching this or listening to it, what are some conversations that you'd like to entertain from the podcast audience? What would you like to…
Amber: Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, how Enformion can provide comprehensive solutions to their challenges, right? Whether it be, you know, fraud mitigation, reduce onboarding friction, provide valuable insights to their sales and marketing efforts and really provide invaluable analytics about consumers or businesses.
Steve: Great. And one of the things I've seen in the last year is Enformion has really increased its presence at trade shows. Are there any trade shows coming up in maybe the summer or the fall where you're going to be present or your team's going to be present?
Amber: Yeah, yeah, for sure. So new on the sales and marketing front, we are going to be at LeadCon in Vegas. I think that's in April. And then beyond that we have I think Finovate on the schedule. Identity Week, which I think is in September. And then of course, Money 2020.
Steve: Excellent. All very exciting shows to go to. Perhaps I'll see you there, and if anyone is watching this please check out Enformion's expo and meet Amber and team.
Well, Amber, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast. I learned a ton today about Enformion and I look forward to seeing your company's continued growth and success.
Amber: Awesome. Thanks, Steve. Really appreciate your time.
Actionable Intelligence with Chief Executive Officer of Enformion, Amber Higgins