Helping to Keep Data in Synch
Host: George L'Heureux, Principal Consultant, Data Strategy
Guest: Bill Sprague, Data Strategy Consultant
The Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S® Number, our unique nine-digit identifier for businesses, identifies a company as being unique from any other in the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud. D-U-N-S Numbers are used to identify and maintain up-to-date and timely information on hundreds of millions of businesses worldwide and help identify relationships between corporate entities, for example, hierarchies and linkages.
However, data is dynamic, reflecting how businesses are constantly in flux, which is why the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud is updated millions of times daily. When we identify changes, whether it’s due to mergers, acquisitions, or organizational restructuring, for example, we provide an avenue to help customers stay in synch with our data: D-U-N-S recertification.
D-U-N-S recertification is a refresh process to ensure our customers’ D-U-N-S records represent the current D-U-N-S Numbers associated with their company information. D-U-N-S Numbers are never reused when a company goes out of business; the D-U-N-S number stays with that entity. But in the case of restructuring, we may retire one D-U-N-S Number and assign a new D-U-N-S Number. This recertification process enables us to point users to the new D-U-N-S number to so that they have a connection to either the retired or surviving D-U-N-S Number to get the information they need on that business.