Experian Brings Storage In-House With Softco

Experian, a global information solutions company, has announced the successful implementation of a high volume data management storage solution from SoftCo, the leading provider of storage and business process automation solutions, moving the storage and management of statutory documents filed at Companies House in-house for the first time and ending an existing agreement with its outsourcing partner.

The size of the data management project was substantial, but SoftCo’s experience in handling similar large-scale operations for other clients offered important reassurance to Experian Business Information.  No less than 6TB of archived data had to be transferred, totaling 500 million pages.  In addition, SoftCo established systems that enabled Experian to directly capture the fresh feed of company documents as they are published at Companies House – 5GB of new data daily.

Since statutory company documents are an important data source, the change needed to be carefully managed.  Mark Beckett, senior manager of data operations for Experian’s Business Information division, explained: "SoftCo worked extremely hard to deliver to our requirements and the complex requirements of all users who would need this system, many of whom are located outside the UK.

The SoftCo solution incorporates full resilience including high availability and disaster recovery components, as well as safeguarding the ability of Experian’s applications, such as report generation tools and access to transferred documents.  The in-built scalability of the SoftCo system will allow Experian to increase the size of its archive to cater for future business opportunities.

The close collaboration between SoftCo and Experian Business Information helped deliver the project on time and to specification.  Mark Beckett, said:  "I would certainly recommend SoftCo.  They’re very easy to work with and provided an excellent service and an excellent product."

"We are extremely pleased to be working with such a prestigious organisation as Experian," said Jim Coffey, managing director of SoftCo.  "For thousands of companies everyday business would be impossible without its services.  The heart and soul of its services is its core database with 50 million Company House documents and we are honoured that Experian has chosen us to handle the responsibility of bringing this data in-house."

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