Credit ratings for more than 1.5m companies in the UK are now freely available following the launch of an online reviews directory. BView, which has been live for a month, lists the details of more than 2.3m trading companies, including credit ratings, customer reviews and scores on quality of service and reliability.
Unlike opt-in business directories and review sites, companies cannot remove their profiles and the interactive nature of BView means that individuals can search through league tables of businesses ranked by their customers.
The credit information has been provided through credit reference agency Equifax and is updated every month, according to Brad Liebmann, founder and chairman of the web portal. He hopes the site will become the "Wikipedia" of commercial data, promoting good practice and exposing rogue traders. "We are taking information that is opaque and exposing it. This level of transparency is the only way forward for UK businesses," he said.
However, not everybody is convinced of the benefits with some observers saying it could do more harm than good. "The guise it is in at the moment, it’s dangerous," said Ron Bidwell, group credit manager for Bridisco. "A lot of the information from what I’ve seen looks really out of date, more than a month old, so you’ve got companies on there that are said to be financially stable when in reality they’re not."
He added that the accuracy of the information posted is questionable and could easily be skewed. "People are quicker to reprimand than praise so it is 20 times more likely you’ll get someone saying something bad than good," he said. "Also, who’s to stop me registering under 20 different names and slagging off all my competitors?"
Liebmann said it will only remove any reviews or comments that are obscene and malicious in intent but aims to mitigate against people trying to manipulate ratings by weighting the value and influence of reviewers. "We accept that not all businesses will like being up there and that we could either be loved or loathed," he said.
With businesses ranging from sole traders to limited companies, he added that the site will create a level playing field for everyone, regardless of how big or small the marketing budget is. Every business has a free profile but can take out a premium membership at £149 per annum for added benefits such as a web link and logo.
Professor Andrew Burke of Cranfield School of Management, whose area of expertise is small to medium sized enterprises, believes the portal will radically transform the dominant economic model. "The site encourages innovation as businesses now need to be more competitive and responsive to customer needs, thereby strengthening the UK economy," he said.
1 comment:
As part of BView’s partnership with Equifax, we make regular updates to the financial information we hold. However, BView provides the ability for a business to comment on information they believe is inaccurate.
We will shortly be introducing fields alongside the Equifax information, to enable businesses to input their own data.
Comments added by the business will be passed back to Equifax in order to investigate their queries.
Without BView making such financial information transparent, most UK companies would never know what information a credit reference agency such as Equifax holds on them.
Far from finding fault with this level of transparency, I think people, especially business owners, should embrace this opportunity to a) find out what information credit reference agencies currently hold and b) change it if they believe it is not up-to-date or inaccurate.
We accept people will either love or loathe us, but beyond doubt, companies that do not focus on good business practice and customer service will be exposed.
Thanks
Adam Baker
Managing Director
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