Published on the 22/08/2016 | Written by Beverley Head
Relocating to the UK has allowed Australia’s Encompass and its clients to benefit from cheaper data…
The power of information was brought home to Wayne Johnson some years ago when he and business partner Roger Carson were defrauded in a property investment. Corporate documents can be dense and complex; important data can be buried deep in the document, and intercompany relationships hard to identify from scan reads of the data. And, in Australia, the data can be very expensive in the first place, hindering efforts to gain clarity on potentially risky business transactions and putting the nation at a disadvantage.
Johnson and Carson simply didn’t have all the information about the people they were dealing with available to them in a simple to digest fashion. If they had, there might not have been a problem.
The experience led them to find a business and develop software able to take complex relationships, a range of data from different sources and then map them in a visual form. For example the platform can take data from an ASIC report, identify a company’s directors, and then draw links between those directors and other data; for example, identifying which directors own which property.
Used by business journalists to tease out and display complex intercompany relationships and director links, the tool is even more powerful in the hands of lawyers or bankers who have access to additional information, such as credit reports or legal documents.
However, Johnson said the company’s sales focus had pivoted to focus more on supporting companies with compliance issues rather than pure information exploration. Overall, “Our product works very well where there is complexity – it makes it simple,” he said.
Established in Sydney five years ago, Encompass moved the majority of its operations to the UK 18 months ago. Johnson, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said the move has allowed the company to focus on sales to the financial services market – and also to take advantage of much cheaper access to corporate data.
Johnson says that Australia is at a data disadvantage compared to other markets. He says that it can cost $20-$50 for an ASIC report, and up to $100 for a credit report. In the UK company reports are free and a credit report costs a few pounds.
“In the Australian market that’s an impediment,” he acknowledged. “This works better in a bigger market where data is more flexible.”
He said this meant due diligence was much costlier in Australia than it was in the UK. This was, he argued, a mistake. “Lowering the cost of information helps the economy – unfortunately the cost of data is proving a drag on the economy.”
While Encompass maintains an office and retains its core development team in Australia, the bulk of the company is now based in the UK. Locally, the platform is distributed by SAI Global.
Johnson added that Encompass has benefitted from stronger relationships with information brokers such as Experian, Dun & Bradstreet, Thomson Reuters and Lexis Nexis in the UK, than it might have accessed in Australia.
