Business Insights: reliable company data for better decision-making 

Company data underpins many business decisions. Whether a company is looking for new customers, assessing the reliability of a business partner or making credit decisions, it needs access to up-to-date and reliable information. 

At the heart of this is an extensive database of companies and decision-makers, covering 2.7 million Finnish companies and 280,000 verified decision-makers with their contact details. The data includes official company information, adjusted financial statements with long historical time series, as well as insights derived from news sources on companies’ growth, investments, recruitment and other changes in their business. 

The data is used particularly in company search and targeted B2B sales and marketing solutions, helping sales and marketing organisations identify the right target companies and focus their activities more effectively. 

“In sales and marketing, we help our customers identify the right target companies and assess the associated risks,” says Johanna Laamanen, Product & Design Lead at the Business Insights business unit. 

Reliability is built on data and expertise  

Having large volumes of data is not enough in itself. Value comes from ensuring that the information is high-quality, comparable and up to date. 

“In sales and marketing, we help our customers identify the right target companies and assess the associated risks,” says Johanna Laamanen, Product & Design Lead at the Business Insights business unit. 

Reliability is built on data and expertise  

Having large volumes of data is not enough in itself. Value comes from ensuring that the information is high-quality, comparable and up to date. 

Alma Media has analysed the financial performance of Finnish companies for decades, with its analysts adjusting financial statement data to ensure comparability long before the emergence of AI. Today, much of the process is automated, but experts continue to play an important role in ensuring data quality. 

The same applies to information on company decision-makers. Register teams continuously update and validate the data to ensure that customers can rely on its accuracy. 

“Technology enables us to process vast amounts of data efficiently, but reliable information still depends on human expertise,” Laamanen says. 

“Above all, our customers buy reliable information from us. Harmonising data and ensuring its quality is often more demanding than building AI solutions. AI only creates value when the underlying data is sound.” 

Combining data creates greater value  

Company data becomes particularly valuable when it can be combined with other data sources. Company, property, automotive and legal data complement one another, helping customers build a more comprehensive view of their business and operating environment. 

Banks use company and property data to support credit decisions, while automotive businesses combine company information with market data. At the same time, increasing regulation is making reliable company data more important in risk management. 

“The same principle runs through all our services: reliable information and expertise provide the foundation on which we build technology and integrate it into our customers’ own workflows,” Laamanen says. 

Integrating data into customers’ everyday workflows  

The use of company data is increasingly shifting from standalone interfaces directly into customers’ own systems. APIs bring data into everyday workflows, enabling it to be used where decisions are actually made. 

This development further increases the importance of data provenance, quality and reliability. When information flows automatically between systems and guides operational decisions, it needs to be accurate and up to date from the outset. The deeper data is integrated into customers’ processes, the more important the quality of the underlying data assets becomes. 

Ultimately, this development reflects a much broader shift than company data or any individual technology. As the volume of available data and AI-generated answers increases, reliable information becomes increasingly valuable. Value is not created by the amount of information available, but by the ability to turn that information into insight and better decisions. By combining high-quality data assets, technology and expertise, information can be transformed into business outcomes. 

This article is part of Alma Media’s “Sum of the Parts” article series, which explores the Group’s products, services and value creation, and how Alma Media’s value is built on complementary businesses. 

More articles from The Sum of Its Parts series:
The right information at the right time: what Alma Insights delivers to its customers
DOKS: Navigating the regulatory maze with ease
Kauppalehti helping Finns succeed for 128 years
Finnish housing transactions leap to the forefront

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