Explaining the Equifax Data Fabric

THE EQUIFAX CLOUD™ IS A TOP-TIER GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY AND SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE THAT SETS EQUIFAX APART. Backed by a multi-year $1.5+ billion investment, the Equifax Cloud is one of the largest Cloud initiatives ever undertaken in our industry and has changed nearly every facet of our infrastructure. We have made significant progress on our transformation and expect to have a significant competitive advantage as we pivot from building to leveraging the Cloud - enabling us to fully focus on growth, new product innovation and EFX.AI.

In July 2024, we indicated that we expect 90% of revenue will be in the Cloud by the end of 2024.

A central component of the Equifax Cloud is its custom data fabric, an adaptable data platform that unifies the enterprise's data (from over 100 siloed data sources) while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements. It is powered by layering advanced analytics and artificial intelligence with deep, proprietary, high-quality data. Data fabric offers the ability to ingest and analyze data at scale and leverages enhanced keying and linking of our data assets for rapid delivery of multi-data risk modeling solutions, as well as identity resolution and fraud prevention offerings.

To visualize our data fabric, think of a smartphone operating system like AppleⓇ iOS or Google Android™. The average person has around 40 applications on their phone. These applications perform a variety of functions - all performed separately - but while running on the same phone. Imagine if you needed an entirely different phone for each application you use; it would be challenging to keep up with all the phones. Uniting applications on the same device makes it easier for a provider to create a great experience, tighten security, and maintain overall control of what the applications can and can't do for each user.

With the Equifax data fabric, we bring data sources together in our common structure in a way that allows us to more consistently manage data and enforce security and governance controls. Each data element is subject to specific rules that govern and control how the data is used from the time it is ingested to the time it is delivered in a product or solution. This approach provides better data isolation, and an ability to streamline and manage regulatory requirements, while enforcing proper data governance along the way.

When it comes to security, the Equifax Cloud is more secure than legacy systems because it provides a consistent platform. Security is built into our systems, not bolted on. We've dramatically reduced complexity (compared to legacy systems) and the surface area for attacks, which makes automation easier and allows our cloud environment to be consistently updated to ensure we are always using the latest generation of capabilities and protection.

Learn more about the Equifax data fabric here.