The Hoover database, now branded as D&B Hoovers, is a business intelligence platform primarily focused on providing detailed company profiles, industry reports, and contact information for sales, marketing, and business development purposes.
Data Accuracy:
D&B Hoovers: Known for its extensive company data, particularly for B2B sales and lead generation. Data is collected from a wide range of sources, including public records, proprietary research, and customer reports. The platform benefits from Dun & Bradstreet’s (D&B) vast database, which is one of the most trusted sources for business data globally. D&B regularly updates and verifies data through automated systems and human review to maintain high levels of accuracy.
Other BI Platforms: Many traditional BI platforms (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, Qlik) rely on external data sources (e.g., databases, cloud services, and APIs) rather than providing the data themselves. The accuracy of the data on these platforms largely depends on the source’s reliability and the frequency of updates. Unlike D&B Hoovers, these platforms don’t provide proprietary business data but instead focus on data visualization and analytics capabilities.
Specialization:
D&B Hoovers: Specializes in business data with a focus on financials, executive contacts, and company profiles. It provides curated insights, market intelligence, and data enrichment services, which are validated and backed by D&B’s proprietary data management practices.
Other BI Platforms: These platforms are designed to work with various types of data from multiple sources (internal databases, cloud applications, social media, etc.). They are more general-purpose and do not offer built-in business data accuracy guarantees but provide powerful tools for users to analyze, model, and visualize their own datasets.
Data Updates:
D&B Hoovers: Data is continuously updated, and businesses are scored using D&B’s proprietary algorithms. This ensures that users are accessing the most current information, particularly when it comes to company financials and credit data.
Other BI Platforms: Data updates depend on the sources connected to the BI platform. The platforms themselves do not update the data unless the connected data source is refreshed.
Verification Methods:
D&B Hoovers: Data is continuously updated, and businesses are scored using D&B’s proprietary algorithms. This ensures that users are accessing the most current information, particularly when it comes to company financials and credit data.
Other BI Platforms: Data updates depend on the sources connected to the BI platform. The platforms themselves do not update the data unless the connected data source is refreshed.
Industry and Business Context:
D&B Hoovers: Designed for sales, marketing, and research professionals who require accurate business data, contacts, and market insights. Its strength lies in delivering reliable company-specific information, which is critical for decision-making in business development and risk management.
Other BI Platforms: These platforms are more flexible and used across various industries for internal reporting, performance analysis, and operational insights. They are not inherently focused on providing external business data but instead provide tools to analyze data from whatever sources are available to the business.
Conclusion:
D&B Hoovers excels in data accuracy for business information, particularly in areas like company profiles, financials, and executive data, thanks to its strong foundation with Dun & Bradstreet’s extensive data network.
Other BI platforms (like Power BI, Tableau, etc.) excel in data analysis, visualization, and flexibility but depend on the accuracy of the external data sources connected to them, rather than guaranteeing data accuracy themselves.
Thus, when it comes to data accuracy in the context of business profiles and company-specific data, D&B Hoovers tends to be more reliable compared to traditional BI platforms. However, for general-purpose data analysis, BI platforms are more flexible and versatile.