On the Cutting Edge of Business Intelligence: an Examination of How One Companys Patents are Advancing Business Strategies and Processes in Several Industries

Abstract

With an initial investment of $400 each, engineer Bill Fair and mathematician Earl Isaac founded Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) in 1956 on the principle that data, used intelligently, can improve business decisions. This extraordinary foresight has come to be known as Business Intelligence (BI), an umbrella term encompassing a wide range of activities and technologies involved in the process of collecting data, translating data into information, using information to guide and support decision making with the ultimate goal of enhancing corporate performance. As a forerunner in the field of Business Intelligence, FICO has been awarded more than 100 patents for its diverse products, among which FICO score and Falcon payment authorization system are used by millions of customers on a daily basis. This paper examines sixteen most recent patents that were awarded to Fair Isaac Corp between September 2010 and August 2011 in the area of Business Intelligence. Unlike traditional detailed patent reviews that are focused on at a specific topic involving multiple companies, we adopt a company-centered approach to achieve three specific contributions to the literature: 1) to provide concrete examples of how specific FICO patents have advanced the field of Business Intelligence; 2) to synchronize knowledge between academics and practitioners in terms of most urgent and practical issues facing the industry; and 3) to use these cutting-edge innovations to highlight current trends in the Business Intelligence field. Keywords: Credit Scoring, data preprocessing, data warehousing, data visualization, fraud detection and prevention, transaction data mining, Advancing Business Strategies, WAREHOUSING, PREPROCESSING, VISUALIZATION, on-line transaction processing