The value and scale of Peer to Peer (P2P) networks are well known. There are several examples of very successful uses of this framework including Skype, Kazaa, Napster etc. The emergence of “social” software and web 2.0 infrastructures is largely based upon the core analogy of P2P. At TrustExchange, we are building the first P2P Risk Assessment Platform which will leverage this model to enable businesses to obtain a more accurate view of risk inside their operating ecosystem (customers, vendors, and partners). Our goal is to be the "waze" of business information.

Like the adaptable tobacco plant, businesses have been using signaling technology (pony express, US Mail, fax, email, etc.) to communicate business reputation to each other for a long time. Recently, an experienced CFO explained to me how he and his peers have frequent face to face meetings and exchange index cards with lists of good and bad business partners. Their small group has grown from a handful of local friendly competitors to over fifty businesses who actively share their data on business reputation. This is a great solution but unfortunately it doesn’t scale and doesn’t take into account the wide geographic reach businesses have today due to the Internet.

For the past few years, I've been following the reaction of the mainstream market to the advent of and applications of blockchain and it reminds me of 1998 when the Internet was about to "cross the chasm." Executives in banking, pharma, and healthcare (among others) aren't shy about using the term blockchain but I'm sure very few of them understand the potential positive impact it can have on their industry or would allow it into their production applications.

One of the largest consumers of your compliance team’s time is vendor engagement: convincing your critical and high-risk vendors to comply with your due diligence and ongoing requirements. It can be a tall order but consider your vendor’s point of view. A vendor must manage a unique set of compliance requirements for every client they serve. When we designed the Trust Exchange platform, we thought long and hard about the pitfalls of the vendor/client relationship. From the start, we knew we needed to create a technology platform friendly to both client and vendor.

Trust Exchange has worked with credit unions, pharma companies, the cannabis industry, the government, etc. on a wide array of projects using our business information network. Our platform has many diverse uses. One such use case is a logistic company, BDP International, who explains in a report how our platform is uniquely designed to monitor and investigate its vendors, partners, and customers, ensuring all are compliant with international policies on anti-corruption and anti-trafficking. The article, Special Report on Human Rights, published by Ethisphere Institute, highlights the continuing issue of human rights violations around the world and cites several organizations, including BDP, who are taking a proactive approach to addressing these challenges.

Trust Exchange is a platform that allows companies to build secure, customizable networks in order to connect, collect, and directly exchange mission critical business information in real-time.

Through Network Effect Mechanics, our platform creates opportunities for more direct collaboration between information requestors, creators, and validators. Via this crowd-powered platform, we’re building a new marketplace for business information.

Increasingly, companies are relying on vendors to provide products and services to run their businesses. Companies large and small may rely on tens, hundreds, or thousands of vendors to deliver their own products or services. Vendors may provide key components of an existing product, supply services, or help with customer acquisition. Vendors provide key links in a typical business' supply chain. In highly regulated industries, vendor compliance is a key aspect of business operations. In non-regulated industries, vendor compliance is just good business practice.

What makes a local credit union or bank so attractive to a consumer is that the organization is closely woven into the community. A customer can walk through the front door and be known by her face, rather than her account number. Being small leverages the important neighborly relationship. Being small has its disadvantages though. The biggest is the regulatory burden levied on them after the 2008 financial crisis.

Browse through any business-oriented website and you’re bound to quickly discover an article advocating that you tend to your employees above all else. Log into your LinkedIn feed and you’ll find ten. We have no arguments here, they’re right, an organization with motivated and loyal employees is likely to have a bright future in front of it. Now, let’s consider all the moving parts that make your company go. Happy employees are important, but how many 3rd-parties do you rely upon to help your organization remain open for business? Let’s take it deeper. How many of your vendors are critical (the 3rd-parties that you can’t survive without) to your organization’s operation? NOW LET’S GET REALLY FREAKY. How many critical vendors do your critical vendors have? Is the power of the network working for you or against you?

What are “network effects”? How do they create value and how does this apply to Business Information? The Network Effect is when a product or a service becomes more valuable with each person that joins the network. The classic example is the telecommunications industry. As the number of phones on the network increased, the number of calls that could be made increased exponentially and therefore increased the value of each phone and in turn the entire network. Similarly, Robert Metcalfe showed (Metcalfe’s Law) that this effect, applied to computer networks, meant that with each user, or node on a network, the cost of access to valuable resources decreased proportionately.