Many organisations rely on address data for onboarding and deliveries, but what if the customer address data you already have could do more? AFD’s new Property Attributes dataset transforms a delivery location into actionable insights about the building, the customers who live there, and specific insurance data. Now available in AFD’s Address Lookup and Database Cleansing solutions, the dataset includes:
Harnessing AFD’s detailed Property Attributes data unlocks valuable benefits to a range of sectors. Insurers can analyse the information about a property and its occupants to better understand risk and provide more tailored policies. Banks and lenders are fully equipped with more accurate property valuations and household information to precisely assess affordability and risk during mortgage applications.
Accurate property type data (Detached, Terraced, Flat) also helps logistics companies plan deliveries and services more effectively, reducing operational inefficiencies. Energy providers can assess fuel types and household size to optimise tariffs and predict energy demand, and estate agents can see and filter current estimated property values at a glance, allowing them to efficiently match properties with potential buyers.
Many of the datapoints in this dataset, including property status (e.g. “Under Offer”), insurance renewal months, or household composition are not static, and have the potential to change frequently and sometimes unpredictably.
AFD can supply regular updates and these are recommended for this dataset, to allow your organisation to access the most up to date information, equipping you to make the best possible decisions for your organisation, and provide the best possible service to your customers.
Discover how AFD’s solutions could unlock the full potential of your address data, and deliver powerful, actionable insights today by contacting The Postcode People on 0333 433 0711 or email postcode@afd.co.uk.
This year UK organisations will put hundreds of millions of pounds into wrong accounts. Much of this money will be irretrievably lost. Also, organisations will fail to collect millions in Direct Debits. How can you protect against this very real risk? AFD Software has launched a fast, powerful and affordable service as a key defence against financial loss. The aim is to cut this tragic waste of money by dealing with the root causes.
That’s where Confirmation of Payee (CoP) helps. It’s a security check that ensures the account name, sort code, and account number all match the details held by the bank before a payment is made. If something doesn’t match, the sender is warned before making a costly error.
The new AFD Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service is a secure, real-time check that the bank sort code, account number and account name match those held by the payee bank record. Using this new service is a strong, effective mitigation against payments to suppliers, staff or clients being mis-directed. It is also an affordable fast way to check the bank details of user-completed Direct Debit forms. Errors are automatically detected enabling the user to correct them prior to form submission. This enables successful Direct Debit transfers.
A key driver to the introduction of CoP is that deceptions which trick internal staff have become more sophisticated and pervasive. Staff are deceived into altering bank sort code and account number details while cleverly not being asked to alter the payee name. Often, communications to the staff member appear absolutely legitimate, such as from a board Director. AFD CoP closes this scammer’s loophole by instantly checking that all three payment credentials—sort code, account number, and payee name—match the bank record before the transaction takes place. Another key risk is human error: one transposed figure can lead to money being transferred into an unknown account. Both are known as “misdirected funds.”
With new Direct Debit setup, many organisations ask consumers, donors, or businesses to enter their own account details into online forms or provide them over the telephone. Inevitably, this is prone to human error, with mistakes only coming to light after the Direct Debit instruction fails. Any mistake means the instruction cannot be set up and money cannot be received. Correction after the event is time-consuming, and sometimes even the best efforts to contact the payer simply don’t work.
There is a legitimate anxiety among those responsible for payments about the risk of misdirected payments, whether due to error or fraud. The reality is that a substantial portion of misdirected funds are uninsured and can never be recovered—or, at best, would be recovered at a substantial cost, both human and financial. Often, the time of the most senior staff or external experts would be required. The AFD CoP service is a significant risk mitigation—a simple, cost-effective process.
There are two common misconceptions. First, that banks will refund fraud and misdirection losses. This only applies to consumers, micro-businesses, and small charities—not to any other organisation. The second misconception is that banks will carry out a check before transferring funds. This belief is reinforced because manual payments set up directly with a bank ARE checked, but that’s where it stops.
While CoP is mandated for all firms in the finance sector, beyond this, the responsibility to check details does not lie with the banks. For example, banks have no obligation to carry out CoP checks for batch payments uploaded by their commercial customers—the onus and risk remain with the organisation.
Our trained team is ready to answer your questions and help you decide if the AFD Confirmation of Payee service is for you.
Get in touch today to discuss your specific requirements with The Postcode People on 0333 433 0711 or email postcode@afd.co.uk.
AFD Software Ltd, “The Postcode People”, held their annual Postcode Party and Charity Giveaway at Mountain View Innovation Centre on Thursday 5th December 2024.
The Postcode People are the world’s leading experts in British Postal Data – driving efficiency in data records, logistics and political information flows. All Postcode Data used in the UK, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands is first processed at Mountain View before distribution back to Royal Mail and its many customers.
Now in its 42nd year of business, AFD welcomed representatives of many of the 91 Charities supported this year – and who are receiving a share of £1.2 million – to celebrate both the significant contribution of AFD’s products and services to the entire British Isles, but also the way that funds can make a massive difference in the Isle of Man, the UK and the Wider World.
These organisations have been chosen by AFD’s workforce to help in the relief of suffering, the improvement of society and furtherance of the Christian gospel, in alignment with one of AFD’s Company Objectives.
Group Director, Alison Dorricott, closed the evening: “Our Postcode Party aka Charity Night is the highlight of the year for me and for our wonderful team. What we do day in and day out powers our economy and that of the Adjacent Island every single day but at our Charity Event, we can celebrate how much wider our business impact actually is – in the Isle of Man, the UK and across the world”.
The Faraday Institute for Science & Religion aims to illuminate life’s big questions through rigorous academic research in science and religion. It seeks to share this research in meaningful, engaging, and potentially transformative ways with diverse audiences, regardless of their faith or beliefs.
The AFD donation will support the Youth and Schools Programme, which aims to make science-faith exploration accessible to all young people and their key influencers, regardless of their backgrounds, worldviews, life experiences, or budget constraints.
The vision held by Educate the Kids is to see children in Africa, who are living in poverty, to have their needs met, their rights upheld, and their dreams fulfilled; they believe this can be achieved through education.
The donation from AFD is being used to purchase equipment and furniture for the nursery school. This will provide a welcoming environment for 75 children as they begin their educational journey.
Make-A-Wish grants life-changing wishes throughout the UK, aiming to transform “tears into cheers” by giving children with critical illnesses the opportunity to dream big, even when their time may be limited. These wishes offer an invaluable escape from the constant challenges and harsh realities of life defined by illness.
Over the past year, the charity has granted wishes to more than 1,000 children across the UK. The donation from AFD, will allow them to make even more wishes come true, bringing hope, joy, and lasting memories to children and their families, that they can treasure forever.
All the organisations we have partnered with and the incredible work they do can be seen at www.afd.co.uk/charity.
In 2001, AFD launched its bank validation solution, “AFD BankFinder,” to help organisations check the validity of bank account data (sort code, card number, and account number) before making payments and during direct debit signups.
Coinciding with new legislation that comes into force this month, mandating all UK banks and payment service providers handling Faster Payments, BACS, and CHAPS to implement Confirmation of Payee (CoP), an enhanced version of AFD’s bank validation solution is now available. This version includes the ability to make CoP requests, meaning you don’t need to be a big bank or financial institution to benefit from this greatly enhanced bank data check.
A CoP request allows an organisation to make a real-time check with the bank to confirm that the account name, account number, and sort code they have for a payee match the information held by the payee’s bank or payment service provider.
As AFD’s enhanced bank validation solution provides real-time checks, the costs to deliver this service are higher. However, the greater assurance that payments are being sent to the intended recipient and the help it provides in preventing fraudsters from impersonating legitimate businesses or individuals make it well worthwhile.
Would your organisation benefit from greater payment confidence?
Contact Joel Miller today on 0333 433 0711 or email joel.miller@afd.co.uk to discuss your requirements.
Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions Limited, a long-standing AFD customer, is the UK’s largest and most experienced provider of parking, environmental, and traffic management systems. For 28 years, they have partnered with AFD to deliver fast and accurate address validation, integrated within their systems used by end users and for their own business processes.
One of their systems that was not utilizing AFD’s data validation solutions assists councils in assigning addresses to parking permits. Local authorities manage parking permit eligibility based on addresses within a defined area. When address data is incorrect during the setup of these areas, resident applications become unsuccessful, leading to wasted time in finding, confirming, and fixing the errors.
We sat down with William Jervis, Product Manager, and Harry Adamson, Senior Software Developer, to learn how the introduction of one of AFD’s solutions into another of their processes last year is now helping to ensure greater address data accuracy and eliminate potential frustration and waste.
William begins: “When we were onboarding clients, we would match data based on the address, but inconsistencies and variations in the data we received made it difficult to ensure that every eligible property was included.”
“Very similar addresses can appear multiple times in the same city. For example, ‘St. John’s Street’ might be formatted in various ways, such as ‘St. John Street’, ‘Saint Johns Street’, or even ‘St Johns St.’ These inconsistencies required us to apply what’s known as fuzzy matching techniques, which became increasingly difficult and unsatisfactory when handling databases containing millions of addresses.”
“If only 1% of addresses failed to match, that’s tens of thousands—which we could not check manually due to the time and cost involved. After the council’s system went live, new issues could emerge that required further manual tweaks and fixes. This put a significant burden on both our teams and the council, leading to additional work for everyone involved.”
Needing a solution to improve the matching process, Imperial turned to AFD’s address lookup solution, combined with Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) data.
As its name suggests, the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) is a unique and authoritative reference code for every addressable location, converting it into a consistently formatted address.
Harry continues: “AFD’s solution takes a UPRN and returns the valid address record, making it much easier for our technical consultants to set up and configure the system and confirm that all eligible properties are accurately included.”
Not only has the setup process become more streamlined, but ongoing data maintenance has also improved. “If we need to add or remove addresses, we can do so quickly and accurately using the UPRN, knowing we aren’t creating or just removing duplicates, which means we don’t need to review the entire database.”
William, summarizing the experience with AFD and their solutions, says: “Working with AFD has been great. The team has been helpful, always responsive, and highly knowledgeable about address data solutions. Prompt email replies make a huge difference, allowing us to resolve any issues quickly and efficiently. Following AFD’s advice to use their address validation solution with UPRN added has been a game-changer for us and has solved many of the problems we previously faced, saving us and our customers time, effort, and resources.”
We would highly recommend the experts at AFD to any organisation dealing with complex address databases and matching requirements.
Could your address data processes be improved by the addition of UPRN? The Postcode People at AFD have been helping organisations get data right for over 40 years. Call 0333 433 0711 or email joel.miller@afd.co.uk to discuss your requirements with a data quality expert.
We are pleased to announce our partnership with BigCommerce, one of the fastest-growing e-commerce platforms. Working closely with the BigCommerce development team, the team at AFD have developed an App that can be downloaded from the App Marketplace, instantly adding address validation to the checkout pages of your BigCommerce online store. Organisations that deploy the new App will improve both the customer experience and the accuracy of data captured during the checkout process.
Address lookup from the Postcode People at AFD is designed to be fast, accurate, and easy to use. With just a few keystrokes, customers can find their address from either a postcode or from the first line of their address. An accurate delivery address minimises delivery delays, costly returns, and frustrated customers.
Bringing our address lookup solution to the BigCommerce platform is part of AFD’s continued support of providing cutting-edge solutions that help our customers drive success. AFD’s solutions can also be used in Shopify, Magento (Adobe Commerce), and many other platforms. With a range of ready-made plugins and highly experienced technical teams, we will have a solution for your requirements.
Get in touch with Joel Miller today on 01624 811711 or email joel.miller@afd.co.uk.
Student numbers enrolling at universities in the UK are at an all-time high. Over the past 5 years, the total number of enrolled students in Higher Education (HE) has increased by 19%!
This growth has been driven by an emphasis on HE as a route to career advancement and improved economic prospects for students. Many opportunities in the increasingly competitive job market require a university degree, and this requirement becomes essential for specialised and higher-paying roles.
Not only is the demand for HE growing with the current population, the population is growing! Forecasts from The Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that there could be nearly 900,000 18-year-olds in the population in 2030, an increase of 180,000 from 2020. This demographic change is expected to lead to significant increases in HE applications.
AFD Software is the market leader in contact data validation solutions to the HE sector. Over 100 Universities partner with AFD to check student address, email, and phone data is valid at the point of entry and regularly cleansed before Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) returns. These solutions are essential for three key reasons:
When Microsoft announced that they were withdrawing support for the Windows 2012 server, Edge Hill University found themselves faced with a pressing challenge. The server that hosted their Student Record System required upgrading, but their incumbent provider of Address Validation couldn’t integrate the old system with a new server.
This left Edge Hill in a difficult position, as all Universities must submit student data to HESA. Strict data quality standards are a legal requirement as they form the basis of accurate funding, and for the Office for Students to understand student trends, backgrounds, and outcomes. Accurate student home address data forms a key part of this statutory requirement.
Equally perturbing, without Address Validation, Kevin Molyneux, Business Systems Support Manager at Edge Hill, realised that it would mean going back to the days of manual data entry – a nightmare of input errors, missing information and wasted time and cost trying to correct the data. So, he reached out to the provider of the system, who offered two potential address solution providers – one of which was AFD Software. Kevin fills in the details:
“The Student Record System is the database that holds all the information on our students; their course, funding details, and contact information including address. We use a system from Ellucian that has been embedded at the University for 20 years.
I requested a call back via the AFD website and within minutes I was on the phone to an expert in both address data and the HE sector. He had an in depth knowledge of the product and industry – and rather than ‘selling’, helped us find a solution and brought about the collaboration that could make that happen.”
The experience I have had with AFD as a partner is the best I have had, and I would happily recommend them to any organisation needing contact data validation solutions.
Edge Hill was provided with a test license from AFD but the integration code within Ellucian required certain parameters that they, and initially AFD, struggled to overcome.
Kevin continues: “We got to the position where we thought it wasn’t going to work, but the team at AFD wouldn’t give up and they found the right solution to enable address validation where we needed it. This wouldn’t have been achievable without the tenacity and responsiveness of AFD – their support team answered questions quickly and engaged with both our staff and the Ellucian team to find the solutions. Having people to talk to makes a huge difference and helped overcome the significant technical hurdles we encountered along the way.
The final hurdle was the need to resolve security-related questions that related to calling an external service from an on-site application. After the call with AFD’s infrastructure security specialists, our IT Security Manager’s feedback was ‘it is refreshing to deal with experts and come to a consensus of what’s required’.”
In summarising their experience with the Postcode People at AFD, Kevin says: “Working with AFD Software, we have been able to overcome the challenges of meeting modern stakeholder requirements while still working within the constraints of legacy applications.
I’ve worked in IT for 20 years, engaging with suppliers and organisations trying to sell things to the University regularly. The experience I have had with AFD as a partner is the best I have had, and I would happily recommend them to any organisation needing contact data validation solutions.”
Does your organisation require accurate contact data solutions from the market-leading experts? AFD Software helps thousands of organisations validate and cleanse contact data. Talk to an expert today by calling 01624 811711 or emailing joel.miller@afd.co.uk.
In a landmark move to enhance energy efficiency across the nation, the government has rolled out the Eco4 Grant, a comprehensive funding initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions and lowering energy costs for households. This grant focuses on utilising advanced address lookup and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data to streamline the application process and ensure targeted improvements.
The Eco4 Grant is designed to assist low-income households and those living in energy-inefficient homes, providing them with the financial support needed to make essential upgrades. By integrating address lookup and EPC data into the application process, the grant aims to identify eligible properties more efficiently, ensuring that the funds are allocated to homes that need it the most.
Advanced Address Lookup with EPC: Precision in Identification
AFD’s Address Lookup functionality returns an accurate address when a user searches by either postcode then selects their property or by typing in the first line of the address and selecting the property.
At this point of selection, AFD returns the PAF address alongside the EPC data.
The integration of advanced address lookup technology plays a pivotal role in the Eco4 Grant’s success. This system enables precise identification of properties, ensuring that no eligible household is overlooked. By cross-referencing accurate address data with various datasets including EPC and UPRN, the technology verifies eligibility and provides accurate location details via property level latitude/longitude for a pinpoint property location. This precision reduces administrative overhead and accelerates the application process, allowing more households to benefit from the grant in a shorter time frame.
EPC data can also be appended through bulk cleansing of address databases.
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are crucial in assessing a property’s energy efficiency. The EPC data offers a detailed analysis of a home’s energy use, carbon dioxide emissions, and potential savings from energy efficiency improvements. By leveraging this data, the Eco4 Grant can prioritise properties that require the most urgent upgrades.
EPC data helps in the following ways:
Impact on Households and the Environment
The Eco4 Grant’s strategic use of address lookup and EPC data not only streamlines the application process but also ensures a significant impact on both households and the environment. By targeting the most inefficient homes, the grant helps reduce energy bills for low-income families, contributing to a reduction in fuel poverty. Additionally, the energy efficiency upgrades lower carbon emissions, aligning with national and global goals for climate change mitigation.
Pista technologies Ltd capture leads for Eco4 government grants to help individuals who live in properties with poor EPC ratings and areas of high deprivation. Adam Evans says; “We have Property level address validation with EPC data from AFD, this means we can capture property information with speed and accuracy, each captured address contains additional information including the EPC rating meaning we don’t have to separately source this data, helping our internal processes.
Bpha, a housing association managing over 40,000 properties rely on AFD’s address lookup and cleansing solutions with EPC data to prioritise maintenance and get their workforce to the right location, read their story here.
Do you want a codeless solution to auto-complete addresses and live validate emails and mobile / landline numbers within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales?
The AFD D365 PowerApps Component Framework (PCF) solution does just that. It prevents human mistakes which lead to data contamination and cleans up the contact data already in D365. It is the simplest, most effective way to ensure users enter contact data quickly and accurately across your D365 Sales estate.
The AFD D365 PCF is built with the same AFD Software API trusted and used today by over 300 Software Partners. This is at work in a wide range of sectors including legal, insurance, charity, and education – where accurate address, email and phone data is operationally essential.
Jonathan Stocks Head of Sales & Marketing at AFD explains the rich heritage of the component: “We wanted to find an expert Microsoft Partner to build us a D365 PCF component. They had to have depth of understanding of contact data, technical expertise and the ability to fully support and maintain the PCF into the future.”
After carefully reviewing the options, DQ Global were commissioned. Jonathan continued: “DQ Global met our strict technical and support criteria. A bonus for us is that we have known DQ Global for decades. Like AFD Software, they are fair, deliver a quality product without fuss and red-tape – and guarantee to support and update it. AFD within D365 looks and feels like it belongs there – it is native. We are incredibly pleased – and users love it.”
Conor Doyle is Head of Sales at DQ Global: “We share a passion with AFD for contact data quality and excellence. Just like AFD, we have rich expertise in data, with our specialty lying in CRM de-duplication. Therefore, we were thrilled to be chosen to develop the AFD D365 PCF component, ensuring users have complete confidence when entering address, email, and phone data into Dynamics 365 CRM.
“As a Microsoft Partner we are fully aware of the changes to MS Business Applications, putting us in a strong position to support AFD with ongoing technical changes and ultimately, enabling AFD to continue their high level of technical support and customer care.”
“We highly regard AFD for their deep expertise in contact data validation and cleansing. With thousands of customers, including Irwin Mitchell, Cats Protection and AXA, we always know that AFD are on hand to understand their client’s business challenges, and deliver solutions to meet their client’s needs.”
To find out more about the AFD Dynamics D365 PCF for lightning-fast entry and validation of address, email, and phone data, please contact jonathan.stocks@afd.co.uk.
Visit our D365 Developer page to view and download integration guides here.
Visit DQ Global’s site here
AFD Software helps over 100 Universities ensure their student Address, Email, and Phone data is accurate at the point of entry and bulk cleanses student contact databases.
Address validation and cleansing services offer significant benefits to universities across various aspects of their operations, from administrative efficiency to student services. Here are some key benefits:
Email and phone validation ensures all email addresses and phone numbers entered by staff or students are confirmed as accurate and “live” (currently in use). Feedback from some of the 100+ Universities that rely on AFD for accurate data have shared the following benefits:
Incorporating email and phone validation into their data management practices allows universities to enhance their operational efficiency, improve their communication strategies, and maintain strong relationships with all members of their community, from current students to alumni and staff.
To find out how these solutions can benefit your institution, contact Jonathan.stocks@afd.co.uk or call 01624 811711.
We serve thousands of organisations and a network of hundreds of partners across multiple industry sectors, enabling them to have full confidence in their contact data.