How C2FO Is Building a Data-Driven Risk & Compliance Program Using Unit21

How C2FO Utilizes Unit21 for Data Monitoring

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After an initial phase of implementing Unit21 and setting up its first detection models, C2FO is now focused on understanding how it can add logic to its models to ultimately be more successful in de-risking its program. 

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Phil admits that C2FO has only scratched the surface in the short time it has had its initial set of models live. C2FO has been able to experiment and iterate in promising ways. Unit21 allows the company to run rules against its historical data and deploy rules in shadow mode (a feature that allows teams to run rules behind the scenes using dynamically generated data before making them live).

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“Running rules against our historical data is invaluable for us because we can easily establish parameters that will produce a population of alerts that are both manageable and meaningful. Also, the ability to put rules in shadow mode is another powerful tool to ensure that when you're going live with the detection model, you're doing so confidently. The ability to iterate is one of my favorite things about the platform,” he said. 

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The Impacts and Results

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When asked about the impact Phil has seen using Unit21, he indicated that having a deeper understanding of transactions and how C2FO’s customers plan to use the card was key. 

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He explained that C2FO has a rigorous philosophy surrounding data security. While this is critical for several obvious reasons, it can also be limiting because it is difficult for the team to get a holistic view of information. Because of this, he mentioned going through several tables and references to get a full picture of certain essential data sets.

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“Having Unit21 as an easy system to export user, business or transaction records has been really helpful,” he mentioned. “Beyond the fact that it's nice having the capacity to provide very quick, precise feedback internally, especially since we're very much in the midst of building onto and adding to our product, the reporting flexibility has been a major selling point.”

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On a different note, Phil described how C2FO has two necessary yet potentially unrelated compliance and risk mitigation functions happening concurrently for its card program. To put it in simple terms: C2FO has onboarding security and compliance components, and transaction monitoring and fraud prevention components. In theory, this separation could be challenging for the team to navigate, but because Unit21 ingests data from both sides, this separation of functions is a non-issue for Phil’s team.

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“We've incorporated Unit21 into our onboarding approvals and our post-transaction review and analysis. It is valuable having a partnership capable of solving multiple compliance and fraud prevention functions from within the same UI, and it speaks to the flexibility of Unit21 systems.”

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Phil then explained that he’s optimistic there will be additional downstream benefits because C2FO is using a single solution for both of those major functions and that the company currently sees good overall ROI from its investment into Unit21.

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C2FO and Unit21: Final Thoughts

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When asked to provide insights to someone considering Unit21, Phil made a great analogy. 

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He said, “I would ask them if they're the type of curious person who wants to solve their own problems. Some people need a paint-by-number. They're not going to be van Gogh. They're going to do whatever someone tells them to do.” 

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At the end of the day, Phil’s response alludes to the fact that Unit21 is a dynamic solution meant to be customized for each organization’s specific use case, and not a rigid, out-of-the-box software. Because C2FO requires a data-driven compliance and fraud prevention program, the ability to adapt its system to the ever-changing fraud landscape is paramount. 

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“When it comes to fraud, it's not evolving month to month. It is more like week-to-week or day-to-day. I look to the future of fraud prevention and think it relies on the tools that are going to have the flexibility needed to combat an ever-changing enemy.

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To me, the future is systems like Unit21, which are light on code, light on rigidity, and heavy on flexibility and experimentation. I believe we have chosen a vendor in Unit21 that is capable of meeting the challenges of what fraud looks like in 2023 and beyond.”

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