Fair Isaac's (FICO) new chief executive is starting in defense mode, as the credit-score giant looks to regain the reputation and business it has lost in the wake of the financial crisis.
The analytics company known as FICO appointed Lansing chief executive in late January,
Revenue from FICO's credit-scoring unit has fallen 20% since 2008, at the same time that the company has seen the reputation of that business suffer. Critics have accused lenders of relying excessively on traditional scoring methods in the run-up to the financial crisis and of giving mortgages to risky borrowers who never should have qualified for loans.
Now, while trying to boost FICO's business and polish its reputation, William Lansing also needs to figure out some new sources of growth.
"The world's moving faster and faster, and our challenge is how can we take this really great analytic talent that we have, and really great IT that we have, and get it into products, get it commercialized and out to the customer faster than we ever have before," he said in a recent interview.
Lansing, a former banker who has been on FICO's board for six years, says he hopes to gain more business by offering banks and other customers more products, more quickly.
"Roadmaps that used to measure 18 months to 36 months, how do we bring those in, to 12 to 24 months? How do we solve problems much faster? How do we get implementation to occur more quickly?" he says.
Analysts have been asking those questions for years, and had mixed verdicts on the answers that Lansing's predecessor had provided.
"The company has been woefully undermanaged for years," consultant Philip Philliou said in an e-mail, adding that FICO is one of "the most undervalued and under-appreciated publicly traded companies in the financial services sector."
Greene, who retired after five years running FICO, has said he will remain with the company through 2013 as an advisor. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment given to a company spokeswoman.
Barclays analyst Manav Patnaik agrees that while Greene "was obviously a smart guy," he was not doing enough to grow FICO's business.
Greene "obviously knew the business and he was doing a great job from that angle," says Patnaik.
But "I just didn't think strategically they were doing much longer term," he adds. "They were using all their cash flows to buy back shares, but maybe there could have been an element of strategic thinking in how to position the company next."
Lansing praises his predecessor, and takes responsibility for helping to shape FICO's previous strategy while on the company's board of directors.
