Overview
External Data Sources
External data sources refer to information retrieved from third-party providers, public registries, commercial databases, and specialist verification services.
Unlike documents, external data sources are not uploaded and processed as files. Unlike end-user connected data, they usually do not require the applicant to connect an account directly. Instead, Sikoia retrieves information from external providers and normalises it into consistent outputs that can be used across cases, entities, and workflows.
External data sources help enrich companies and people with additional information required for onboarding, compliance, underwriting, risk assessment, and operational review.
What external data sources are used for
External data sources can support workflows such as:
- KYC
- KYB
- company verification
- credit and risk assessment
- sanctions screening
- PEP screening
- adverse media checks
- underwriting and compliance review
People
For people, Sikoia can retrieve and standardise information from sources such as:
These sources can help verify a person’s identity, addresses, credit report, including credit score and support onboarding, KYC, and risk assessment workflows.
Companies
For companies, Sikoia can retrieve and standardise information from sources such as:
These sources can help verify company identity, registration details, financial standing, online presence, ownership indicators, and other business risk signals.
People and Company
Some external data sources can be used for both companies and people, including:
These sources help identify potential financial crime, reputational, regulatory, or compliance risks.
How external data sources work
External data sources typically follow a request-based flow:
- A company or person is added to a case.
- A third-party data source is requested for that entity.
- Sikoia retrieves the relevant data from the provider.
- The provider response is normalised into Sikoia’s standard data models.
- The output is made available for review, verification workflows, and downstream decisioning.
How external data differs from documents
Documents are uploaded by users and processed end-to-end by Sikoia.
External data is retrieved from third-party providers and normalised by Sikoia. The value comes from provider orchestration, consistent outputs, entity-level enrichment, and the ability to combine external signals with documents and connected data in the same workflow.