This tool is a dream compared to my previous experience with batch matching/de-duplication tools. And the pricing is incredible given its functionality and simplicity. High value and very lost cost. If you're an SSIS shop (they support other ETL tools also however) and you need to de-duplicate, household and/or do column-level survivorship then this tool can't be beat.

I highly advise running parallel threads by splitting your dataflow into multiple paths.  This allow parallel matching and increaes throuput significantly.

• I suggest you try both their online product and batch mode. If they provide a sample program to consume their (web) services, then try that as well.
• When we selected the product, we got an evaluation license for the products and tried some of the most difficult addresses in our database (based on use case).
• I also suggest you negotiate to send them a sample file with at least 1000 addresses that they can process and send back validated and geocoded. Then, run the results against Google or other sites that are available out there to verify their results are correct.

I believe the Melissa Data products are very good. I tend to direct clients and colleagues to check out Melissa Data if they are doing mailings because those products are very good and simple to use. We usually suggest to our own customers that they check it out if they want to do mailings from the records we provide. There seem to be a lot of capabilities built into the Melissa Data products that we currently buy, but we are not taking advantage of because we just do not need those capabilities for what we are doing.

We were not thrilled with the "phone home" requirement as we are skittish about opening a port and allowing 3rd party software to pass files. Luckily we found out it was required for the Geocoder component which we do not use. See link below for more information:

http://wiki.melissadata.com/in...

Follow the documentation as it is very good. Engage with their support team as by the little bit of experience that I had with them, they were good. Be confident that the scalability and load are not going to be an issue with the services. 

I would rate this system an eight out of 10. The accuracy of correct information is very high when it's available. However, there was a 70% chance where the system would find the person we were looking for but there was no contact information.

Still, I would advise getting the service without hesitation. It can come in handy and, even if you don’t use it on a daily basis, it’s a great tool to have when you need additional contact information for any purpose.

Talk to the Melissa Data team, they are helpful, friendly and efficient.

• Read the API documentation thoroughly.
• Understand how you are currently capturing address information.
• Test multiple addresses per country to ensure you can consume the results effectively.

I'd say it's a great product. If those are the parameters that you want to find, it seems to do real well.

What would make it a 10 out of 10 for me would be the improvements I mentioned above.

Work with an integration partner.

Thoroughly test the product. They have many different products that provide the same or similar results, but the execution is different. For example, the same goal of processing a list through NCOA can be accomplished via FTP, JSON, or SSIS. It depends on the implementation and which product is best suited for what you’re trying to achieve.

Worth looking into it, if you have data quality issues and want cleaned data in your warehouse or applications.

Great tool; certainly helpful if you need an affordable option.

I rate it a 10 out of 10, based on value, quality, speed, and features.

Start with Melissa Data, explore a few of their competitors, and then decide based on these factors: data type (B2B or B2C) / pricing / data quality / data fields / system utility / customer support.

I rate it a nine out of 10. It gets us all the information we need quickly and easily. It's convenient to be able to simply upload a spreadsheet and use a predetermined template; it only takes a few minutes to process.

Trial subscriptions (via cloud) are very cheap and easy to use. It’s a great way to test Listware to see if you want to go deeper with integration.

I know Melissa has gone the route where everything is going to the cloud, where you have to pay an ongoing annual fee. We specifically want to use a desktop solution, not a cloud solution - which is the direction many other firms are going, they're going to a cloud solution. But we prefer using a standalone desktop solution, where we are purchasing the software program one time, plus occasional updates, as opposed to having to use the cloud, based on the volume of use.

In terms of advice to others, if you have a large file with many, many terabytes, break it down into smaller files, the program will typically process it a lot quicker.

The best way to learn is try some small test files to see if it's working the way you want it to work, as far as your math logic. A lot of times you have to set up your own unique math logic combinations in order to get the results that you want.

I give it an eight out of 10 overall, because it does involve the cloud, and it can handle unusually large data files.

However, it's not a 10 because, if you don't have the threads set correctly - they have a multi-thread option - if you don't have those threads set correctly it will, in certain instances, cause your program to crash.

It is easy to install and configure. Integrates well with Visual Studio Data Tools. Generates a unique key for every address it processes. Generates correct error codes whenever it corrects a address. Finally, it is very reliable.

Follow normal IT processes to design what you need; build, test, and implement.

• Understand what you want to do.
• Know the limitations of the product.

Pick what fits your needs, ask around.

This serves our single need and we may utilize Melissa Data for other lookups, such as validate address lookup, in the future.

Test it out with real business data and validate that the industry is accurate. If not, send to Melissa Data and they will respond with more analysis and information. This was very helpful.

It's pretty easy to implement inline in a website and Windows application code. SSIS setup and configuration is a little klunky, but pretty easy to use.

Do a free trial.

You need to have a specific strategy wrapped around its use so that you can fully utilize its capabilities.

I would also check out EasyPost and Whitepages and see what solution works best for you.

Try it. It couldn’t be much easier.

Have a good understanding of your data. Therefore, you can look at the recommended changes to make sure they make sense.

Depending on your needs, it is adequate. My need is simply an easy lookup system for mailings.

Melissa offer a high quality product with great service. Their pricing is also very competitive.

Did not work as advertised.

Understand its limitations.

Search all options and decide which is the best fit.

Know the question you are asking. More data doesn’t give better solutions if it’s the wrong data for the question.

Spend time learning how it works. Perform testing to understand the return codes.