Today we’re launching a completely new feature for The Data City: Real-Time SIC Codes. We call them RSICs.
We use AI to assign SIC codes where they are missing, correct SIC codes where they are wrong, and add SIC codes where they are vague or insufficient. Our classifications are a perfectly compatible drop-in replacement for SIC codes. If a company has a website, we have fixed its SIC codes. If a company doesn’t have a website, we can keep its SIC codes.
The best way to explain RSICs is to show you. Let’s start by looking at Veolia, the largest waste management company in the UK.
When they registered, they selected two SIC codes, 70100: Activities of head offices and 96090: Other service activities not elsewhere classified (n.e.c.). These SIC codes do not tell us what they do.
Our RSICs fix this problem. We can tell you that Veolia primarily do collection of non-hazardous waste, treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste, remediation activities and other waste management services, and recovery of sorted materials. This is exactly what they do. These are the SIC codes that Veolia should have. We tell you that.
SIC codes from nothing
RSICs don’t just replace vague SIC codes with detailed ones. They add SIC codes to companies that have none. As a Royal Charter organisation, the University of Leeds has no declared SIC code. Our system tells you that it does 85600: Education support services, 85590: Other education n.e.c., 85421: First-degree level higher education, and 85422: Post-graduate level higher education. We know this is right. We’ve got the degrees to prove it.
Fix errors.
We correct SIC codes that are wrong. Hundreds of thousands of businesses in the UK rush through a complicated company registration process and select the wrong SIC code. Or they change what they do and don’t update their SIC code. We correct those errors.
London isn’t a great place to grow rice and yet Shah Abbas Restaurant in London’s SIC code says they do. We tell you, correctly that they are a restaurant that also provide outside catering and takeaways.
Add detail.
1.4 million UK companies only have what we call “other” SIC codes. These are SIC codes like Activities of head office and Other service activities n.e.c. that don’t tell us much about what a company does. They’re not necessarily wrong, but they’re not that useful.
Our RSICs replace vague and useless SIC codes with detailed and comprehensive ones.
Play Overseas Limited are a UK company that in their own words “help to identify postgraduate athletic scholarship opportunities that allow graduates the chance to continue their student-athlete careers”. This is an “Other service activity” for sure, but it’s more usefully a mix of sport and education SIC codes. Our RSICs tell you that.
A big fix to a big problem
1.4 million, a quarter, of the 5.4 million companies listed on Companies House only have vague “other” SIC codes.
Larger companies are more likely to have “other SIC codes”. By our best estimates, 42% of employment by British companies is at a company with such codes.
RSICs reduce this number by 400,000 but the impact of RSICs is much bigger when we consider employment. Over three quarters of employees working for companies with an “other” SIC code see their employers assigned a meaningful RSIC code.
RSICs are ready now.
We’re already working with trusted partners to integrate them into their products and having useful discussions with early adopters.
If you’d like to find out more, please get in touch today, or book a demo on our RSICs page.
You can also sign up to our RSICs launch webinar to see our data in action.
