When Archer Capital's Credit Data Solutions business acquired Dun & Bradstreet in June last year one of the first decisions the new owners made was to head-hunt Simon Bligh to be the company's chief executive.Bligh had been at Veda for five years, first as chief financial officer and then as chief data officer. He took the job at D&B and then had to spend several months on leave.He finally got his feet under the desk in the corner office this week, replacing Clark Butler, a corporate adviser who worked with Archer on its bid for D&B and then filled in as interim CEO.One week into the job Bligh was wary of offering too much commentary about the state of the business. But he conceded that industry sources were correct when they said there had been underinvestment in the Dun & Bradstreet's Australian and New Zealand operations over the years and this had put it at a competitive disadvantage."As I walk into the business I see investments being made in technology and data, a much stronger customer focus and a determination to be more agile," he said."The new owners are having an impact."The big issue for D&B is how it will handle the transition of the Australian credit reporting system from negative to comprehensive reporting.The law enabling the expansion of data sets in consumer credit files took effect in 2013 and since then progress towards realisation of the scheme has been slow.D&B was critical of aspects system's participant rules, the Principles of Reciprocity and Data Exchange, which went through an authorisation process with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last year. Like a number of stakeholders, it was concerned that the rules were too complex and prescriptive.Bligh said: "It is settled now and we have signed up to the PRDE. Regulatory certainty is important."Bligh is enthusiastic about the opportunities. "The market for data will expand and on the debt collecting side of the business we will have greater scope to use our analytical capabilities," he said.The new credit reporting rules cover consumer credit reporting but Bligh sees just as much opportunity on the commercial side."The credit rules for businesses are more liberal. We are looking at bringing in a range of alternative data sources, such as transaction data from accounting platforms, and we are talking to our customers about what they would like in this area."Originally from the United Kingdom, where he qualified as a chartered accountant, Bligh worked in finance roles at telecommunications companies in the UK and Europe for 15 years.He came to Australia to work for Telecom New Zealand and then as CFO at Sydney Airport, before moving to Veda."I am interested in businesses that have a lot of data and want to work out how to use it for analysis," he said.He is confident that D&B is up to the challenge. "Absolutely. No question. There is room for improvement - lots of areas where we can add value."