BRIA vs manual due diligence
Compliance and credit teams often patch together Kenyan counterparty checks — registry lookup, a court search, a news trawl, a memo in Word. BRIA automates that assembly with the same cited output every time. Use this page when you need to justify budget to a manager, procurement panel, or finance lead.
For internal champions: forward this link or print the comparison table below. Numbers are directional — your loaded analyst cost and screening volume will differ. We confirm pricing on pilot or quote.
| Manual due diligence | BRIA | |
|---|---|---|
| Time |
Typically 1–3+ days per counterparty when you cover courts,
gazette, procurement, regulators, news, and director ties — longer if queues back up
or names are ambiguous.
|
Seconds to under a minute from typed name to scored JSON;
PDF typically ready in the same request window under pilot conditions.
|
| Cost |
Hidden and variable. Loaded analyst time (often 8–16+ hours
at internal day rates), registry fees, occasional external research — plus
opportunity cost when deals wait on a memo.
|
Predictable per entity. One-time screening from
KES 5,000 (~$40) per company; monthly API plans from
KES 15,000 for low-volume teams — see
pricing for tiers.
|
| Citation trail |
Fragile audit trail. Screenshots, bookmarks, pasted excerpts,
and narrative memos — format varies by analyst; links break; six months later
it's unclear what was checked or when.
|
Source-first by design. Every flag links to the underlying
court judgment, gazette notice, register entry, or article. Reports include
scored date, coverage metadata, match confidence, and scoring model version.
|
| Batch API |
Manual queues. Spreadsheets of names, assigned analysts,
status columns, chase threads — no standard schema, no SLA, fragile when
staff leave or volume spikes.
|
REST API from day one of a plan.
GET /v1/risk/{name} with your API key; same response shape
every call — score, flags, citations, freshness. Integrate once; screen on
trigger or schedule.
|
| Consistency | Output quality depends on who ran the search and how much time they had. Two analysts can reach different conclusions on the same company. | Same checklist and scoring model on every query. Version stamped on each report so you know when methodology changed. |
| Coverage | Easy to skip a source under time pressure — especially gazette, procurement, and director-network checks that aren't part of a registry lookup. | Defined source families (courts, gazette, procurement, regulators, media, plus onboarded licensed feeds). See Sources for what we watch today. |
Simple volume math (illustrative)
Replace the placeholders with your team's loaded day rate and average hours per file.
At ~12 analyst hours each × your internal day rate, manual DD often exceeds KES 200k–400k/month in people cost alone — before peaks, rework, or external reports.
API plan from KES 50,000/month (tier confirmed at pilot) with predictable per-lookup economics — same cited output whether it's entity 1 or 20.
When manual still makes sense
BRIA is screening intelligence, not a replacement for every judgment call. Manual work still belongs where context exceeds public records:
- One-off, high-stakes deals where partners want bespoke field interviews
- Material findings that need legal interpretation before you act
- Jurisdictions or entity types outside current Kenyan coverage
Most teams use BRIA for the repeatable baseline — litigation, debarment, media, licences, director ties — then escalate exceptions to humans. That split is usually where budget conversations click.