It can be a little hard for the layperson to comprehend exactly what goes on at Neuro-ID, the Whitefish technology company that provides insight into customer behavior during digital transactions. But there’s one thing they’re doing that everyone can understand: growing.

The local analytics company just started a major global partnership with TransUnion, the world’s leading credit bureau. And with more and more businesses going online due to COVID-19, CEO Jack Alton believes Neuro-ID will continue to evolve and expand.

“We’re growing very rapidly and want to continue to hire people,” said Alton. The company, which currently operates with 26 employees, recently moved into a new office near the Montana Taphouse on Wisconsin Avenue with three times as much space as their previous location in downtown Whitefish.

“Our goal is to make it a big company,” said Alton, a fifth-generation native of the Flathead. Alton moved back home from Austin, Texas with the vision of creating an oasis of technology jobs in an area where the industry hadn’t yet taken root.

Neuro-ID’s latest development is a big step toward achieving those goals.

Neuro-ID already works with big-name companies — the kind Alton said the public would recognize from commercial breaks during Monday Night football or network TV shows — by providing insight into the online customer experience. Their patented Friction Index technology can help sniff out fraud or smooth out experiences for legitimate customers by looking at the way a user clicks, types and interacts online.

But the TransUnion partnership, in the works for the past six months, will bring this insight to an even greater range of users throughout the world. TransUnion is one of the world’s three largest credit bureaus, a household name in the insurance world that owns 80% of the insurance vertical and serves thousands of clients worldwide. Since the insurance industry has been largely left behind by digital developments, TransUnion also offers an opportunity to innovate in a field that has remained notably low-tech for many years.

“Insurance is a massive market and one that really needs help making the transition to being more digitally friendly,” Alton explained. “They have access to a market that can be very difficult to penetrate, especially with new technology, and we have something very innovative that TransUnion would like to bring to their client base.”

Alton’s approach to this new venture mirrors his attitude about developing the company in the valley before technology had much of a presence in Northwest Montana.

“Being able to build a global technology business like Neuro-ID in the Flathead Valley is a lifelong dream of mine,” Alton said. “A partnership like the one with TransUnion is a big stamp validating that not only is something like that possible, but it’s happening.”

Their Whitefish office, where their leadership and sales teams are based, offers many of the benefits that have become famous in the tech industry, and a few distinctly Montanan job perks as well. The Neuro-ID leadership is focused on fostering a fun and collaborative work environment, with some special assignments like a weekly office 5k run from their office to Big Mountain Road. Neuro-ID — which also operates a tech center in Provo, Utah — has a vision of developing the tech company model in small communities in the Rocky Mountains.

“We’re glad to be one of many very innovative local companies who are looking to create great jobs and change industries from our little corner of the world,” Alton said.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.