Reducing risk

The Merchant International Group (MIG), a strategic research and corporate intelligence company, wanted to provide its corporate and government clients with early warnings on factors that could create instability and affect economic indicators. To help meet that goal, the company, with offices in the United Kingdom and Austria, developed the Distant Early Warning (DEW) methodology, which examines the intangibles that can be missed in traditional risk analysis.

Because timeliness is essential, MIG worked with Factiva to build and implement a portal that would enable its research analysts to provide information to clients much more quickly than before. Prior to using the portal, MIG's analysts relied on sourcing their information from hardcopy journals and Internet sources. The new system provides MIG with access to more than 9,000 global news and business information sources. Using a combination of Factiva Select, Factiva Track Module and Factiva Consulting Services, MIG built a system that filters content and delivers relevant information to selected folders, allowing analysts to find the information they need more quickly.

The system has been rolled out to all employees and, according to MIG CEO Stuart Poole-Robb, "The key benefit provided by the system has been the time saved and the resulting increase in productivity."

The portal has already demonstrated its value to MIG clients, according to Factiva. For example, it supplied information recently that gave clients an early warning of the risk of strikes, unrest and instability in Venezuela, which contradicted information in the public domain that suggested it was a good investment opportunity, Factiva says.