With the wealth of information available today developing at a breakneck speed, conducting quality research is more vital than ever. However, sifting through the sheer volume of content to find precisely what you need remains a challenge—not to mention the added obstacles of fact-checking and validating information. Investing in the right research tool can make an enormous difference in work efficiency and output...
While many nonprofits are well-aware of the importance of conducting donor research as part of the fundraising process, there are still plenty of aspects of due diligence worth learning about. Donors have the potential to bring financial or reputational damage to any institution, making due diligence imperative for safety and longevity. A robust due diligence search should therefore be at the top of any fundraiser’s...
Consulting jobs can consist of a wide variety of tasks—ranging from social media marketing strategy to research and analytics—but no consultant can be successful without the proper tools. To optimize work and serve clients exactly what they want and need, you must be regularly monitoring trends and data, providing thorough research beyond the scope of a simple web search. Here, we outline the ways in which...
In a world where data-driven decision-making has become all but necessary, research professionals are faced with a unique challenge: to find and collect the information they need amid an ever-growing sea of data. Today’s researchers are drowning in information; the total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally reached 64.2 zettabytes in 2020 , and is projected to hit 180 zettabytes by 2025...
The modern workplace has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last few years, weathering a global pandemic, widespread talent shortages, and the emergence of game-changing technologies. Amid all this change, today’s workers are shouldering more responsibility and larger workloads than ever —and struggling to find enough hours in the day to accomplish everything on their to-do lists. Just like time...
If you’re finding your current competitive intelligence falls short of expectations, you aren’t alone. Cam Mackey, Past Executive Director of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) pointed to a growing gap between competitive intelligence (CI) leaders and laggards in 2021. At the time, Mackey noted that leaders are “… more adept at ‘seeing through the fog’ of a...
When most people hear the word, “espionage,” they likely picture a spy from the big screen—James Bond for action junkies or perhaps Austin Powers for comedy lovers. But espionage isn’t confined to Hollywood thrillers. And it isn’t a recent phenomenon either. A Foreign Policy article highlights the storied history of corporate espionage, noting, “From classical Greek cities to modern...
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” This adage, attributed to the legendary statistician W. Edwards Deming, suggests the vital role data plays in your market and competitor analysis . After all, you need to convince decision-makers across your organization that the insights you deliver are credible—not just a gut feeling. Embarking on market and competitor analysis without...
If you scroll through a handful of job descriptions today, odds are that most—if not all—will list “proficient in research and analysis” as a requirement. But despite the need for quality research skills, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to collecting and organizing information. Some might opt for a rigid process of sourcing publications or authors with relevant expertise before diving...
As a philanthropic development professional, you are always looking for new avenues to identify potential grants, high-value donors, and philanthropy events that can unlock exciting prospect opportunities. In addition to the traditional prospect research tools, media monitoring and analytics can be an unexpected yet invaluable tool in your arsenal. In this blog post, we will explore how development professionals, including...
New technology allows many job responsibilities to be delegated to machines, but there are some tasks that just need a human touch—and proper research is one of them. As data-driven decision-making has become ubiquitous in organizations around the world, the ability to efficiently locate, analyze, and synthesize research findings is an indispensable skill for employees across a range of industries--from journalism...
In the Future of Work survey we conducted last year, 87% of professionals expressed a willingness to adopt generative AI (genAI). Adoption, however, comes with challenges. Organizations must balance desire for productivity gains promised by genAI with ethical, secure use. Moreover, despite budding enthusiasm for genAI, concerns about hallucination and bias mean organizations need to build trust in genAI outputs. How can...
As any competitive intelligence researcher knows, it’s crucial to understand both the strategy and tactics to use when conducting company and industry research. However, in today’s ever-evolving business landscape, more than just competitive intelligence professionals employ tools for company and industry research. No matter your role in your organization, if you’re tasked with providing detailed information...
Competitive intelligence strategists know that over the past few years , global socioeconomic turbulence has completely upheaved virtually every industry and organization across the planet. With the onset of remote work, the wave of new technologies and their ever-changing risks and regulations , and unpredictable markets, there’s been a massive paradigm shift across the business spectrum. The pressure has never...
Giving Season is a crucial time for any nonprofit. In fact, according to The Nonprofit Times , in 2022 the US nonprofit community raised $ 3.1 billion on Giving Tuesday alone. Despite many challenges facing nonprofits the past few years, these months are still a massive opportunity for your nonprofit. That’s why it’s essential to streamline donor prospecting workflow. The faster you identify prospective donors...
In 2021, McKinsey, in collaboration with the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA), conducted a survey on resilience behavior and organizational management. Noting a “striking difference between corporates and financial services organizations, the research revealed a much higher percentage of staff allocated to risk and compliance within financial services than corporate entities. The reason...
How well do you know your individual financial services competitors and the competitive landscape in which you operate? When it comes to putting together useful business intelligence, SWOT analysis is an important piece of the puzzle. SWOT Analysis is a common way for businesses in financial services to assess how they stand up to their competitors. By assessing each element of SWOT--strengths, weaknesses, opportunities...
The media landscape is always changing. New platforms and communications channels are seemingly introduced daily; trends develop at a moment’s notice and then are gone in a flash. What that means is that no communications strategy is ever perfect—it’s always a work in progress, a living and breathing thing. The impact of individual messages, tactics, and content should not just be tracked in real time...
As issues around sustainability, human rights and social responsibility continue to dominate headlines, corporations are facing increased pressure to prioritize Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) in their business strategies. This has been true in the financial sector for years, and ESG initiatives have quickly gone from nice-to-have endeavors that earn goodwill from stockholders and potential investors to table...
In today's climate, saving money, fueling growth, and protecting against risk are imperative goals for financial service organizations. While there are a million and one ways to accomplish any of these, determining your strategy will come down to what's best for your company, clients, and community. This requires knowing your company, industry, and consumer inside and out, which means conducting business intelligence...
In the last month, some of the world’s biggest banks have faced votes from investors to improve their ESG investments and climate records. This is just the latest evidence that a growing proportion of shareholders, employees, and consumers want to invest in, work for, and buy from companies that can demonstrate a positive, ethical impact on the world. In this blog, we explain how Nexis® Solutions can help...
With new sources of content popping up every minute, finding reliable, relevant sources for your research projects can be a major challenge. It might seem that searching on the open web is a free and easy way to find the information you need, but it's often more trouble than it's worth. If you are using the open web, you can run into a whole host of research obstacles: paywalls, bad writing and reporting, unrelated...
The Wolfsberg Principles are widely regarded as authoritative guidance for how financial institutions should respond to the rising risks of bribery and corruption. New guidance has recently been released for the first time in six years. We unpack its main recommendations of risk factors which should prompt banks to carry out enhanced financial due diligence reports and explain how technology can help to improve and...
Performing due diligence on third-party entities is a crucial part of any risk management program. However, traditional manual approaches often fall short, proving inadequate for regularly screening large volumes of partners, vendors, customers and more. Choosing the right due diligence tool like Nexis Diligence+ can transform the process through automation and enhanced insights. But with many options on the market...
Imagine you’re on the Nexis ® home page. Your cursor is on the search bar, and you know that typing in a single word or phrase will execute a search across a vast collection of data—from news archives and company details to biographical information, legal records, and social media content. But with so much data at your fingertips, how can you be sure your search efforts are delivering the most relevant...