A recent Jinfo blog post peaked my interest in NewsEdge, a news aggregator that has survived – and thrived – in a highly competitive market. NewsEdge was founded in 1988 and was acquired by Acquire Media in 2007.
Acquire Media offers NewsEdge.com, a real-time news management and delivery solution; NewsEdge v8, real-time scrolling news and alerting for traders/finance professionals; and NewsEdge TIGER, a tagged feed for trading strategies.
While trialling NewsEdge.com, it became apparent that NewsEdge is meticulously designed with the researcher in mind. Here are a few features that stood out:
It Gets Granular – The ability to filter news events to exact locations, ranging from global regions to small U.S. towns, is key. Many suppliers/competitors are privately held and finding information on them can be challenging. Local newspapers and business publications, with knowledgeable reporters that closely track the key events of companies, especially those headquartered in their communities, provide first hand, accurate information.
Risk Management – In the world of risk management, a news event is neither news nor an event of concern if detected a few days after its occurrence. Since NewsEdge specializes in news dissemination, it has perfected the art of providing immediate news. Just as important, the news results delivered can be filtered to allow for only relevant stories. These news stories can be shared in multiple ways, such as via email, RSS feeds, or social media and the alerting and reporting functionality is flexible as well.
Nimble, Agile Interface – Over the years, NewsEdge has been able to adapt the interface to be continuously nimble. Since it is specifically designed for news aggregation, it is not weighed down by having to allow for non-news-related functionality.
Flexible Search Options – There are options to search based on your preference and even skill level, including guided search and advanced search offerings. (The ability to set up a search string that allows for as many OR combinations as imaginable will make search geeks giddy.) Its detailed taxonomy plays an important role in allowing for quality results.
The Price Point – The price point quoted to me for my specific purpose was affordable and reasonable. This is a competitive advantage for NewsEdge, and makes it worthwhile for consideration for a general business as well as a procurement research offering, even though it is not designed and created for procurement specifically.
NewsEdge Products Are Used by Other News/Content Providers – According to its website, NewsEdge provides syndication and delivery services to well-known publishers including Dow Jones, PR Newswire, Business Wire, The New York Times Syndicate, among others, in addition to providing inbound content management services for companies in the financial and information services marketplace, such as Schwab, Thomson, NASDAQ, FactSet, SNL Financial, Alpha Trade, One Source and Hoovers.
