Issues of time and trust - A VIP Editorial
Jinfo Blog

By Nicola McGinty

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Issues of time and trust sprung to mind as I read through the product reviews of this month’s VIP. Company document databases have been the backbone of most corporate Information Centres for a good 15 years, having replaced endless shelves of hard copy company documents. In this issue, Jan Knight reviews PI Navigator and looks at what one of these databases is doing now to maintain its relevance in the world of corporate information. Already familiar (and happy with) PI’s Filings database, the question for me was: Do we need another one? With public company documents often freely and easily available via the internet, are we still paying for storage and easy retrieval or has the bar been raised?
 
PI claims to have developed this database to revolutionise the workflow of corporate finance teams by saving 40% of their time when modelling companies. This is a big claim. As information professionals in a corporate environment, we can sometimes labour along the “value added” road, so when a vendor suggests they can help us and our users along the way I’d say it was worth taking a look. We are in the unique position to see if a product can enhance workflow. We know what types of information we are asked to provide and how it is used. In times of budget cuts and the rationalising of sources product evolution is key. The more we can do with the sources we have, the better. Time is time.
 
Also in this issue, Perrin Kerravala takes a look at PitchBook, a private equity deals database that analyses private equity transactions from announcement to final exit. Again, they are not the first vendor to do this so the major factor here is whether they are doing this differently. There is a wealth of information on private equity from disparate sources available for us to wade around and possibly drown in. At best it can be murky. Perrin shows how PitchBook combines data from public sources and its own primary research, adding a healthy dose of quality assurance to ensure the integrity of it’s data. Trust is trust.
 
PitchBook is certainly covering a lot of ground; deals, companies, investors, funds, service providers, but with private equity there’s a lot of ground to be covered. The database and search functionality is aimed at all levels, from junior to general partner, who will all come with different amounts of trust and time to both databases and information professionals. Increasingly users like to take a look themselves. Databases that can cater for differing levels of users are welcome especially if it’s possible to customise the interface to suit your level and avoid overload. The search is entirely menu driven and PitchBook uses plain language to describe the fields in its search menus. I particularly like the sound of that, it can only help all of us. The same goes for the systematic reviews and refinements to ensure the quality of data. I thought I already had a source for this but that’s what I thought about company documents.

Nicola McGinty

Nicola McGinty is a senior researcher at UBS Investment Bank covering
the industrials, energy, transport & infrastructure sectors.

This editorial appears in VIP Magazine No. 87, February 2011. Purchase online >>

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