LexisNexis Launches SmartWatch Risk Monitoring Tool

New solution provides better intelligence to proactively manage supply chain risk

New York, N.Y.Dec. 4, 2012LexisNexis Legal & Professional, a global provider of content and technology solutions, launched its LexisNexis SmartWatch risk-monitoring tool for supply management professionals.

“As supply chains become increasingly global and more complex, companies are looking for ways to proactively assess many types of risks to this crucial pipeline,” said Tom Ogburn, Vice President and Managing Director for Business Insight Solutions, LexisNexis Legal & Professional. “LexisNexis SmartWatch is unlike any other product on the market today—it helps procurement and supply management professionals proactively monitor and identify risk beyond just a financial stress score. The comprehensive and timely intelligence provided by LexisNexis SmartWatch enables companies to protect their bottom lines and their reputations.”

LexisNexis SmartWatch algorithms score and surface concerns about an organization’s suppliers and supply management partners, based upon each enterprise’s particular risk profile. Patent-pending LexisNexis SmartWatch then utilizes unique information visualization techniques, which enable supply management and procurement professionals to efficiently monitor thousands of suppliers for disruptive events that might affect their supply chain.

Hundreds of risk events are pre-defined, scored and categorized into the six “PESTLE” categories used by supply management professionals to understand and manage supplier-specific and macro challenges associated with global sourcing: political, economic, societal, technical, legal and environmental. The product assesses not only the supplier company, but also its location and its industry, against the risk categories, providing the most comprehensive and actionable insights. Examples of unpredictable events include bankruptcies and early warnings of financial difficulties, such as layoffs, re-statements of earnings, executive moves and more. Other such events include strikes; natural disasters; commodity shortages; product recalls; new regulations; cyber theft; and counterfeit goods.

The LexisNexis SmartWatch user simply clicks on a color-coded cell to view the news events that have generated the risk score for quick, actionable insight. Only risky events are surfaced, ensuring highly relevant results to help companies and organizations discover and prepare for various types of business disruptions across thousands of suppliers.

LexisNexis SmartWatch results are gathered from more than 26,000 authoritative, global news sources, including local, regional and international news publications, industry and trade journals, legal and regulatory analyses, business and financial editorial, and more. The solution also gives users the ability to proactively uncover hidden dangers, prioritize sensitive situations, track trends over time, avoid costly business interruptions and quickly develop liability mitigation strategies to resolve issues with suppliers, vendors and customers.

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