In today’s fast-paced world, data has become the lifeblood of business decision-making. Traditionally, financial analysts relied heavily on traditional data sources like company earnings reports, filings, and economic indicators. However, with the rapid rise of technology and the emergence of big data, a new type of data has emerged: alternative data.
Below, we explore what exactly alternative data is, how it has evolved over time, and why Stream by AlphaSense’s expert transcript library is an excellent source of alternative data.
Understanding Alternative Data
Alternative data (alt data) refers to any non-traditional data sets that can be utilized by investors to gain insights into business trends, consumer behavior, and market dynamics. Unlike traditional data sources, like financial reports and surveys, alternative data encompasses a wide array of information gathered from various sources.
These alt data sources include expert transcript libraries, app usage, social media platforms, satellite imagery, web scraping, IoT devices, and more. Its primary purpose is to complement traditional datasets and offer unique perspectives for better, more well-rounded decision-making.
Alternative data sets are information that is published externally of a company and is used by hedge fund managers and institutional investors to access unique insights on the investment process. Dive even deeper into the use cases of alternative data here.
The Evolution of Alternative Data
The evolution of alternative data has been fueled by technological advancements and the exponential growth of digitization. In the early days, alternative data had limited industry applications and was primarily used by hedge funds and institutional investors seeking an edge in financial markets. They leveraged unconventional data sources, such as satellite imagery to track retail parking lots or credit card transaction data to gauge consumer spending patterns for insights on market movements.
One expert in the Stream by AlphaSense expert transcript library suggests that there will be more focus on using alt data to partner with consumer information.
“In future, I see more and more focus on tapping these alternative data assets which also includes how you can partner with a consumer’s information with regards to the banking, checking accounts and savings accounts, and how you could do all of that.”
However, as computing power increased and data storage became more accessible, the applications of alt data expanded beyond finance. Companies across various industries realized that alternative data could provide valuable insights for marketing research, supply chain management, and even healthcare.
Today, alt data has become an indispensable resource for decision-makers looking to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape.
In the podcast Signals by AlphaSense, host Nick Mazing discusses alternative data for corporations with Michael Maloof, Director of Marketing at Earnest Analytics. They discuss that while alt data has been utilized integrally by hedge funds, its use in the corporate world is incipient with more potential to come.
“So, companies and consultants, they’re really just beginning to turn to these newer alt data sets, like transaction data, like web pricing data, to fill in their data mosaic, gain a fuller understanding of their markets.”
– Michael Maloof, Director of Marketing at Earnest Analytics
You can watch the entire episode here to learn more about alternative data emergence in the corporate world.
Stream by AlphaSense: an Excellent Source of Alternative Data
Alternative data is divided into three categories based on whether it has been generated by individuals, business processes, or sensors. Individual-generated alt data is typically unstructured data sourced by social media, app usage, or web traffic but also includes more structured sources like expert transcript libraries or expert networks.
While expert transcript libraries and expert networks both provide structured alternative data, Stream is set apart from traditional expert networks and competitors, like Tegus, in many ways.
Stream by AlphaSense is an excellent source for individual-generated data because it provides structured alternative data through its ever-growing expert transcript library and expert call services. Stream’s structured alternative data set provides you with broad industry coverage, powerful AI features, faster time to insight, and world-class compliance. Visit our comparison page to find which investment research platform is right for you.
Broad Industry Coverage
Stream has an incredibly fast-growing expert transcript library of over 30,000 expert calls across all industries that includes transcripts and audio. During its onset, alternative data had limited industry applications with a sole emphasis on financials. As an expansive source of expert insights with broad industry coverage, Stream by AlphaSense provides alternative data across healthcare, consumer, industrials, energy, materials, financials, utilities, and real estate.
Powerful AI Features
Stream’s on-demand library revolutionizes investment research with powerful AI search technology, advanced NLP-based features, and automated alerts. Stream’s AI curates content to easily capture insights from tens of thousands of on-demand transcripts just for you.
Stream recently launched new platform modules to help you find relevant content quickly and easily. The “Most Popular Expert Calls” module showcases the most searched transcripts across the Stream platform, while the “Trending For You” module provides recommendations based on your interests.
Faster Time to Insight
Stream brings you alternative data with speed through its elevated user experience and at-a-glance insights that empower you to make sharper business decisions.
You can get faster time to insight with Stream by easily browsing transcript headlines and digestible 3-point summaries while using AI features like Smart Synonyms™ and sentiment analysis. Stream’s platform also allows you to jump straight to key topics with a hyperlinked table of contents and audio timestamps for easy navigation and access to voice inflections.
World-Class Compliance
Compliance takes top priority at Stream to deliver trustworthy alternative data for safety and peace of mind. Our dedicated compliance team carefully reviews each transcript to ensure it aligns with regulatory requirements, minimizing the risk of exposing primary research to material non-public information (MNPI). You’ll also gain access to Stream’s Compliance Portal for auditing all transcript activities and compliance questionnaires for complete transparency.
Expert Call Services
Another form of structured alternative data that Stream provides is through its expert call services. Stream offers one-on-one phone consultations with experts in our library and custom sourced experts through our dedicated research team. You can have leading Stream analysts conduct calls on your behalf for customized interviews and in-depth insights on target subjects to produce individual-generated alt data that’s compliant just for you.
Read The Expert Insights Flywheel: Maximize Return on Your Time to understand the benefits of combining an expert transcript library with expert call services.
Unbundling Uncovered New York and ALTSNY Conferences
For the month of June, Stream by AlphaSense attended two industry conferences in New York City: Unbundling Uncovered New York and ALTSNY. The first 50 guests that visited our booths and signed up for a free trial received a complimentary YETI tumbler.
Here is more information on our attendance for each event:
- Unbundling Uncover New York: Ryan Brier, Stream General Manager, spoke on Panel III: The Research Product.
- ALTSNY: Wendi Sours, Stream Webinar Marketing Manager, attended to run our booth.
Visit our events page to find more information on conferences that Stream by AlphaSense will be attending so you can meet us there.
Stream’s position in alt data is both primordial and revolutionary. Seeking a keeper of knowledge for greater wisdom is the primitive root of communication. Data has since evolved through digitization and Stream has revolutionized expert insights through the power of AI search technology and advanced NLP-based features that saves investors from the typical frictions that keep crucial insights at bay.
As alternative data continues to redefine the way businesses operate, harnessing its power has become a necessity to staying competitive in fast-paced markets. Stream by AlphaSense serves as an excellent example of an alt data source that empowers organizations to extract meaningful insights, optimize decision-making processes, and uncover hidden opportunities.
Businesses can unlock a new dimension of success in today’s data-driven world by unleashing the power of structured alternative data through Stream’s advanced tools.
Start your free trial to unlock the power of Stream’s alternative data today.
Content Marketing Specialist - AlphaSense
Content marketer at Stream by AlphaSense and experienced copywriter in a range of industries including: healthcare, financial, technology and energy. Published author of “Masala Chai,” a poetry book capturing his experience as a South Asian minority in America.
Read all posts written by Alyees Qureshi
