ASK MAT – My boss wants to rely on Google alerts for our AML customer screening; what are your thoughts

There is no easy way to set up, use and manage Google Alerts to deliver accurate, hassle-free, targeted information.

You may rely on Google Alerts to push critical business changes and news regarding your specific set of customers or target companies daily. However, chasing important customer news via Google to limit your search to a REGIONAL FOCUS (or other such focusses) can be frustrating and time-consuming.

• REGIONAL FOCUS.
• If your territory is the JERSEY channel islands (Guernsey/ Mauritius/Seychelles etc.etc.). Ideally, you want to track critical business information within “5 by 9” miles of the island; however, Google will look further, like it or not.

Google will look further, like it or not, then generate all sorts of other data that leads to a whole heap of problems, including-

1. High Junk Factor= You get the same headlines about your target companies repeatedly pushed to you, primarily full of irrelevant data and often old and repetitive information. 
2. Email overload = Google Alerts. If you are not careful, they will pile up in your email. Soon, you may set up a filter to file them in a folder. Unfortunately, out of sight, out of mind, and your Google Alerts disappear, along with any valuable data they were imparting.  
3. Maintenance is Challenging. = Every time a target company/individual changes or adjusts, you must delete old Google Alerts and add new Google Alerts. 
4. Expensive= Monitoring of your target companies/individuals is so complex that you may pay temps to grind through all the searches and Google Alerts regarding your customer suite and ask temps to surface only the important business-impacting signal information to your attention. 
5. Extremely Expensive = Worse yet, every one of your analysts that you pay six figures spends significant amounts of time managing their Google Alerts, skimming dozens of subscription emails, reading multiple newspapers and watching BBC/SKY NEWS/ ETC every morning/night -- on the off chance that a key target companies/individual will be mentioned.
6. Consumer-oriented = Google Alerts may be okay with 10 target companies/individuals. However, some roles need to know about changes in dozens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of companies/individuals. Dealing with Google Alerts for 2,000 target companies/individuals is unmanageable [impossible]. 
7. Does not Scale = your customer and prospect list expand as your company grows. How can you track all these entities to ensure no critical business signal is missed?

In our experience, most AML CDD managers, technical analysts, supply chain directors, portfolio managers, and commercial lenders track data about their target companies/individuals exceptionally poorly. These hardworking professionals have been doing things the same way for so long, incessantly Googling, subscribing to email lists, and reading/watching news media, that they don't realise there is a better solution. 

Comsure has this solution, and it can be run every night and embedded into your Customer Risk Assessments [CRA].

WANT TO KNOW MORE – CALL MATHEW

Mathew Beale - Chartered FCSI

Principal & Director - Comsure Compliance Limited, Comsure Technology Limited, Comsure Mauritius (the "Comsure Group of Companies")

mathewbeale@comsuregroup.com

T (Jersey) +44 1534 733-588 /+44 7797 747-490

T (Mauritius) +230 214-6487 / +230 5717-6907