Sitting on the desks of 325,000 of the world’s most influential decision makers, the Bloomberg Terminal is a modern icon of financial markets. Launched in 1981, long before PCs and the internet became ubiquitous, the Bloomberg Terminal connected market participants to data, analytics and information-delivery service.
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FactSet Workstation
Score 8.2 out of 10
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The FactSet Workstation is a dynamic platform designed to empower financial professionals with seamless data access, advanced analytics, and technology. Integrating over 800 data sources across asset classes and markets, it consolidates crucial insights and elevates decision-making. Its AI-powered tools include smart search and chat features. The workstation simplifies complex workflows, enabling users to uncover insights quickly and improve collaboration. From research and portfolio…
Depending on which area of the finance sector you may work in, the Bloomberg Terminal will have plenty of helpful functionality for you. Two specific scenarios for myself in the Structured Finance area are tracking the pricing benchmark and following outstanding deals in the market. You can follow progress of the deals, how well they are advancing, and final pricing details
As an equity focused investment manager, it is a great all-in-one platform to work from. It solves all our needs for data and Excel integration, modeling, news, market research, economic research and other investment research work. If you are a day trader, its maybe not as useful, but for a manager with normal turnover, it works great
Excel add-in formulas are not constructed in an intuitive way and too often require assistance from help desk
No chat function for help desk, which means delayed assistance time or talking with non-native English speakers, some of whom can be difficult to understand
There should be an AI chatbot that can answer routine queries; for more advanced questions, a human rep can be connected
Portfolio performance metrics should be downloadable using Excel add-in rather than being available only on Workstation
We need the FactSet data and capabilities to complete 75% of the financial analyses that we complete for both internal and external purposes. It is invaluable and I am not aware of any other provider that would be able to fill this gap that FactSet does
FactSet Workstation offers a plethora of tools that I don't find I often use daily; however, the overall usability of the product is very user-friendly. As an example, I often use the search bar at the top of the workstation to find a specific metric I might need in a flash. The company frequently checks in through surveys and user feedback to identify areas where they can improve the usability and experience.
While there are a lot of competitive services in the marketplace, each good in its own right, the Bloomberg Terminal is considered the top product. It has key fast information and can help individuals make fast decisions. It also has a top-tier support desk that can answer questions for you and teach you functionality to apply to your role
Bloomberg has more info/data than FactSet Workstation which I pointed out earlier. To be fair, I believe Bloomberg is more expensive. Refinitiv - I have used Thomson Reuters Eikon in the past and I did not like the inflexible interface, FactSet Workstation is much more flexible. To be fair, Refinitiv may have made some upgrades since but my mental impression still lean towards FactSet Workstation because of ease of use.
We were able to end contracts with a few vendors because FactSet provided everything we need for stock screening, modeling, and analytics directly saving us capital that could be repurposed elsewhere
Having a an all in one system that does everything speeds up training and learning curve for users
