Equifax Inc. and SPSS Inc., leaders in information intelligence and predictive analytics, have developed an Internet-enabled application that allows business lenders and trade providers to better manage credit portfolios in a low-cost, highly secure online framework. Called the Small Business Portfolio Navigator, the application enables anyone in the organization -- from loan officers to chief executives -- to interactively analyze and manage their portfolio. It is driven by industry- unique data from Equifax's Small Business Enterprise database and best-in- class enterprise reporting and analytic capabilities from SPSS. The application becomes a risk management lever, enabling business analysis to become actionable -- thereby driving improved portfolio asset quality. "Equifax and SPSS together recognize the critical need to provide lenders and other credit grantors with the very best intelligence to power their growing small business loan portfolios," explained Tom Chapman, chairman and CEO of Equifax. "The ability for a risk manager to identify issues with delinquency or portfolio concentrations early and make meaningful recommendations based on real-time access creates a significant competitive advantage." "The Small Business Portfolio Navigator brings leading edge, Internet- based enterprise reporting and visualization capabilities to the small business lending space," added Jack Noonan, CEO of SPSS. "The discovery and fluid transfer of critical portfolio issues increases the speed and efficiency of the risk management process." In the Small Business Portfolio Navigator, views of "portfolio outstandings," industry demographics and score distributions are brought together in a robust analytical information system. This information-based tool allows business users to drill into both current and time series views of key portfolio metrics. The highly graphical interface enables lenders to ask and then rapidly answer key portfolio and risk management questions. Additional insight is provided through personalization delivered through the use of point-and-click, user-defined filtering technology that creates portfolio segmentation along geographic, demographic and risk dimensions, turning raw data into precise actionable business intelligence. The Small Business Portfolio Navigator is offered to members of the Small Business Enterprise in the United States, which is composed of two industry cooperative data exchanges hosted by Equifax. The SBE contains information on more than 22 million small businesses nationally. The Small Business Portfolio Navigator will be available to customers in May 2004. Those interested in this offering can contact Equifax at 888-201-6879 or by email at smallbusinesscredit@equifax.com.