Factiva has teamed up with technology giants Microsoft and Google, in an innovative mash-up of mapping and aggregation web technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Google’s satellite imagery platform, Virtual Earth, will be used to enhance the scope of SalesWorks, Factiva’s sales intelligence service, which offers a vast collection of business information on companies, plus industry and executive news for sales professionals.

Google Earth – a mapping and location service – is combined with Microsoft MapPoint technology by Factiva to create a combination of satellite and aerial imagery on top of SalesWorks functionality. This presents Factiva’s business information in a new geographic context.

Factiva SalesWorks subscribers will be able to use the mapping technology to target prospects by generating geographical-based customer lists that spot opportunities to identify new leads and markets. Factiva also expects that users will improve their efficiency drives by scheduling client visits based on geographic proximity. Sales territories can also be divided up more accurately. Additional features allow for route finding and zoom functions.

Alan Scott, chief marketing officer at Factiva, said: “Part of our broader strategy is to transform the way sales people compete in today’s market by introducing visualisation of relevant data. Since sales people have responsibilities that directly impact their company’s bottom line, they need to be efficient and focused on selling, not searching for information.”

Virtual Earth as a separate platform is already used in retail, real estate, logistics, transport, hospitality and travel. SalesWorks holds data on millions of public and private companies worldwide, with executive biographies and competitor analysis.