Caterpillar Inc. is a Fortune 100 corporation specialising in designing, manufacturing and distributing machinery and engines across a worldwide dealer network.

With over $50bn revenue in 2018, and a global workforce of over 100,000 employees, Caterpillar has a responsibility to deliver information that is trusted and unbiased to educate and provide greater market intelligence.

“We manage the Business Resource Center, which is Caterpillar’s Global Business Library, and we have a variety of different functions, including research for strategic initiatives and other projects throughout the corporation,” say Jennifer Weber, Melissa Allen and Kristin Stutzman.

The center distributes news throughout the workforce to ensure all relevant content is received in a quick fashion. With the right information sources, appropriate actions can be taken across the business that will positively affect the outcomes they achieve globally.

“The FT is one of the premier information sources in the world,” Melissa says. “We knew that we wanted to provide access for our employees and we reached out to the FT to negotiate a group subscription.”

With the help of the FT’s accounts team, a subscription was rolled out across the entire business, with extra features such as Enterprise Tools being an incredible asset to their day-to-day analysis of their platforms.

“Our FT account team is great,” says Melissa. “While it’s not like we’re pinging them all the time that we need help, but when it comes to showing us new features and annual renewals, they're great. With Enterprise Tools, we can go in and see who our key users are, to see how many people are using it very actively, or if they’re sporadically popping in to see the content,” she says.

As part of their newsletter distribution, the FT’s news has been integrated into the business resource center’s Factiva database.

“These newsletters go out to around 7,500 employees every week,” explains Melissa. “I didn’t have to go out and separately look for the content, as I was able to incorporate it seamlessly into our workflow. I would guess I’ve saved around three hours a week of my time, which is really significant.”

But the FT’s commentary isn’t just for competitive analysis managers. Chris Coxon works as a manufacturing engineering manager, leading small teams across mining and extraction. “I use the FT to get business trends,” says Chris. “In our cyclical business here can be some announcements that are unsettling for staff.”

“But, by reading the FT, I can better understand the business environment and safely say where in the business cycle I think we’re at, giving context to business changes and conditions. It gives me the knowledge so that when I’m talking my team, I can talk with confidence and authority, easing concerns.”

Similarly, engineers themselves have been utilising the FT group subscription as well. Kaimei Sun is a senior engineer in the US. “As an engineer, I wasn’t sure if the Financial Times was relevant for me,” Kaimei says. “However, there’s great coverage of technology, AI & Big Data, which all have implications for Caterpillar and help us think about what might be ahead for our industry.”

The information the FT provides isn’t only for distribution throughout a business; it can also provide greater context to the work that Caterpillar’s employees are doing, which will in turn impact their decision-making.

Nicolas Clerc is the chief economist at Caterpillar, andhis team focuses a lot of their time on forecasting and operation planning across all segments and regions.

“What I use the FT for is as a filter,” Nicolas explains. “For example, when a mining company in South America is breaking away from a contract to receive energy based on fossil fuels, to switch to renewable, this is vital and valuable intel for me.”

By understanding his industry better through his usof the FT, he is able to guide his team of economists in the right direction, trusting the analysis from the 600+ journalists the FT has at their disposal.

“It helps me to pinpoint where we need to spend more time, identify trends, and anticipate what is going to shape the demand for products and services around the world.”

Nicolas receives his insights from the FT through multiple channels, but specifically highlights myFT as a benefit to his work. “It’s reading material for me,” he explains. “I go through myFT, click on the articles that Iwant to get deeper into, and then throughout the day I keep an eye on the website. If you have live coverage on a topic, I would keep an eye on that. It’s reading material.”

Without this insight, Nicolas would find it difficult to achieve the results he and his team do. “If I see something about China, Asia Pacific or Europe that is relevant, I send that article link to the economist who is covering the region to make sure the information is not missed.”

He is adamant of the value of a parity of information across Caterpillar: “Decisions are made at all levels of the organisation,” Nicolas says. “Understanding where we are in the business cycle and what’s happening around the world is useful to everyone: economists, engineers, marketers. It’s useful for wherever you’re standing in the organisation chart.”

For more information about how the Financial Times can help your organisation or to request a free trial, please get in touch.