Thomson Financial's Wiesenberger unit is targeting fund marketers with a new Web-based tool that it claims will help fund executives position and market the products and emphasis the non-performance aspects of their fund products. Dubbed FundEnterprise, the tool allows users to compare 11,000 funds by more than 200 attributes.

Wiesenberger claims that the tool can be used for sales, positioning, marketing, competitive analysis, 401(k) proposals and board reporting. The Web-based software also allows users to create peer groups of key competitors as well as do one-on-one comparisons between funds.

It also claims that twenty-five fund companies, with 2,100 individual mutual funds and nearly $755 billion in assets, are currently beta-testing the product. Wiesenberger plans on consulting with client firms on ways to integrate the FundEnterprise into their businesses.

The goal of the product was to create a tool that enabled fund companies to move beyond performance when trying to differentiate their products. Fund executives can position their offerings using criteria such as tax-efficiency, manager tenure, and style-consistency among other items.

"Fund companies share the same challenges. Investors tend to focus on a select group of hot-performing funds," said Bill Chambers, president of Wiesenberger. He added by chasing performance, investors may be led to inappropriate funds or even have move their money around at a loss to chase better numbers.

"Our investment industry clients were looking for a way to give their sales teams and investors a more meaningful way to identify appropriate funds. FundEnterprise enables us to give them something better -- the ability to determine what makes a fund different from the thousands of other funds available -- essentially to identify their fund's fingerprint," he claimed.  

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