Alternative Financial Data - Using alternative data sets to find an edge

At the center of the growing digital economy is data. Data is to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century. In every industry, it are the companies that can use data effectively that succeed. And investing is no different. In their search for alpha generating ideas, investment managers are increasingly turning to sources of alternative financial data. But what is alternative data and how does it give fund managers an edge? The returns generated by investors can be classified as either alpha or beta.