Don’t Just Search. Monitor: Stefan Peekel on Smarter Risk Intelligence

In this edition of Owlin Solution Talks, we sit down with Stefan Peekel, Chief Growth Officer at Owlin, to explore what makes an effective risk monitoring strategy in today’s data-saturated world. While many organizations still default to tools like Google for adverse media checks, Stefan shares why relying on search alone for adverse media monitoring often misses the point. 

Let’s start with the big one. Can’t people just Google for news?

“It’s a logical question. But it reflects a misunderstanding of what we’re solving for. At Owlin, the goal isn’t to replace Google; it’s to go beyond it. We’re surfacing risk signals that you may not have been looking for, but should be aware of. And we do it in real time, with relevance, structure, and multilingual context, not just a list of search results. Most importantly, we offer a scalable solution. Whether you need to monitor 40, 400, or 40,000 companies, Owlin is built to handle it, without adding manual overhead for your team.”

So Google’s not the enemy, but it’s not the answer either?

“Exactly. Google is a fantastic search engine, but it’s not a risk monitoring tool. It ranks content based on popularity, SEO performance, and paid promotion, not relevance to risk. It shows you what’s clickable, not what’s critical. And crucially, it’s reactive. In a world where millions of articles are published daily, and just one can cause reputational or financial damage, being reactive simply isn’t enough.

Effective adverse media monitoring requires proactive signal detection, multilingual coverage, and the ability to categorize and score risks across themes, including fraud, regulatory violations, ESG, and operational issues. Google doesn’t provide that. It delivers a flood of results, leaving you to battle between too many irrelevant hits or missing what matters altogether because the right keywords weren’t used.

And then there’s context. Google doesn’t help you interpret what you’re seeing. Is a single complaint a red flag or an outlier? How does it compare to the overall sentiment around the company? Without structure, deduplication, or visibility into historical trends, these questions remain unanswered.

Location and language limitations also mean that if a scandal breaks in Vietnam about a third-party supplier, you may never see it, unless you search in the correct language, from the right location, with the right terms. Owlin overcomes these hurdles. Our platform continuously monitors global sources in multiple languages, identifies critical risk signals, and delivers them to users in real time, with full context and scoring. That’s not something you can replicate by typing keywords into a search bar.”

How does Owlin ensure that the sources clients care about are covered?

“That’s a great question, and a common one. Our platform is designed to monitor a broad and continuously expanding range of trusted sources, but we also recognize that every client has unique needs. If you typically rely on specific news sites, regulatory bodies, or niche blogs, we’ll work with you to ensure those are included.

If you find something relevant through Google or another channel, simply share it with us. We’ll evaluate the source and, if it’s valuable, we’ll add it to our ongoing monitoring. This feedback loop is central to how we work: we regularly check in, typically several times a year, to adjust and expand source coverage based on your evolving risk priorities.

We don’t aim to replace your current ways of discovering information – we aim to enhance them. Owlin helps you move from reactive discovery to proactive monitoring, so the next time there’s a development, you won’t need to go searching, it’ll already be on your radar.”

Do you think the idea that “Google gives us everything” is a belief or a fact?

“It’s a belief, there’s this illusion of control. If I Google a vendor and find three bad stories, I feel like I’ve done my homework. Workflow-wise, Googling is manual. Risk doesn’t happen once. It evolves. The most dangerous issue is the one that surfaces after onboarding. That’s why monitoring matters. With Owlin, you get alerts and changing stories, not a one-off snapshot.”

Couldn’t companies just set up Google Alerts and call it a day?

“Yes, many teams start with tools like Google Alerts, but they quickly realize the limitations. The results are noisy, delayed, and lack critical context. Google Alerts aren’t multilingual, miss nuance, and offer no way to score or filter by risk type. The result? You either get overwhelmed by irrelevant noise or miss the signals that matter most.

Owlin structures the chaos. We highlight what’s urgent, explain why it’s relevant, and connect it to themes like legal, ESG, or operational risk. That context is what enables users to take action.”

What do you say to skeptics who think adverse media tools are overkill?

“I say: let’s be honest about the stakes. Suppose you’re vetting a vendor who later becomes embroiled in a regulatory scandal, or you overlook reputational red flags visible in foreign-language media. In that case, you won’t wish you had less information. You’ll wish you had the right signals sooner.

Owlin is not about replacing human judgment. It’s about amplifying awareness. And our clients know: when it comes to third parties, the cost of being uninformed is always higher than the cost of a good tool.”

So what’s the real takeaway here?

“Don’t confuse volume with value. Google shows you what you ask for. Owlin shows you what you need to know, especially when you’re not looking for it. If you want to feel informed, Google. To stay informed, monitor.”