Peter Evans

ExpertFile is announcing major enhancements to AIQ Intelligent Inquiry Qualification, our AI-powered inquiry management feature that helps organizations evaluate, prioritize and route inbound requests from journalists, event organizers, prospective customers, donors, prospective students, research partners, policymakers and other key audiences. These enhancements significantly expand AIQ well beyond its original quarantine capabilities, helping organizations do more than filter unwanted messages. We've designed the new AIQ to provides a more intelligent way to understand the intent behind each inquiry, assess its relevance and ensure valuable opportunities are routed to the right person or team. “We are helping organizations better understand the intent behind each request, protect expert time and ensure valuable opportunities are recognized, prioritized and routed to the right people. Robert Carter Co-Founder & VP Product Our experience has shown us that as organizations invest more in making their experts, research and knowledge more discoverable across websites, search engines and AI-driven channels, inbound inquiry volume continues to grow. That visibility creates real opportunity, but it also brings more noise from unwanted or unaligned inquiries. While some inquiries are highly valuable. Others are vague, promotional, misdirected, abusive or unrelated to the organization’s expertise. And too often, all of these messages arrive through the same expert-facing channels. We've learned that without a smarter intake layer, important opportunities can be delayed, misrouted or missed entirely. That is the problem these AIQ enhancements are designed to solve. A Shift from Strictly Quarantine to Quality AIQ was first developed to help organizations protect experts from unwanted, irrelevant or inappropriate inquiries. That remains important, and does a great job, but the challenge has grown. Today, organizations need more than a filter. They need a way to evaluate inquiry quality, understand intent and route legitimate opportunities with greater confidence. These latest AIQ enhancements move the feature from a quarantine-focused workflow to a more complete inquiry qualification system. AIQ now evaluates the full context of each inquiry, including the message content, tone, specificity, intent and alignment with accepted inquiry types. The goal is not simply to determine whether a message should be blocked. The goal is to understand whether it represents a legitimate opportunity and where it should go. For organizations that simply display and expert's email this is a level of judgment traditional email spam filters are not designed to provide. While Spam filters can help identify suspicious or malicious messages. They cannot reliably determine whether a journalist submitted through the wrong form, whether a donor inquiry should be routed to advancement, whether a prospective partner is describing a real opportunity, or whether a request aligns with the organization’s expertise and workflow. AIQ is designed for that more nuanced work. Here is a Breakdown of What’s New in AIQ Two significant enhancements are now part of the new AIQ workflow: Inquiry Relevance Evaluation assesses whether a message meets the professional standards of the organization’s inquiry workflow. It helps distinguish meaningful requests from those that are vague, promotional, abusive, unrelated or outside the scope of the organization’s expertise. Inquiry Type Evaluation reviews the actual content of the message, independent of the category selected by the sender. This is important because people often choose the wrong form option. A journalist may submit through a general inquiry form. A donor may select the wrong category. A prospective partner may describe an opportunity that should be routed somewhere else. AIQ helps recognize the true nature of the request so it can be reclassified and directed appropriately. Together, these enhancements help organizations identify valuable inquiries more accurately, reduce unnecessary manual triage and protect expert time. Why This Matters High-value inquiries often do not arrive perfectly packaged. A media opportunity may look like a general question. A speaking request may come through the wrong channel. A customer or partner inquiry may be sent to media relations when it is really a business development opportunity. When these requests are misdirected, they can sit in the wrong inbox, create extra work for staff or disappear entirely. AIQ helps close that gap. “AIQ is not just about blocking bad messages,” said Robert Carter, Co-Founder & VP Product at ExpertFile. “We are helping organizations better understand the intent behind each request, protect expert time and ensure valuable opportunities are recognized, prioritized and routed to the right people. A misdirected inquiry can represent a media opportunity, speaking engagement, partnership or business opportunity that an organization cannot afford to miss.” For communications, marketing, advancement, research, enrollment and administrative teams, this creates a smarter front door for inbound demand. Fully Deployed and Operating at Scale The latest AIQ enhancements are now fully deployed across the ExpertFile platform. They are not beta features or future roadmap items. AIQ is actively processing inquiries today and has achieved a 99.9% success rate in accurately evaluating and routing inbound requests. “We spent considerable time stress-testing this before full deployment,” said Dan Stanhope, Head of Software Development at ExpertFile. “The goal was never just to block bad messages — it was to make sure legitimate, high-value inquiries couldn’t slip through unrecognized. When you combine deep semantic analysis with a trained human review layer, you get a level of accuracy that no standalone spam filter can come close to matching.” Helping Organizations Capture More Value From Expert Discovery Expert discovery does not end when someone finds an expert profile, research page or Expert Center. The next step is making sure the right inquiry reaches the right person. That is where AIQ plays an important role. By expanding AIQ’s ability to qualify, classify and route inbound requests, ExpertFile helps organizations move from visibility to action. AIQ helps ensure that legitimate opportunities are recognized, prioritized and routed efficiently, while low-quality or irrelevant messages are filtered out of the process. For universities, healthcare systems, corporations and associations, this means less noise, better routing and more confidence that valuable opportunities are not being missed. The enhanced AIQ feature is available now as part of the ExpertFile platform. Read the full announcement here: https://exprt.co/AIQ Already a customer...talk to your dedicated Customer Success Team member who can tell you more about this great feature.  Looking to implement something like this for your organization.  Learn more about ExpertFile at expertfile.com/getstarted and request a demo or FREE trial.

Your university has the expertise. The question is whether the world can find it. In this webinar, we'll show you exactly how leading institutions are building topical Authority Hubs that get their faculty in front of journalists, students, and partners at the moments that matter most. DATA & TIME Monday, June 22, 2026 11:00 am EDT (1 hour) We'll walk through three real examples: Performing Arts -Carnegie Mellon University The exclusive higher education partner of the Tony Awards since 2014. With 60+ alumni wins and 15 consecutive years of nominations, CMU built an Authority Hub that makes decades of genuine institutional strength finally visible and media-ready. Papacy & Catholic Studies -Villanova University When Pope Leo was elected, Villanova had qualified scholars ready. Their topical hub connected journalists with the right experts within hours -showing what it looks like when a university moves at the speed of the news cycle. Sports Events & Research -University of Delaware Multiple topical hubs built around major events and enduring institutional strengths -serving media relations, prospective students, and research partners with one repeatable, scalable approach. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN How to identify the moments and topics where your institution already has authority How to structure faculty expertise so journalists and AI platforms can find it How to go from idea to live hub fast -without technical resources or coding What makes an Authority Hub perform over time, not just at launch WHO SHOULD ATTEND University communications and media relations teams, research communications leads, and anyone responsible for faculty visibility and institutional reputation.

When you are first introduced to expertise marketing it can be hard to imagine that there are experts hiding within your organization. We tend to think of experts as a small group at the top but in reality that is just the tip of the iceberg. Across teams and departments there are people with the knowledge, skills and experience to contribute to meaningful conversations with your audiences. These individuals may not always carry the title of expert but their perspectives can help explain complex issues, contribute to research and shape the content your organization produces. When their expertise is recognized and supported it can help build trust with key audiences including media, industry partners and prospective clients. The challenge many organizations face is knowing how to assess expertise in the first place. To identify these hidden experts and understand the role they can play in an expertise marketing program it helps to start with a simple question. What actually makes someone an expert? The 7 Attributes of Expertise By definition an expert is someone with comprehensive or authoritative knowledge in a particular area of study. While formal education and certifications can be important starting points many fields do not have a clear set of criteria that determines expertise. In practice expertise develops through a combination of training, research, professional experience and real-world application. It is also shaped by the level of trust and recognition someone has earned within their profession or community. When evaluating expertise across your organization it is important to consider the different roles people can play. Many individuals have invested years developing deep knowledge in their fields but not everyone is interested in speaking at conferences or appearing in the media. That does not reduce the value of their expertise. Many contribute through research, insights and content development that support broader visibility for the organization. Here are several attributes that help define expertise and the roles people can play within an expertise marketing strategy. Authority: Has a reputation with an audience as a trusted source of insight and perspective. Advocate: Demonstrates a commitment to advancing a professional community or area of practice. Educator: Teaches and inspires others through lectures, presentations or classroom instruction. Author: Develops articles, commentary or thought leadership that expands their reach and influence. Researcher: Generates new insights through research, analysis or field work. Practitioner: Applies specialized knowledge in a professional setting by delivering services or solutions. Graduate: Has formal education or professional training that demonstrates proficiency in a subject area. Understanding these attributes helps organizations see that expertise exists across many roles. Once those individuals are identified the next step is determining how their expertise can contribute to broader visibility and engagement.   The 4 Levels of Expertise Understanding how to promote expertise is an emerging discipline for many organizations. Unlike traditional career paths expertise does not always follow a predictable hierarchy. When we consider which experts are most visible to audiences it becomes clear that visibility is not always tied to seniority or authority within an organization. Professionals at many stages of their careers are now sharing insights through social networks, industry publications and personal platforms. This means that a senior researcher with decades of experience and a younger professional actively sharing insights online could have a similar level of visibility. Because visibility is influenced by personal motivation and interest in public engagement many organizations recognize the need to better identify and support experts across their teams. Doing so helps ensure that valuable knowledge is not overlooked and that more voices can contribute to meaningful conversations. The framework below can help organizations take inventory of their expertise and develop a path for individuals who are interested in contributing content and building visibility with key audiences. Now that we’ve provided a broader picture of what expertise looks like, it’s time for you to ask, “How does my organization stack up?”   Bench Strength: Taking Stock of Expertise Across Your Organization Expertise is in high demand. Audiences are looking for credible voices who can provide context and insight on complex issues. For organizations, this means it is critical to understand how their collective expertise can be channeled into meaningful conversations with their audiences. As you review the attributes and levels of expertise outlined above you may begin to recognize individuals within your organization who have valuable knowledge but may not have been considered visible experts before. Identifying these individuals is an important first step but recognition alone is not enough. Mobilizing expertise marketing requires support and investment from leadership across the organization. Senior leaders will want to understand the value of elevating internal expertise and how it contributes to reputation, visibility and opportunity. The organizations that succeed are those that recognize expertise as a strategic asset and take deliberate steps to surface it, support it and share it with the audiences who are actively searching for it. The Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing For a comprehensive look at how expertise marketing benefits the entire organization and drives measurable return on investment, follow the link below to download an industry-focussed copy of ExpertFile’s Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing: The Next Wave in Digital Strategy