Let’s Talk Knowledge

I’ve been reading a lot of the conversations around the fate of the newspaper industry, and content in general. Of course many of them are centered on the fact that “content wants to be free”. I really don’t want to jump in the center of this debate (right now anyway), but I do want to talk about how this is relevant to those of us that do business research, or rely on information from external sources to make decisions.

The most important point to remember, as my father so often told me, there is no such thing as a free lunch. A post by Stan Schroeder on the Mashable blog actually got me thinking about this. Stan stated that Cost is not just price, but also the time to pay (and gave a great analogy about free donuts that made me go to Dunkin’ donuts). I think there is a third part of that equation, and that is the risk associated with the content.

Cost = Price + Time to Pay + Risk

So let me explain the equation. I think Price is obvious, how much direct out of pocket money is associated with the content. Time to Pay – how long does it take you to find and or access the content? Risk – how reliable and or accurate is the content.

First let me say I know people using information for business purposes care about this equation much more than those using information for general current awareness. For example, even if it takes me an hour to find out the latest Big Brother news, and it may not be accurate when I find it – I’m still not willing to pay for it. I essentially have nothing to lose (well, accept for any credibility I may have had by just admitting I watch Big Brother).

The attitude changes as soon as there is a potential for me to recognize a profit or loss from the use of that information. For example as a product manager, if I can quickly find high quality information on a market opportunity for a new product, I would gladly pay for it. First, I don’t have a lot of time to surf the vast sea of free content out there, find what is relevant, and put it into context. Second, I don’t want to use information that may be incorrect or even false, there is just too much risk associated with this decision.

I know many people today that are using and buying content for organizations are struggling with the justification of paying for content. End users have been inundated with the fact that content is free and ubiquitous, and that can be difficult to challenge. I’m hoping the above equation can help. I think in addition, knowing where and when the equation is relevant in your organization is important.

As I’ve mentioned before, it is important to align your Information Management purchases to strategic corporate initiatives, or high risk business functions (like supply chain management). When applying the equation to these types of initiatives it is very easy to see that the cost of paid-for content and tools is far less than the cost of free content.

Well, I’m off to get my “free” lunch. Of course I’m going I had to get up at 4:30 am, pay for a train ticket, and travel to and from New York City to get it, so maybe it wasn’t so free after all.

- Ken

I have had a few interesting conversation with customers in the past few days. I’ve spent some time with a wide variety of users, from professional researchers, content purchasers, information consumers, and a lot of roles in between. Some things I was reminded of in these conversations that are worth sharing, even if nothing new and earth shattering was uncovered.

First, ease of use can definitely beat out superior quality. A great research platform, with unmatched content and tools, will sit unused if the learning curve is to steep. This of course is a reason it can be hard to break knowledge workers of the often unproductive GYM (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo) habit.

Second, there is no one source for information. Information sources vary greatly from enterprise to enterprise, and just as widely from user to user within an enterprise.

Third, mobile, mobile, mobile. A lot of people seem concerned with mobile access to business research tools, but not sure what the specific requirements are beyond that. Clearly mobile is young and evolving, but important.

Fourth, value must be readily apparent. Whether this comes from some sort of hard ROI like time-savings, or as part of a larger initiative, value of research solutions must be established early, and demonstrated often.

Fifth, workflow tools are the flavor of the day. This probably has a lot to do with the preceding point – it is easier to establish value with targeted solutions, than general purpose tools.

Finally, there is a need for a business research platform to help bring all of these things together. A platform that can add value to content, regardless of origin. A platform that can support the entire process of business research, for every type of user. That is a scalable platform that provides basic services like search and alert for all users, but that can be configured and molded to support the specific workflow needs of research and information intensive roles. A platform with an interface that is effortless. A platform that allows intelligence to be created in a collaborative manner, shared, and distributed through many different channels (print, digital, web, and mobile). A platform that easily allows the information professional to demonstrate the value, both of the platform and the information professional managing it.

In short, a comprehensive business research platform is the only way I see to manage all of the concerns facing informational professionals today. Imagine if an informational professional has a business research platform that brings together all of the necessary capabilities and content to support their enterprise, and that platform can be engaged with little or no training. Then they can spend their time creating and adding value to the business instead of administrating a plethora of independent tools and content sources.

If anyone has any stories to share on the power an effective business research platform can provide, please do share!

- Ken