STM search, business contacts - A VIP Editorial
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By Amelia Kassel

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In this issue, VIP reviews two very different research vendors: the first review describes a complete makeover for Dialog and DataStar, which are database search systems from the traditional, commercial world of fee-based database aggregators, and primarily known to librarians and information professionals. The other review covers a web-based system, ZoomInfo, with roots in the sales and marketing field.

Whilst Dialog’s former owners (there were several in its nearly 45-year history) took steps to create web-based platforms, its powerful classic search system interface never really changed enough to be considered part of the internet world until ProQuest acquired Dialog from Thomson Reuters in 2008. To grow its business, ProQuest invested in Dialog and, quite frankly, has made it easier for information professionals and potential end users in business, professional, scientific, academic and government organisations across the globe to search for the information they need. The new ProQuest Dialog provides the long hoped-for, user friendly interface while maintaining an option for command line searching and set building, required by expert searchers with complex requirements.

Joanna Ptolomey’s VIP review covers ProQuest Dialog’s integration of nearly 70 STM databases (science, technology, medicine) from Dialog and DataStar into one system, and the introduction of an entirely new search engine technology and interface that will supplant DialogClassic.com and other Dialog platforms when the system is complete. Still a work in progress, some users have migrated from old to new Dialog and others will soon be on board as additional databases and features round out the collection and functionality.

For those familiar with Dialog and/or DataStar, it may have seemed like an interminable period of time for Dialog to be brought into the present with a simpler, modern interface. Where was Dialog when key competitors Factiva and LexisNexis invested in and migrated their users to more advanced and user friendly web interfaces in the late 1990s? Perhaps Dialog had its reasons, such as the sheer number of databases to integrate, many with unique controlled vocabularies and individualised industry and product coding systems. Or maybe Dialog’s evolution was stunted by changing ownership; a stepchild neglected while its parent focused on other priorities. Unlike Factiva and, to a large extent, LexisNexis, which have standardised proprietary index systems across thousands of sources (Intelligent Indexing™ for Factiva and SmartIndexing™ for LexisNexis), Dialog is an integration of two giant legacy systems that incorporate databases from multiple content providers, each with unique underlying infrastructures.

However, this has now changed and Joanna takes a good look at how the new ProQuest Dialog system works, how it’s organised, and its many new features.

In the second VIP review for this issue, Scott Brown analyses ZoomInfo, a spin-off with roots in CardScan, and information geared to sales professionals. Unlike the legacy Dialog system, ZoomInfo is a child of the Internet era and offers a suite of products consisting of business contact information and company profiles. Scott explains: “ZoomInfo addresses the challenge of keeping up with the changing contact information for individuals and employee information for companies”. Not only do sales and marketing professionals use ZoomInfo but it’s also geared to recruiters. I was especially interested in Scott’s review since, as an industry observer and researcher with myriad questions and research projects on my plate, I’ve seen the growing need for human resources. Information professionals must identify experts and learn about management changes for clients. This information is especially pertinent for market and competitive intelligence research and in other applications.

In earlier years, ZoomInfo was known as Eliyon Technologies Corporation. At one time, I was excited about its premise only to be disappointed by expensive annual subscription costs geared to organisations and institutions. Initially described as summarisation technology, Eliyon became Zoom Information Inc. in 2005, with technology that extracted and summarised people information from the web. It launched a free product that allowed “searching by name, company, university or website with 25 million searchable summaries of people information”. Scott’s review brings us up-to-date on content changes and different account options as well as explaining enhancements while examining ZoomInfo with a critical eye.

Amelia Kassel

Amelia Kassel is President of MarketingBase, a global firm specialising in company, industry, and competitive and market intelligence research.

This editorial appears in VIP Magazine No. 89, April 2011. Purchase online >>

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