Introducing the Acquired Content Adviser
Jinfo Blog

By Jantinus Meints

Abstract

The information market is in a period of great change, creating the opportunity to rethink the way we procure content. Organisations need professionals in place who understand both the business and the information marketplace, argues Jantinus Meints of EY as he makes the case for the "acquired content adviser" whose mission is to guide the business in developing a portfolio of content that provides the best value.

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As organisations increasingly depend on information while the information marketplace becomes more diverse, how should we acquire content? Is it time to rethink the model so we can curate the optimal mix of content sources?

With an eye on budget, especially in the current economic climate, organisations might be tempted to rely on the "free" internet for all their content needs. But while content might be readily available for personal use, it is rarely cost-free for commercial purposes.

Several Roles Currently Source Information

As such, many information-hungry organisations task their professionals with sourcing relevant information for the best price. Though there are several roles in a business that might touch on this, each is likely to be constrained:

• Individual users can look for content but tend to focus on their own needs, not the organisational big picture, and often don’t know the fair market price
• Procurement professionals can get the best price but often have a limited understanding of the information market
• Librarians understand the marketplace but may be kept separate from the overall goals of the business.

From Rationalisation to Better Business Value

I suggest the organisation needs someone who understands both the business and the information marketplace. Someone whose mission is to guide the business to the collection of content that provides the most value: the acquired content adviser.

The acquired content adviser should:

• Combine a deep knowledge of the information market and the organisation’s business model
• See the bigger picture for the organisation of any content source or request
• Articulate the unique quality and value of a source even though it seems to overlap with other sources
• Coach information consumers to the best solution for the organisation.

This doesn’t have to involve creating another function and adding cost. The approach could be to partly re-purpose skills already spread across various people. For smaller organisations, this could even be a part-time role.

However an organisation approaches the role, the content adviser should be placed as someone who moves the content conversation away from just rationalisation and towards achieving greater business value through information.

FreePint Subscribers can log in now to find out more about the changing nature of news and information and the new content adviser role in EY by reading From Content Cost to Value: the Rise of the Content Adviser.

Editor's Note: Beyond Aggregation

This article is part of the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation, which runs from October to November 2013. Register your interest, and you'll get pre-notification of when registration opens for any webinars in this series, as well as a free copy of the FreePint Report: Buyer's Guide on News Content when we publish in November.

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