Product Evaluations - a Holistic View
Jinfo Blog

By Perrin Kerravala

Abstract

Author Perrin Kerravala describes her holistic view of product evaluations, which should include input from various organisation stakeholders, such as users, IT, and legal.

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Over the course of my career, I have written product evaluations in several contexts:

• As a solo librarian supporting a business unit of about 50 employees
• For FreePint and its diverse audience of information professionals
• And finally at my current firm, where I work with small team to support the entire organisation.

Therefore, I was eager to share my insights on this task in a new blog for FreePint.

Cultural Considerations

My approach has slowly evolved to be one that is highly responsive to organisational culture. This means I evaluate information products in the context of the unique qualities of my firm.

For example, the nature of my current firm's business lines is very fast-paced. My users need accurate, reputable information, but don't have a lot of time to spend on doing research.

Most employees also do not have the time or patience to take training classes to learn how to use new information products. In response, I look for information sources from credible publishers that provide concise information, with interfaces that can be learned intuitively.

On the other hand, in my solo role, I worked with a detail-oriented group who had long-term project timelines. Their appetite for information was enormous, and they had the time and patience to take training classes and experiment with complicated research tools. Therefore, I sought more complicated and comprehensive types of information products for them, with extensive support services.

Organisational culture doesn't end just with users, though: it extends to your information technology framework, as well as your legal and procurement policies, and of course your budgetary constraints. Therefore, my product evaluations also include consultation with all these parties.

Information Professionals: Specialist Skills

Information professionals are uniquely positioned to understand and represent concerns of all the previously mentioned parties: information product users, IT deployers, contract reviewers, and budgetary authorities.

We understand the external vendor marketplace for our information domains. We often have better than average IT knowledge. We are as experienced at reviewing information licensing terms as many procurement specialists and lawyers, and we are often skilled price negotiators.

This highly-specialised skill set makes us especially valuable to organisations that have information budgets of any size.

My latest article for FreePint, Product Evaluations - Completing a Needs Assessment, describes how I bring input from all stakeholders to make truly holistic product evaluations.

Editor's Note

FreePint Subscribers can log in to read and share more in Perrin's article, Product Evaluations - Completing a Needs Assessment.

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