Engaging Stakeholders for Realistic Value Metrics - FreePint for Professional Services
Jinfo Blog

By Jan Sykes

Abstract

Jan Sykes explores FreePint articles, webinars and Community of Practice events on the topic of value and calculating return on investment.

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For more than a decade now, information professionals have been challenged to find ways to document concrete value and business outcomes resulting from investments in content resources, information management tools, and related services.

Countless articles, workshops and conference sessions have focused on different ways to measure value and calculate return on investment (ROI). The proliferation of free internet resources as well as the plethora and increasing costs of subscription-based information resources continue to present that challenge.

Consolidating Contracts

Initiatives around analysis of usage data at an enterprise-level followed by negotiating consolidated organisational agreements with vendors yielded cost reductions in most cases but did not necessarily link investments to value in terms of the overall impact to business operations.

See Robin Neidorf's still timely article on this topic: ROI of Content Usage: Going Beyond Cost-Per-Use.

Still Seeking Specific Value Metrics

Efforts to measure the real business value of providing knowledge workers with immediate access to content resources that inform their daily business decisions (e.g. time saved, more effective response to competitive situations, or risks avoided) have met with some success.

However, the quest continues for improved, specific value metrics and best practices to be shared with information professionals.

Cementing Partnerships with Stakeholders

Recent FreePint research in this area has focused on stakeholders: segmenting stakeholders, understanding their strategic business objectives, and then developing a consistent, persistent communications plan to build a solid partnership with stakeholder groups.

Community of Practice meetings with the agenda of Determining, Discussing & Measuring Value allowed practitioners to brainstorm about how to become closer to key user groups or key individual users.

• How can this approach become the classic "win-win" scenario?

• How can we engage stakeholders as advocates and advisers who help us as information professionals gain a better understanding of how information resources are applied to solving business problems?

• With that knowledge, how can we more effectively craft services, select resources, and invest in delivery platforms that in turn enable these stakeholders to be productive in their work?

Convincing the C-Suite

Shimrit Janes offers tips for effective communication with stakeholders in her article Four Components of "Value" Essential for Meaningful Conversations with Stakeholders; in a similar vein, James Mullan writes about Selling Knowledge Management Within Your Organisation - identifying stakeholders and champions for KM initiatives

For additional insight on this topic, see the recent article by Robyn Smith entitled Proactively Defining "Value" for More Successful Communication with Stakeholders or contact FreePint about custom consulting for your information centre.

Robin Neidorf will explore the art of engaging stakeholders in a forthcoming webinar, Convincing the C-Suite... and Getting Their Attention in the First Place, on 24th November. Value will not be discussed in the same way by all organisations but this recent research provides an improved framework for more meaningful conversations about measuring the business impact of information resources and services.

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