Newsletter No. 107
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Free Pint
"Helping 47,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.com/
ISSN 1460-7239 7th March 2002 No.107
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
From Sarah Hinton
FREE PINT BAR & STUDENT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
JOBS
Information Scientist
Information Assistant
Intranet Development Manager
TIPS ARTICLE
"Fossicking for Information ... or ... What to do on Sixpence"
By Zena Woodley
BOOKSHELF
"OnetoOne B2B: Customer Development Strategies
for the Business-to-Business World"
Reviewed by Helen Clegg
FEATURE ARTICLE
"The Death of the Intranet.
Long Live the Corporate Portal Quantifying ROI"
By Ian Wells
FACT, EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070302.htm>
ADOBE ACROBAT VERSION WITH NEWSLETTER FORMATTING
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070302.pdf>
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** FREE ALERT SERVICE GIVES INFO PROS AN EDGE **
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is an online community of information researchers. Members
receive this free newsletter every two weeks packed with tips on
finding quality and reliable business information on the Internet.
Joining is free at <http://www.freepint.com/> and provides access to
the substantial archive of articles, book reviews, jobs, industry news
& events, with answers to your research questions and networking at
the Free Pint Bar. Please circulate this newsletter which is best
read when printed out.
To receive the Adobe Acrobat version as an attachment or a brief
notification it's online, visit <http://www.freepint.com/member>.
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EDITORIAL
We can't help it. It's part of our nature. Information professionals
just like to help. We enjoy the challenge and stimulation of
searching for information, researching a topic, sharing the results.
We are proud of our profession and the stereotypes annoy us. When we
get a chance to explain what we actually do then we get a genuine
respect and interest in our work.
I know this as a qualified information scientist, every information
professional knows this, and it's been great to see the responses to
the current topic at the Student Bar which asked "Why did you
choose librarianship?" <http://www.freepint.com/go/s2164>.
I had two aims when starting Free Pint. One was to promote myself and
the services I offered as a freelance information consultant. The
other was to offer the information profession a way to market itself
and the value of professional research skills.
Four years later, and members of the information profession have done
themselves proud. They have produced an archive of over two hundred
original fully researched articles on the Free Pint Web site, and
fourteen thousand answers to research questions at the Bar.
However, there must be many topics we haven't covered yet, and
thousands of personal collections of URLs for a vast range of topics
which are crying out to be shared with others. Free Pinters love to
read Information-related case studies and hear discussion around the
issues of importance to the profession.
So, why don't YOU write an article for Free Pint?
Is there a research topic you know a bit about? Do you have an opinion
on a professional issue? If you have an unusual job title then could
you tell members about your daily activities? Can you think of a way
of inspiring the next generation of information professionals who are
working towards a qualification or have recently graduated?
As well as helping other Free Pinters, you will also be promoting
yourself and your organisation by demonstrating your understanding of
a topic. You can also add a biography paragraph at the end of the
article which will be widely seen as we near our 50,000th member.
If you have an idea for an article, then please write to Free Pint's
Editor Rex Cooke by email to <rex@freepint.com> or see the information
for authors at <http://www.freepint.com/author.htm>.
Today's issue is packed with valuable contributions from Free Pinters.
There is a case study about performing research on a tight budget
and a discussion about ensuring a return on investment from your
corporate portal. Other contributions include a member's favourite
Web sites, a review of an interesting book about one-to-one marketing
through customer relationship management, and our regular round-up of
the latest from the Bar and additions to our event and job listings.
It's worth remembering that the sharing of knowledge is a powerful way
to help others and to help yourself. Free Pint is definitely one of
those places where the more you put in the more you get out.
Best regards
William
William Hann, Founder and Managing Editor
Email: <william@freepint.com> Tel: +44 (0)1784 420044
Free Pint is a Registered Trademark of Free Pint Limited (c) 1997-2002
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that works through a form on our website." ActNow.org.uk
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
From Sarah Hinton
* <http://www.hoovers.com> - Great site for finding companies, offers
a fair bit of free information which usually includes a company's
top competitors.
* <http://www.chemweb.com> - Free to register, provides a
comprehensive platform for chemical information. Offers free full-
text access to a varying list of journals for set periods of time.
Recently voted one of the best science sites out there!
* <http://www.countyweb.co.uk> - Useful site for UK regional company
searching. Also ranks companies by county.
* <http://www.marketresearch.com> - Aggregator of 1000s of market
reports across all sectors which you can then purchase in sections.
Free to search.
* <http://www.worldbank.org> - Super resource for free statistics,
demographics and industry data, this site has a lot of useful
information.
Sarah Hinton is information manager for the Generics Group, a
technology consultancy and investment company based near Cambridge.
Email your top five favourite Web sites to <simon@freepint.com> or
see the guidelines at <http://www.freepint.com/author.htm>.
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and information professionals. Visit http://www.factiva.com/learning
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FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070302.htm#bar>
Free Pint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
-------------------------------------------
[Note: To read a Bar posting enter the message number in place
of XXXXX in the address http://www.freepint.com/go/bXXXXX ]
I had an email from an active Free Pinter yesterday pointing out that
there are always some questions raised in the Bar that could be
answered with a quick bit of Web searching. I agree and would say
that there are even some questions that could be answered by a quick
search of the Free Pint Bar. On the other hand, some seemingly basic
questions can elicit a very interesting response and the sort of
answers one would have to spend a lot of time searching for.
For example, a posting about copyright got a reply which suggested a
useful alternative to negotiating directly with a publisher when you
want to reproduce proprietary images (15916). Similarly, a Free
Pinter who wanted to find out how to get a tape of a recent TV show
received several suggestions for how to go about it, though, in the
end, he found out himself (16005).
Meantime, researchers have been busying themselves with things like
rural broadband supply (16119), Internet Service Providers (16283),
keeping customer data clean (16265), ice cream brands (15981) and
getting an ecommerce function going (16065). Still awaiting a
response are questions about examples of inspiring entertainers
(16236), old trade exhibition literature (16154), UK owned companies
in Eastern Europe (16088) and free scientific news sources (16275).
I'm sure there are plenty of good resources available to help answer
these ones.
Business researchers have been posting about UK credit card payments
and VAT (16302), shopping cart facilities for ecommerce (16147), UK
company parent subsidiary relationships (16257) and getting access to
McCoy Power Reports (16201). And we are waiting for answers to
queries about a particular accountants group (16156) and a list of UK
family owned businesses or some suggestions about how to research
them (16285).
There have been industry specific postings about the African TV
market (16254), the Kenyan Telecoms market (16306), UK Internet
gambling (16211), UK marketing agencies (15924) and UK broadcasting
and publishing (16074). If any Free Pinters know about archival
products in France (16244), pharmaceutical clinical development in
Europe (16247) and water cooler market (16110) we'd love to hear from
you.
The lion's share of questions in the last two weeks have been about
quantitative data and most of them have been answered. They were
about market research brokers (16079), parking attendants (16205),
Latin American GDP figures (16152), European bankruptcies (15910), UK
crime and street lighting (16213), the global pharmaceutical
information sector (16144), UK missing persons (16256) and woman in
science worldwide (15954). Questions about high speed car chase bans
(16293), speed cameras (16276) and UK renewable data (16209) have yet
to be answered. We wait with baited breath.
Technical queries have been as plentiful as ever with ones about P3P
(16048), Q and A software (15957), content management systems
(16023), checking bookmarks daily (15913), email folders (16140),
Excel databases (16260), converting Word documents to HTML, en masse
(15939), Web databases (16210), finding the Euro sign (16184) and
superscripts (16047) on a keyboard and keeping a computer on 24/7
(16289). Though plentiful, they've all been answered.
As well as searching for business information resources and reviewing
them (16109) I sometimes look at good resources that are not business
related, such as this excellent repository of Shakespeare's Sonnets
(16290). And there's a whole host of recommended resources and
articles in the latest issue of the Internet Resources Newsletter
(16253). Also, if it's international standards you are interested in,
you'll find plenty of data in the sites suggested in this posting
(16165).
Language related postings included ones about reference sources for
French slang (16309), a few Latin queries (16037, 16091, 16038) and a
request for a list of derogatory terms for a customer in various
professions (16000).
There were miscellaneous postings about training in data mining
(16135), getting a book published (16245), the history of European
cutlery (16287), renting a video camera (16271), signs for public
swimming pools (16017), a free draw of scientific textbooks (16274)
and some follow up information on a old Internet story and Internet
PR stunts in general (16234).
[Note: To read a Bar posting enter the message number in place
of XXXXX in the address http://www.freepint.com/go/bXXXXX ]
Free Pint Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>
-------------------------------------------------------
[Note: To read a Student Bar posting enter the message number in
place of XXXX in the address <http://www.freepint.com/go/sXXXX>]
Students have been researching female entrepreneurs (2285), thriving
during a recession (2304), integrated information services (2241),
popular music on the Internet (2237), Intranet news feeds (2316),
Foucauldian analysis (2323), knowledge management and Intranets
(2236), online courseware (2281) and knowledge management resources
(2300).
The Student Bar has also seen postings about courses in Web design
(2310), Celtic symbols (2318), distance learning librarianship
courses (2231) and advice on finding and choosing a graduate
traineeship (2297).
[Note: To read a Student Bar posting enter the message number in
place of XXXX in the address <http://www.freepint.com/go/sXXXX>]
Simon Collery, Content Developer <simon@freepint.com>
If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters
then do post a message at the Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar> or
the Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>.
To have the latest Bar postings sent to you every other day, log in to
your account online at <http://www.freepint.com/member>.
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>>> RESEARCH A UK COMPANY FOR A FEW POUNDS, DOLLARS, EUROS ... <<<
You know that you can research a UK company or director using
Free Pint's gateway, but the prices are always in pounds sterling.
Now if you view the samples page, with details of the contents
of each report, there is a "Convert" link next to each price:
<http://www.freepint.com/icc/sample>
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FREE PINT JOBS
<http://www.freepint.com/jobs>
As well as the listings below, you might also like to check out the
new weekly Bar posting which lists the latest additions to Free Pint
Jobs. This week's edition is at <http://www.freepint.com/go/b16308>.
Here are some of the latest featured jobs:
Information Scientist <http://www.freepint.com/go/j1620>
An Information Scientist role to support key internal customer
groups and aid the support of the cross-functional product teams.
Recruiter: Pfizer Ltd
Information Assistant <http://www.freepint.com/go/j1628>
Small, dynamic law firm require qualified Lib/Info grad with 1yr
experience to perform range of duties including law/bus research.
Recruiter: Glen Recruitment
Intranet Development Manager <http://www.freepint.com/go/j1652>
Intranet development; design, content, promotion - use your
information skills and knowledge of Frontpage and other web tools
Recruiter: Sue Hill Recruitment and Services Limited
[The above jobs are paid listings]
Free Pint Jobs is THE place for information-related vacancies.
Whether you're job searching or have a position to fill, you should
be using Free Pint Jobs.
Candidates: It is free to search the database and you can set up a
profile to be notified weekly by email of relevant new vacancies.
Advertisers: List your vacancies and receive significant publicity.
Match your job against the 400+ stored job seeker profiles. Listings
start at just 145 pounds (about US$200 or 230 Euros).
Find out more today at <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>
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>>> FREE PINT BAR BROWSER GETS MEMBER APPROVAL <<<
The new Bar Browser makes the Free Pint Bar much more usable,
since it works by category rather than simply by chronology:
<http://www.freepint.com/bar/browser>
"Congratulations on the Bar Browser. I hit something useful and
quite unexpected on the first look. The stack of Bar talk always
rather intimidated me before". Richard Wakeford, Head of Science
and Technology Information Services, British Library
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TIPS ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070302.htm#tips>
"Fossicking for Information ... or ... What to do on Sixpence"
By Zena Woodley
My post demands that I track a very large number of retail companies
and sectors with a minimum of financial outlay. How do I do this, and
what sources do I use?
Apart from scanning incoming journals (and filing, and
photocopying ...), I'm trying to introduce a policy of electronic
storage of information. Although we hear much about wonderful new ways
to achieve information nirvana, please remember that there are very
many 'lo-tech' companies out there, who have not the time nor the
resources (nor, despite attempted education, the interest!) to dive
into the deepest end of the IT pool. And please remember the
professionals who support such organisations.
News Sources
Praise be for Ananova <http://www.ananova.com/yournews/yourpage.html>
with email alerts I can track sectors for breaking news.
Digital Look <http://www.digitallook.com/> is another excellent source.
Again, one can personalise delivery, with up to 50 searches maximum.
There are three sectors which have great importance: food, drink, and
clothing. These sites are useful: just-food.com, just-style.com, and
just-drinks.com. All offer news updates, and - for a modest annual fee
- offer members more in-depth reporting.
The BBC is wonderful ...
Competitors are a valuable source of information: latest press
releases give lots of useful information. Some of the ones I track
are listed here:
CIOR <http://www.cior.com/>
Datamonitor <http://www.datamonitor.com/>
Forrester <http://www.forrester.com/>
Mintel <http://www.mintel.com/>
Jupiter MMXI <http://www.jupitermmxi.com/europelanding.html>
Surprisingly, perhaps, one of the sectors which is very useful to keep
an eye on is the semiconductor sector. The well-being (or otherwise)
of this market is a flag for areas which may, at first sight, seem to
have no connection. I also like to keep abreast of an industry which
still enthralls and excites me.
First of these flags is economics. If chip sales go down, it's a fair
indicator that all is not well with global capitalism. Those of you
who follow such things will also know that chip sales are cyclical.
And they've just had their worst downturn in over 20 years. I keep
watching to see if there's a light at the end of the tunnel; I think
things are getting better, but it's a very slow business right now.
Interestingly, chip sales and book-to-bill ratios do reflect upon the
bigger retail picture.
<http://www.silicon.com> is a wonderful site. Not only does it have
good links, and loads of meaty news - but it also has time for the
absurd and laughable.
For example, the latest game to sweep the web is called
Googlewhacking. The game involves searching Google's massive two-
billion page database for two words that return a "Results 1 out of 1"
message at the top of the page. However, a Googlewhack doesn't remain
one for long because players post the link on the game's website
ensuring that it will consequently return two results. All entries, or
Googlefactors, must be verified via the dictionary.com website. Just
for the record, "portakabin monkey" got 30 hits, "Cheddar homunculus"
got 10, while "slimy sandpaper" got a disappointing 712 - so it's not
as easy as it sounds. Click <http://www.silicon.com/a50923> to find
out more - or to add any Googlewhackers you might find.
Incidentally, they're currently offering a FREE Butler Group White
Paper: Achieving Knowledge Optimisation
<http://www.silicon.com/goto-sp4-divine_3101>. This argues that
Knowledge Management often fails to deliver an acceptable return on
investment, and looks at the critical strategies that organisations
need to implement to make it pay.
It wouldn't be retail without the use of statistics - the ONS site is
frequently consulted, <http://www.statistics.gov.uk/>. This site is
not the easiest to navigate, but staff are wonderfully helpful when
contacted by telephone! CEBR (Centre for Economics & Business Research
Ltd) is another source of information http://www.cebr.co.uk/>, as is
BRC (British Retail Consortium) <http://www.brc.org.uk/>.
My favourites are many: uk-wire.com is brilliant for breaking results,
with full downloads: waymaker.net is another good source.
bloomberg.com is good (and useful for email alerts); they give useful
pointers on European companies, too. Hemscott is a valuable source of
free information, including reporting dates. These can be checked with
the company concerned. ICC are marvellous for UK company coverage, and
their documents lend themselves to being downloaded easily. Their
European coverage is still in its infancy, however, and a clearer
picture needs to be given to the prospective customer of what you get
for your money - staff can be a trifle vague when one enquires
precisely what is on offer, and the speed of delivery. Some European
countries appear indifferent to filing requirements: certainly it's
harder to get full information from, say Portugal, than it is from
Germany.
And speaking of companies - the web sites range from the wonderful,
giving full investor information, plus email alerts, to the woeful. I
can understand a small company not putting up investor information -
but all too often, searching for a major listed organisation will
result in a website that's geared purely for 'show', not listing
financial results or even press notices. This is especially irritating
when looking for a European company. Secrecy is very much the name of
the game in some areas of retail - but this can be most frustrating!
When stuck for ideas or pointers, an admirable source is Paul Pedley's
freebiz.org.
Those of you who have ready access to Amadeus, and other wonderful
information resources, should be very grateful!
* I have convinced my analysts of the authenticity of the word
'fossick': their challenge is to use it in a report or newsletter!
And for those young things who cannot remember, 6d (or sixpence)
was the equivalent of just over 2p.
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Zena Woodley is currently working for a retail-oriented market
research organisation. She began her information career with INMOS
fifteen years ago, and still retains a deep interest in
semiconductors. She can remember acoustic couplers, and was familiar
with email back in the mid 80s. She has worked in organisations
connected with hydrology and construction: she was Information Manager
at Aslib for four years. In her real life, she is Secretary of the
London County Association, and Secretary for St. Mary's, Rotherhithe -
both posts connected with church bell ringing. And when not ringing,
she is passionate about all kinds of classical music.
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Related Free Pint links:
* "Information and Libraries" articles and links in the Portal
<http://www.freepint.com/go/p69>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070302.htm#tips>
* Post a message to the author, Zena Woodley, or suggest further
resources, at the Free Pint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
* Access the entire archive of Free Pint articles and issues
<http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>
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>>> FILL YOUR INFORMATION-RELATED VACANCY FOR 195 POUNDS <<<
Tricky question: Use a recruitment agency or print publication to
find candidates for your information vacancy?
Simple answer: Use neither. Use Free Pint Jobs.
Free Pint Jobs is the easiest and most cost-effective way to
contact thousands of qualified information professionals.
Click on "Advertise your vacancies" at <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf>
"OnetoOne B2B: Customer Development Strategies
for the Business-to-Business World"
Written by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
Reviewed by Helen Clegg
This is the latest offering from marketing gurus Don Peppers and
Martha Rogers on one-to-one marketing or customer relationship
management, as it is also known, and this time it's all about one-to-
one in a B2B environment. The UK edition runs to over 300 pages, but
don't let that put you off. This has to be one of the most readable
business books in print at the moment and is hard to put down once
you've started it.
OnetoOne B2B builds on Peppers and Rogers earlier works, but for those
who haven't read The OnetoOne Future, Enterprise OnetoOne, The
OnetoOne Fieldbook or The OnetoOne Manager, this matters little, for
the book can be read on its own. In the first two chapters, the
authors review their basic theory of one-to-one marketing and discuss
how this theory can be applied in the B2B world. Moreover, they also
describe their own set of tools for creating deeper customer
relationships, which they call IDIC, or Identify, Differentiate,
Interact and Customize.
Chapters Three to Seven constitute five in-depth case studies, which
examine how Dell, Bentley Systems, Convergys, Novartis LP (a
subsidiary of Novartis AG) and LifeWay (a Christian resources company)
are implementing their own customer relationship management
initiatives. These range from account development strategies,
knowledge-based selling and organizing marketing process around
individual customers, to growing the value of the customer base.
Although not all of the five companies profiled here are household
names, they do represent diverse industries and are all at different
stages in the process of becoming one-to-one enterprises. This wide
spectrum therefore provides a wealth of valuable learning material for
strategic marketers, planners, indeed for everyone involved with
managing B2B customer relationships in a variety of organizations. The
case studies conclude with the authors offering advice and pointing
out the main tasks ahead for each company.
Implementing one-to-one marketing in a B2B context is harder than in a
B2C context, due to the more complex nature of customer relationships.
By using a case-study format, the material is much more accessible and
digestible, making it easier for readers to follow the implementation
steps being taken by each company and see the benefits gained from
these steps.
Finally, Chapter Eight focuses on the impact the Internet is having on
B2B one-to-one marketing, with Peppers and Rogers offering their
thoughts on B2B exchanges, marketplaces and portals. For those wanting
to dig deeper and read more on the subject of customer relationship
management, the book closes with an excellent recommended reading
list, covering books, newspapers, magazine articles, reports, studies
and white papers.
OnetoOne B2B is well written and well structured. It vividly
illustrates the advantages B2B organizations should gain from
investing time and resources in customer relationship management. In
the words of Fortune magazine, "if your company is launching a
customer-focused strategy, give this book to all of your transition
players - it sets the agenda". Absolutely. This book is sure to be a
classic.
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Helen Clegg is Market Analyst with RR Donnelley Europe, in Amsterdam.
She holds an M.Sc. in Library and Information Studies and has worked
for a number of organizations in Europe including Bain & Company, BNFL
plc and AT Kearney Ltd. Helen can be contacted at
<Helen.Clegg@rrd.com>. She writes here
in a personal capacity.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/one2one.htm>
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841123129/freepint0c>
or Amazon.com
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385494092/freepint00>
* "OnetoOne B2B: Customer Development Strategies for the
Business-to-Business World" ISBN 1841123129 (UK)
ISBN 0385494092 (US) published by Capstone Publishing Limited (UK)
Doubleday (US) written by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Free Pint
Bookshelf at <http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf>
* Read about other Internet marketing books on the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/strategy.htm>
To propose an information-related book for review, send details
to <bookshelf@freepint.com>.
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>>> INFORMATION PRODUCTS SELL WELL WITH FREE PINT <<<
How can you easily market your information-related products and
services to a large collection of information professionals?
Newsletter advertising with Free Pint is effective (see the number
of repeat advertisers) and comes with free banner exposures.
Find out more today at <http://www.freepint.com/advert.htm>
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FEATURE ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070302.htm#feature>
"The Death of the Intranet.
Long Live the Corporate Portal Quantifying ROI"
By Ian Wells
As anyone responsible for knowledge management will tell you,
information fuels knowledge. It is this basic understanding, and the
need to share information, that led to the birth of the corporate
intranet - its primary function being to provide access to company
information via a central interface. But content has always been the
key to a successful intranet; information that appears on these
systems must be up-to-date, relevant to the individual and easy to
find. With the proliferation of information available today, intranets
are becoming a nightmare in terms of management and are failing to
satisfy employees. In practice, many businesses have discovered
that the ability to access information is not the same as finding the
information they need. The sheer weight of information available from
internal electronic sources, often coupled with poor search
facilities, is causing an information overload. People are confusing
information with knowledge. Data 'glut' is such a serious problem that
research suggests that in many workplaces, an average worker can spend
more than half his or her day processing documents
<http://www.careerbuilder.com/wl_work_9905_overload.html>.
Without being able to manage this proliferation of information and
bypassing the need to conduct long, time-consuming and often
ineffective searches, the intranet stops promoting productivity and
becomes a drag on efficiency. More worryingly, employees who become
disenchanted with an intranet may stop using it altogether.
Information overload then negates the value of the intranet
investment. This hazard is amplified when the intranet is extended -
as an extranet - to allow other businesses to work with a company's
systems. Poor extranet performance means jeopardising relationships
with customers and suppliers, something no business can afford to do.
Many organisations also use the World Wide Web and subscription-based
electronic information services such as Reuters to provide them with
up-to-date, real time information on anything from worldwide news to
industry specific current affairs. This adds to the overall volume of
information, compounding information overload and making it more
difficult for users to get to the information they really need, when
they need it.
The answer to overcoming this problem and ensuring that the intranet
remains valuable alongside other electronic information sources is to
take a personalised and 'instant delivery' approach to information
management. This ensures that users automatically receive only the
information that is relevant to them, whether it comes from the
Internet, an intranet, a subscription-based news service or other
internal sources without having to search for it. Without this,
companies will wallow in a sea of potentially useful information, but
never have the capability to pick out the 'nuggets' that will have
maximum effect.
In response, a growing number of companies are using corporate portals
as a solution,
<http://searchsap.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid21_gci533557,00.html>.
These enable companies to provide employees (or even customers or
business partners) with their own personalised corporate portal.
These are similar in concept to those provided by Yahoo! and Excite,
but are specifically designed for use within the enterprise. These
portals provide better 'context' around work activities and add value
to existing sites or information databases through customised
connections. In short, corporate portals draw all the available raw
data together, making it easier for the correct individual to access
the 'nuggets' that are relevant to them through a single point of
entry on the corporate network. CIO.com hosts an excellent, if
somewhat lengthy white paper, entitled 'A Business Person's Guide to
Enterprise Portal Terms and Business Impacts'. It's an excellent
resource, whatever your current knowledge level, and can be found at
<http://www.cio.com/sponsors/portalswhitepaper.pdf>.
There are a number of different types of corporate portals available,
each providing solutions to varying needs. These include vertical,
corporate, collaborative, consumer, e-commerce and knowledge portals.
Often the type of portal is differentiated by either the area it
covers (e.g. enterprise wide, business function, industry) or the
service provided (content aggregation, application access,
personalised home page, etc.). Such systems will intelligently
aggregate information from the various internal and external sources
available and automatically deliver only the relevant content to each
employee. This means that they are not distracted by searching
Internet sites or areas of the intranet that are not of true value to
them. Joseph M. Firestone, Ph.D. offers a detailed analysis of a
portal's integration into existing enterprise applications and its
place within workflow systems in his paper, 'Defining the Enterprise
Information Portal' <http://www.dkms.com/EIPDEF.html>.
Typically there are two types of portal personalisation available.
For employees within a business the 'voluntary' personalisation route
is usually (although not always) the most appropriate. This means
that the individual employees themselves choose the content that they
wish to receive. This is determined during the initialisation phase,
where the employees are prompted to set up their own information
profile. They are alerted to the arrival of fresh information either
through a browser on their PC, via email or fax. If working remotely
from the office, alerts can be received on mobile phones through SMS
(Short Messaging Service) or on a WAP device.
Deploying this kind of portal strategy holds much the same benefits
for managing the knowledge and information relevant to a company's
partners, clients or customers. However, more often an 'involuntary'
personalisation route is typical where the purpose of the portal is to
disseminate selected information, e.g. in a retail scenario. This
means that the company defines the information that is to be sent to
the individual rather than the individual making their own choice.
A portal site which can alert customers via the variety of different
mechanisms mentioned above will allow them to focus on the updated
information delivered to them as it is published, rather than having
to search for it themselves. Delivering this information will help to
reduce the possibility of them being distracted or diverted to a
competitive site.
Providing the technology offered within the chosen solution allows for
it, the portal will be dynamic to the changing needs of the users.
Functionality can be developed and features added to suit each
individual's requirements. This means that the portal can evolve as
the company grows or diversifies. London's largest hotel chain,
Radisson Edwardian Hotels, launched its own enterprise portal last
year <http://www.vnunet.com/News/1124303> to reduce IT administration
costs, deliver IT services to employees across its 10 sites and
centrally manage all data and applications from one central server-
farm. It was one of the largest portal installations in the UK last
year and serves as an excellent example of the far reaching benefits
of portal technology.
Quantifying Return on Investment
--------------------------------
When justifying the need for a corporate portal solution this simple
calculation should be considered. Taking a company with 1,000
employees as an example, Mediapps <http://www.mediapps.com> has found
that each employee uses around 10 sources of information. These range
from national newspapers, Reuters or other subscription services, the
corporate intranet and other internal electronic sources such as HR or
EPR databases. To monitor all these takes 8 minutes. That employee
will search these sources around 3 times a day for job specific
information. That's 24 minutes every day spent searching or 120
minutes per 5 working day week. Over the course of a year (48 working
weeks), this adds up to 96 hours in time spent searching for
information. If the average salary of each employee is 18,000 pounds,
that's 1,028.16 pounds worth of productivity lost in search time alone.
Multiply that by the number of employees in the organisation and the
loss in productivity, and therefore revenue, is clearly significant.
If the same company used a corporate portal solution to provide both
the correct technology and content, the search time is reduced to 5
minutes per day to check the portal 'alerts'. This equates to just
214.20 pounds per employee!
Nucleus Research <http://www.nucleusresearch.com> recently launched an
online ROI calculator for companies looking to quantify their
investment in an enterprise portal. Using the calculator, customers
will be able to measure return on investment based on the improved
productivity delivered by the technology. The ROI calculator bases
savings over a three-year period, using variables such as average
employee salary, IT investment and the average growth of an
organisation.
Current corporate portal solutions range from a few thousand pounds to
several hundred thousand pounds. Again, the solution chosen will be
dependent on the company's needs. However, if the investment is too
high, the return will never be achieved. For example, if the solution
chosen is very expensive with lots of integration and customisation
work to be done, getting the system up and running will take longer
and the entry point will be higher. The question to ask is "Can this
return on investment ever be reached?" The best way to approach a
corporate portal strategy is to start small and extend it as and when
the company and budgets are ready to accommodate the growth. This is
where the flexibility to grow and develop the solution you have chosen
becomes important. As with most other successful strategies, when
deploying a corporate portal solution, the 80/20 rule applies.
The key to effective knowledge management is changing the mechanism on
offer to people to search the pool of internal and external
information available to them. To ensure the success of a corporate
portal strategy, assess who the communities are that will be using the
solution and define their information needs by group and individual.
Next, look at the existing technology within the company and the array
of information sources available to it.
When looking to match the right corporate portal solution with the
company's needs, the key elements to evaluate are: ensure that the
technology it offers is complementary to, and easily integratable
with, existing legacy systems, provides flexibility through open
architecture for addressing future growth, offers suitable content
synchronisation, achievable ROI and time to market. Ensure that the
vendor has local presence and strong partnerships that will adequately
support both the technology and the content of the solution you are
buying into.
Bearing these considerations in mind should help towards getting a
corporate portal solution off the ground and make the minefield of
solutions on offer less daunting for those embarking on this effective
route to knowledge management.
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Ian Wells is the Managing Director of Mediapps UK and has been
instrumental in the development of the company's UK operation. Before
joining Mediapps, Ian spent seven years at network connectivity
vendor, Attachmate, where he was UK Country Manager.
Contact: <iwells@mediapps.com>.
With more than 240 customers, Mediapps is Europe's leading provider of
portal-based technology. Mediapps' strategy is to provide not just the
software necessary to create a portal but pre-configured information
sources as well. When combined with ready to use user profiling,
Net.Portal, Mediapps' Portal Generator, can provide rapid results
right 'out of the box' with little or no coding required.
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Related Free Pint links:
* "Information and Libraries" articles and resources in the Portal
<http://www.freepint.com/go/p69>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070302.htm#feature>
* Post a message to the author, Ian Wells, or suggest further
resources, at the Free Pint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
* Access the entire archive of Free Pint content
<http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>
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>>> FREE PINT FACT <<<
Veterans of Free Pint will know the problems we've had in
implementing a usable search feature on the Free Pint Web site. The
problem has been the sheer number of the postings at the Free Pint
Bar and it has regularly been a source of frustration for members
of the Free Pint team and readership alike.
<http://www.freepint.com/go/b15076>
<http://www.freepint.com/go/b12472>
Even when we had a working index of the site after many server
upgrades, it was still slow to actually perform the search. There
were other difficulties too, as the Bar has a unique format. For
instance, you might want to search for postings by a particular
'Author', but for the rest of the site this is an invalid field.
After many hours of head scratching (usually at weekends) we are
delighted that we now have a working solution. We have separated off
searching of the Bar and Student Bar from rest of the site. The
search page now has two forms for searching either the Bars, or the
rest of the site. Both are very fast and you can now search the
Bar by author, subject or date:
<http://www.freepint.com/search/>
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
<http://www.freepint.com/events>
There's still plenty of time to find out about all the information-
related conferences happening in March. So here's a run down ...
Frost & Sullivan are holding their "Next Generation Internet (NGI)
Asia Conference and Exhibition" in Langkawi, Malaysia, the first time
an NGI conference has been held in Asia
<http://www.freepint.com/go/e121>.
Stateside, their "5th Annual Advanced Marketing Research Executive
Summit, West" takes place simultaneously in San Antonio
<http://www.freepint.com/go/e127>. In Florida there is the Association
of Dissemination and Information Centers' (ASIDIC) Spring Meeting
<http://www.freepint.com/go/e115> whilst up in Washington, DC,
"Computers in Libraries 2002" from Information Today "... offers
something for all interests and all levels of knowledge in the library
and information management fields" <http://www.freepint.com/go/e112>.
Back in the UK, "Internet Librarian International", also from
Information Today, is on in London <http://www.freepint.com/go/e114>.
Up at the University of Glasgow, the "1st International Conference on
IT & Information Literacy (ITIL 2002)" will talk about how "... the
preparation of individuals to be effective information-users as
students, as employees, and as citizens becomes an imperative"
<http://www.freepint.com/go/e75>.
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Details of these and many other conferences and exhibitions in the
information industry can be found on the Free Pint Events page
<http://www.freepint.com/events>.
Submit details of your event for free promotion, and keep us informed
of any changes to current listings.
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FREE PINT GOLD
This time last year we highlighted a number of energy portals. This
was followed by an inspirational article about finding charities
online and resources for volunteering your own time.
* Free Pint No.82, 1st March 2001. "Electric Power Information
Sources on the Web" and "Putting your money where your mouse
is - online charities" <http://www.freepint.com/issues/010301.htm>
Two years ago the tips article looked at travel sites, focusing on
those with an online booking facility. The feature article in that
issue covered chemistry 'webzines', and we'll be returning to
chemistry resources soon in this newsletter.
* Free Pint No.57, 2nd March 2000. "Travel related websites" and
"Chemistry Webzines - How to find the right news for you"
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/020300.htm>
In 1999 we ran a quick-fire set of "... 12 extra ways to
promote your website without even turning your browser on". Popular
contributor Martin White <http://www.freepint.com/go/r21970> gave
an invaluable overview of data privacy and highlighted resources for
researching the differences between EU and US legislation.
* Free Pint No.33, 4th March 1999. "12 Offline Ways of Promoting Your
URL" and "Data Privacy Web Sites"
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/040399.htm>
Looking back, 1998 did feel like the early pioneering days of the
Web. That's why it was timely to run a piece aimed at journalists
wanting to introduce others to the Web. Every time we cover market
research resources we hear approving noises from Free Pinters. Such
was the reaction four years ago too.
* Free Pint No.9, 5th March 1998. "But what is it good for?" and
"Market Research Information On The Internet"
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/050398.htm>
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FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
[Provisional]
* Animal & Pet Resources * Legal Sources *
* Technology Transfer * Virtual Reference *
* Trade Unions on the Net * Biomedical Sources *
* Scholarly Publishing * Netherlands Sources *
* Academic, Economic and Social Science *
If you have a suggestion for an article topic or would like to write
for Free Pint then please contact me or sign up for the regular Author
Update on the Web site at <http://www.freepint.com/author.htm>.
Rex Cooke, Editor <rex@freepint.com>
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GOODBYE
Thank you for reading today's Free Pint, and a special thanks to all
those who have contributed to this issue in some way.
If you feel it's time to get involved, then send your ideas to Rex
Cooke <rex@freepint.com> or visit <http://www.freepint.com/author.htm>.
See you in two weeks!
William Hann, Founder and Managing Editor
<william@freepint.com>
(c) Free Pint Limited 1997-2002
<http://www.freepint.com/>
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Address:
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Tel: +44 (0)1784 420044
Fax: +44 (0)1784 420033
Directions and maps: <http://www.freepint.com/contact.htm>
Key contacts:
William Hann, Founder and Managing Editor <william@freepint.com>
Rex Cooke, Editor <rex@freepint.com>
Simon Collery, Content Developer <simon@freepint.com>
Web <http://www.freepint.com>
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Advertising <http://www.freepint.com/advert.htm>
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Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free newsletter written by information
professionals who share how they find quality and reliable information
on the Internet. Useful to anyone who uses the Web for their work, it
is published every two weeks by email.
To subscribe, unsubscribe, find details about contributing,
advertising or to see past issues, please visit the Web site at
<http://www.freepint.com/> or email <info@freepint.com>.
Please note: Free Pint is a registered trademark of, and published by,
Free Pint Limited. The publishers will NEVER make the subscriber list
available to any other company or organisation.
The opinions, advice, products and services offered herein are the
sole responsibility of the contributors. Whilst all reasonable care
has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the publication, the
publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions.
This publication may be freely copied and/or distributed in its
entirety. However, individual sections MAY NOT be copied and/or
distributed without the prior written agreement of the publishers.
Write to Rex Cooke, Editor <rex@freepint.com> for more details.
Product names used in Free Pint are for identification purposes only,
and may be trademarks of their respective owners. Free Pint disclaims
any and all rights in those marks. All rights reserved.
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- Publication Date: 7th March 2002
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