Value Chain analysis connects the dots to impact

It happened again today:

During a client workshop delivered as part of our Consulting on Value Chain, I shifted the conversation away from what services the department provides. Instead, we were talking about business outcomes:

• Shortening the R&D cycle
• Improving the success of mergers and acquisitions
• Expanding the number and diversity of active projects in development.

For every one of these outcomes, the team was able to quickly list two or three or ten ways information strategy could support that goal.

I know from Jinfo's experience that if they implement even a small number of those ideas, they will have a measurable impact in the business. They will demonstrate and enhance their value as essential contributors to efficient and innovative R&D. And they'll be able to do so pretty quickly.

It's an exciting moment when the team connects the dots of Value Chain analysis. Suddenly, they have a whole new way of communicating – and actually enhancing – their value. The impact of information products, services and expertise becomes tangible.

Jinfo's Focus on Value Chain can transform how you think, plan, operate and communicate. Contact us to enquire about getting started with your own future transformation.

Robin Neidorf
Director of Research

Address the hardest questions in content licensing

The growing trend away from seat- or consumption-based pricing and towards a centrally budgeted, "utility" approach is in part due to the growing awareness that every business decision needs to be underpinned by quality information.

For those of us focused on content licensing, the trend is creating challenges in two important ways:

1. How should these "utility" costs be allocated across the business?
2. What do we use to determine value, if usage data is uncoupled from cost?

These are difficult questions, and the answers will vary depending on your organisation's values and strategy.

Wouldn't you like to know how your peers wrestle with them?

Jinfo's Community sessions in our Focus on Content Portfolio provide this forum. Where else can you find a thoughtful group of professionals who really understand how information pricing, terms and conditions, and strategic supplier relationships make or break the value of your content investments?

Join us at one or more of our autumn sessions – whether you actively participate in the conversation or sit back and mull over what you're hearing, you'll get insights that only other licensing professionals can provide.

• Teeing up value-based budget conversations for content licensing, 21st September
• Negotiation role-play for content licensing professionals, 7th October
• Investment philosophies for strategic portfolio management, 2nd December.

Community sessions are included in your Jinfo Subscription. If you have questions about getting started with Jinfo, contact us today.

Stephen Phillips
Senior Analyst

Raise your own bar from transactions to strategy

"We need to be operating strategically, but we're stuck in transactional work."

This is one of the most common concerns Jinfo clients bring us to work on as part of our Focus on Centre of Excellence.

Our advice for making this shift? Two consistent strategies have emerged from a host of Consulting on Centre of Excellence projects nearing completion:

• Invest in strategic stakeholder relationships: it's not enough to have an engagement plan with key stakeholders – you have to invest in a relationship strategy. Investment can mean tools as well as time – one team has taken up our recommendation to invest in a simple CRM system to improve stakeholder engagement, and already it's proving to be time and money well-spent.
  
  
• Raise your ambitions: no one is better equipped than you are to drive information strategy for your organisation. When you see, think and talk about yourselves and your department as a strategic asset to the business, your stakeholders will start to do so as well.

These strategies are consistent across industries – current projects are in legal, finance, pharmaceuticals and energy.

Your Jinfo Subscription gives you access to the foundational materials in our Focus on Centre of Excellence, which will help you shape your relationships and ambitions.

If you have questions as you work, we're here to help – complete the contact form or be in touch with your account manager for tips and troubleshooting, or to discuss more active support through Consulting on Centre of Excellence.

Rebecca Brizi
Senior Analyst