Tip: What you need to know from Jinfo in four minutes or less – subscribe to our YouTube channel for quick monthly updates. November's update now available

Over the past two and a half years, we have iterated on the research that has coalesced as our Focus on Value Chain.

In that same period, we have added senior analysts – Stephen Phillips and Sue Gleckner – to the Jinfo team who balance my research "in the lab", as it were, with their practical experience running complex, global information functions.

With this growth, we have been able to respond to the best testimonials possible: returning clients. Our calendar for consulting projects in early 2022 is already nearing capacity with clients who have:

• Started the process of Value Chain analysis
• Experienced the fundamental shift it gives them and their stakeholders
• Committed to deepening and expanding that work in the coming year.

But we're still a small team, and our capacity is limited.

So, if you are considering how to quantify and strengthen the ROI of information products, services and expertise in 2022, particularly in the first half of the year, please contact us as soon as possible to start the conversation on Consulting on Value Chain.

Since we first published the initial research outlining our methodology for connecting information products, services and expertise with business outcomes, we've applied the Value Chain methodology with dozens of information teams.

We've also presented these concepts to account managers at information suppliers who want their customers to be smarter buyers of information.

We've stress-tested the methodology through consulting projects and discussed the results in Community sessions.

But we haven't yet worked with you.

If you are ready to close the gap between what you intuit about information value and what you can objectively measure and communicate, contact us today.

Robin Neidorf Director of Research

Preparations for a new client's kickoff workshop had me reviewing the organisation's strategy headlines – the top-level view of guiding principles its leaders have laid out for the coming year.

One thing that struck me during this review was the emphasis in the documentation on cost containment, particularly for resources deemed secondary to core capabilities.

Cost containment is a worthy and necessary goal. But too often, senior stakeholders fail to recognise what information licensing professionals know:

"Licensed information products are in fact essential to core capabilities"

There is no R&D without research. The right information investment strategy will:

• Strengthen early-stage discovery in product development
• Leverage prior knowledge
• Foster efficient innovation
• Commercialise faster, with less risk and higher margins.

Information professionals must operate as the internal investment advisors to our senior stakeholders. To help them recognise and use us this way, we need to rise to the challenge of simplifying and quantifying ROI in a context they understand.

So, in our next Community session, "Investment philosophies for strategic portfolio management", we'll be looking at two client examples of how to translate information ROI into stakeholder-ready language.

You can join this session if your organisation is a Jinfo client. Click to register, or contact me at stephen.phillips@jinfo.com to learn more about the full range of benefits you get as a Jinfo client.

Stephen Phillips Senior Analyst

A recent workshop with a tiny information team supporting a massive global R&D function put me in mind of the decades I spent doing very similar work in another R&D-driven business.

As we coached them to the finish line of completing the five steps in the Focus on Centre of Excellence, one sentence came up over and over:

"What hat are you wearing?"

Tiny teams, by necessity, comprise staff members who can do a lot of different things, juggling multiple tasks and goals all day, every day. When it comes to operating as a Centre of Excellence, though, Jinfo's methodology emphasises the importance of consciously being aware of which "hat" you are wearing at the time:

• Strategist: Connecting the organisation's goals with the information department's goals
• Manager: Operationalising department goals into projects and processes
• Tactical worker: Getting tasks done.

All three of these hats may need to be worn by the same person. But identifying the responsibilities of each role and then donning a particular hat enables even the busiest tiny department to maintain clarity on:

• Progress: Is the work getting done?
• Quality: Is the work product aligned with the department's standards and goals?
• Impact: Is the work actually delivering value to the organisation?

Sounds simple, but it takes practice, especially when the inbox fills up every time you turn your back. As a Jinfo client, you can connect with peers who are also organising their collection of hats, or work directly with us to ensure your hats are appropriate and accessible to you at all times.

Start the conversation, or contact me at susan.gleckner@jinfo.com to learn more.

Susan Gleckner Senior Analyst