Documenting the value chain (part 3 - innovation)
26th June 2019

In the third of our six articles on documenting the value chain, we look at innovation and ask what it looks like, as well as exploring some of the requirements and characteristics that contribute to an innovative environment. We also look at what activities you may currently undertake that supports each of the characteristics and requirements of innovation in your organisation and some qualitative insights you can share with stakeholders to give them a clearer picture of the impact your expertise has on it.

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Leadership alignment interviews - engaging your stakeholders around value
26th June 2019

Communicating the value of information services to budget holders and decision-makers is challenging. One way to enhance that communication is to interview leaders in your organisation to show where their ideas align, and where there may be gaps or misalignment. This article looks at how to shape leadership alignment interviews to deepen your engagement with stakeholders, to increase your understanding of their thoughts on value, and to build their buy-in for strategic efforts.

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Jinfo benchmarking research (part 3 - services and customers)
26th June 2019

To create meaningful comparisons across information teams you first need to define what the teams do. This is what Jinfo set out to do as part of its benchmarking research and this article highlights some of that data, including what services and activities take place such as contract negotiation and taxonomy development, and in which department, as well as the impact and value of these services.

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Documenting the value chain (part 2 - efficiency)
25th June 2019

Whilst it can be difficult to provide meaningful data to demonstrate the impact on efficiency that an information team provides, it is possible to highlight how you help an organisation become more efficient. In the second article on documenting the value chain, we provide practical examples of how information services contribute to efficiency and a useful set of metrics and reporting that can be used to demonstrate this.

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Jinfo benchmarking research (part 2 - structure and strategy of department)
25th June 2019

There are many different reporting lines within organisations, such as IT, research and development, marketing, HR and procurement, and Jinfo has previously written about the impact these reporting structures can have on how an information team can deliver value. This article looks more closely at Jinfo's 2019 research on benchmarking, and in particular reporting lines, including some of the common trends, and the importance of strategy in delivering value.

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Documenting the value chain (part 1 - growing revenue)
21st June 2019

Winning new business is a crucial part of the business development process but without the valuable input of the information team, this couldn't happen. In the first article on documenting the value chain, we offer practical advice on how information professionals can demonstrate their value in this process and includes useful charts and steps you can take to do this.

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Jinfo benchmarking research (part 1 - introduction)
20th June 2019

Jinfo's benchmarking project has amassed three years of data submitted by 82 information teams who have provided data on everything from organisational structure to how they deliver their services and areas of strategic focus. With so much information to draw on, this article provides an overview of what we have learned through analysing this data, including the most important variables to consider when creating the right peer group against which to benchmark any given information team, as well as our findings on reporting structures, provision of services and team capacity.

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Functional partnerships and information services - how about that IT/IS relationship?
19th June 2019

The subject of how an information service can effectively work with IT is something Jinfo has touched on previously and is still as pertinent as ever. With the ever-increasing pace of technological change and the information department's dependence on IT, Anne Rogers of Cargill takes another look at this area and ask what makes an effective relationship and how you can establish a "functional" relationship with IT.

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Product review of AREUSConnect from Iconitel (value - help & training; competitors; development; pricing)
17th June 2019

In the final part of our full product review of AREUSConnect from Iconitel, a subscription and contract management web-based solution, we look at the value offered by the product, the help and training that's available, its competitors, including Onelog, OCLC, and ResearchMonitor, the pricing options and what's in the development pipeline in relation to pricing, the onboarding process, and Lean Sigma certification.

Note: Full review (PDF) at /go/sub/report/3204

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Product review of AREUSConnect from Iconitel (technology - search & user interface; outputs & alerts; administration)
14th June 2019

In the third part of our product review of AREUSConnect from Iconitel, a subscription and contract management web-based solution, we look at its five search options, including subscriptions, users, customers, documents and vendors, along with a more detailed look at some of its 13 report options and analytical reports. We also find out about its alerting options for renewals, calendar, requests and open issues.

Note: Full review (PDF) at /go/sub/report/3204

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