Big Data - Help or Hindrance?
31st December 2013

Apple's recent acquisition of the Twitter analytics firm Topsy, a series of enthusiastic articles by Pinsent Masons on the health and pharmaceutical benefits of data analytics, a report from Forbes Insights on big data's marketing potential, and Google's attempts to interest small businesses in analytics, all suggest that big data may be at the top of its hype cycle. But recent FreePint comment indicates that its impact on knowledge management has been limited so far, and evidence from Thomson Reuters suggests that big data may even be hampering companies' efforts to find the figures they need to comply with tax regulations.

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Knowledge Management in Law Firms is Changing!
30th December 2013

James Mullan looks at what the future holds for knowledge management in legal firms. He discusses how KM is now going beyond the "traditional" into new territories such as using KM principles to manage a firm's risk and compliance processes. Tips for making knowledge projects more likely to complete successfully are also covered.

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FreePint Report: Information Services Management Monthly Update (December 2013)
30th December 2013

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Getting the Most Out Of Expert Directories & Staff Profiles
27th December 2013

Sarah Dillingham asks how you can maximise the usage and usefulness of your organisation's staff or expert directory. She examines how companies can ensure their people data is current and how they can best manage information across multiple sources, from Active Directory to Outlook, intranets such as SharePoint, internal social media like Yammer and external social media sites including LinkedIn.

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Intranets: Don't Write the Obituary Just Yet
24th December 2013

It seems that a day doesn't go by without yet another website or blog trumpeting the death of intranets, or that intranets are becoming obsolete. The question is whether intranet managers should be up in arms about these posts, or is there some truth behind them? James Mullan explores the evolution of intranets, social enterprise networks, CMS and collaborative systems.

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Privacy vs Freedom - It's Going to Get Harder
24th December 2013

A whole range of recent actions by data protection authorities across the European Union show how seriously regulators continue to take privacy. Issues range over Dutch comment on the validity of online privacy policies, the need to train temporary staff in data protection and the possibility of stiffer United Kingdom penalties for breaches. But there are also conflicts - between economic freedom and unjustified surveillance, prevention of cybercrime and excessive intrusiveness, tougher privacy rules and legitimate journalism. As a new report from Outsell suggests, it's not necessarily going to be easy to work out what proposals will become law and what the best options for compliance might be.

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Eikon: Hitting the Headlines for all the Right Reasons
23rd December 2013

Andrew Grave examines the transformation of Eikon from a product with disappointing sales into a solid competitor to Bloomberg with over 100,000 installed terminals. The desktop market data solution for financial professionals now offers a wealth of content, secure messaging and powerful mobile apps. 

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Product Review of Euromonitor Passport: Executive Summary
20th December 2013

Whether you're looking for an overview of an industry or country or need more detailed analysis, Euromonitor's Passport offers a wealth of data on consumer-based market research. Providing statistics and analysis on 28 industries and with over 1,000 analysts covering 210 countries, Sophie Alexander's executive summary of Passport shows how it could be of value to any company that needs consumer market research data.

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Compliance - Cautionary Tales To Help Your Budget
20th December 2013

FreePint's Topic Series: Compliance in Context has drawn attention to an enormous range of useful sources and tools, but persuading enterprises to provide the budget to acquire them may still prove challenging. Some cautionary tales may help information managers demonstrate their value. Britain's new register of beneficial company ownership, criticism by the Financial Conduct Authority of weaknesses in financial firms' Anti-Money Laundering, bribery and corruption procedures, and the more proactive approach now taken by Britain's Revenue & Customs are among the developments covered. Governments' greater inclination to regulate to please voters, and banks' willingness to pay huge fines rather than fight the regulators, may also make spending on a few more compliance tools seem a bargain by comparison.

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Merger Mania in Biopharma: Will Information Professionals be Victims, Witnesses or Winners?
20th December 2013

With biopharmaceutical companies under pressure to maintain revenues and suffering from the upcoming expiry of key patents, more mergers and acquisitions are likely to take place. Yulia Aspinall examines how information professionals can put their skills to good use to change the challenge of possible redundancy into an opportunity, where the information services team emerges stronger post M&A.

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