SIIA and ABM, the association of business information and media companies, announced the closing of their merger today. By joining forces, the organizations will create the most comprehensive, global business information and media industry association.
The merger became official on July 1, and the combined organization is planning new initiatives and collaborating on content industry events, with ABM operating as a division within SIIA. The combined force of their over 800 member companies will lead to significant new services and thought leadership over time. But the SIIA is immediately launching first steps such as new events, webinars and conferences, including:
- Digital Content & Media Summit: Exploring the skills you need to survive in the digital content future,to be held on September 23 in London
- DataContent2013: Uncover New Opportunities in Data for Information Publisherswill be held on October 15 in Philadelphia
- SIPA Marketing Conference: Putting it all Together, to be held on December 11 in Las Vegas
- New webinars in mobile, and other topics of interest to the broad b2b media industry.
- ABM Regional conferences will be reborn in the form of SIIA-ABM INFO Local events. Currently, INFO Local events are planned for Atlanta, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and London.
ABM will continue to offer its member services, including signature ABM events, awards programs and Committees & Councils, while finding ways to cross-pollinate membership and share resources. Importantly, the combined organization will also join forces in government affairs, creating a powerful global force in important legal and public policy debates across a wide range of issues impacting members’ business practices and revenues.
Ken Wasch is President of SIIA. Follow the SIIA Software team on twitter at @SIIASoftware.