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Meet New SIIA Member Credo

July 29, 2013 By

 

Credo works to ease the process of content configuration, and in the process, enables distribution of knowledge and information across intuitive and manageable platforms. Learn more about the innovation happening at Credo as well as the future of their business and the industry in this exclusive interview with Mike Sweet, CEO of Credo.

Kathy: Tell me about Credo.

Mike:  Credo is an information skills solutions provider that serves educational institutions worldwide. We build platforms that enable the flexible configuration of content, technology and services for the purpose of connecting learners, faculty and teachers, librarians and publishers. We aim to help people develop the information skills that are necessary for success throughout their academic, professional and personal lives.

Kathy:  What types of companies, if any, does Credo look to partner with?  

Mike: The guiding principle of Credo’s product strategy is simple—partner with industry leaders to do what the industry cannot do for itself by providing a platform to promote knowledge building, problem solving and critical thinking skills. In addition to partnering with libraries, consortia and publishers we continually look to join forces with technology companies, discovery service providers, content aggregators and other stakeholders in the educational technology industry to enhance our Literati solution.
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Mike Sweet, CEO, Credo Reference

Kathy: Who does Credo sell to?
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Mike: For our first dozen years, Credo mainly served college and university students and public libraries.  We’ve recently taken what we’ve learned from that experience and expanded our focus to include secondary school students and student athletes as well. What that means is that a wide range of individuals, including librarians, academic advisors and other educators, subscribe to our solutions.  What they all have in common is their focus on giving end users the information skills necessary for lifelong success.
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Kathy: What is unique about what Credo does?
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Mike: We’re unique in that there are quite a few companies that aggregate ebooks or develop platforms to enhance learning or research experiences, but we do it all with an added service layer. Our on-staff team of librarians and educators bring experience and knowledge that help our subscribers extend their limited resources to meet ambitious strategic goals.
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As an example, we recently worked with Columbia University to create instructional videos and tutorials that will help integrate research skill instruction throughout the curricula. While they were inspired to emphasize their value to the university as a whole, they were limited by the amount of time that they had to dedicate to this work and the technology to which they had access for creation of the materials. Working with Credo, they were able to do more with what they have.

The skills learned in traditional and nontraditional educational environments are what prepare individuals for workforce and personal success and therefore ensure collective economic and civic success as well. We’re helping for the sake of the education industry, but we’re helping for the sake of our society as well.

Kathy Greenler Sexton, VP & GM, SIIA Content Division

Kathy: What do you think will be the biggest trends in the industry in the next 12-18 months?

Mike: From an educational perspective, I see the industry moving towards greater acceptance of a tumultuous, ever-changing environment and emphasis on strategic partnerships as integral to success in this environment. Librarians in particular are in the eye of this storm, and I think they’ll increasingly find this to be an advantageous position that leads to greater participation in their institutions’ strategic work and a greater emphasis on their value and overall contribution to society as well.

Kathy: Is there any recent news that you’d like to announce?

Mike: We’re always innovating and improving  at Credo! As I mentioned in my recent interview with Information Today, in the first few months of this year we’ve already won a CODiE award, acquired OnlineTutorSolutions.com and partnered with industry leaders to enhance our Literati platforms. We continued this momentum during the second quarter of the year, adding new publishers to our growing list of partners and integrating third party technology, an example being Reference Service Press’ FundingFinder Express, to add value to our Literati platforms.

We’re not slowing up just yet, though, and have big plans for the rest of 2013 as well. Stay tuned!

Kathy: What is the best way to get in contact with Credo? 

Mike: Email learnmore@credoreference.com or tweet us @credoreference. I’m also always happy to talk ed tech, conscious business and all things educational technology and can be tweeted @_mike_sweet.

Twitter Handle: @credoreference

Company URL:  http://corp.credoreference.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Meet New SIIA Member: Onvia

July 25, 2013 By

We are pleased to introduce Onvia as one of the newest members of the SIIA’s Content Division. From helping their clients obtain governments contracts to forecasting industry trends, Onvia is a dynamic group of forward-thinking minds that will provide valuable insight to our growing community. Learn more about what Senior Vice President Naveen Rajkumar has to say about Onvia and the information industry as a whole in this exclusive interview.

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Naveen Rajkumar, Senior VP & CIO, Onvia

Kathy: Tell me about Onvia. What exactly do you do?

Naveen: Onvia provides intelligence to win more government business.  We are a leading provider of business information and research solutions that help companies plan, market and sell to government agencies throughout the United States. The business intelligence solutions we provide allows clients to identify and research new market opportunities, analyze market trends, and obtain valuable insights about their competitors and channel partners.

Kathy: What types of companies, if any, does Onvia like to partner with?

Naveen: All of our clients are considered partners since our objective is to form a long term strategic relationship with those companies with a strong enduring focus on the public sector. In addition we have channel partners who license and distribute segments of our content to their customers who are outside of our target audience.  We are always interested in pursuing discussions with potential new channel partners.

Kathy: Who does Onvia sell to?

Naveen: Onvia sells to companies that have a strategy to sell to government agencies. It is amazing how many companies have some portion of their business focused on winning government contracts or working with partners who have government contracts.  It is also surprising how many companies provide services and products that government agencies need. The government is the largest buyer in the US, especially at the state and local level. Agencies purchase every product and service you can imagine from A – Z (including IT services) so it is a very good area for companies to find business opportunities.

Kathy: What is unique about what you do?

Naveen: We are unique in the focus of our solution to provide intelligence to win more government business. In addition to publishing bidding opportunities we help companies find information on competitors, agencies, past purchase information pricing, future spending plans and other information they can use to create a strategy to win more contracts for their business and increase their revenue.

Kathy: What do you see as the biggest trends in the industry in the next 12-18 months?

Naveen: The biggest focus we see is on spending trends. Of course sequestration is having a large impact at the federal level so we are constantly monitoring the impact it is having on new contract awards, spending plans and competition for existing contracts.  We focus mainly on the state and local level and one trend we are seeing at this level is continued spending, and in many cases increased spending.  Good examples are for information technology that helps reduce costs and infrastructure projects that are vital to local economic growth and development.

Kathy Greenler Sexton, VP & GM, SIIA Content Division

Kathy: What do you hope to get out of your membership with the SIIA?

Naveen: We are a technology company and are always looking at ways to innovate to not only address our clients’ needs but to give them what they want before they want it. The SIIA is a great association to help monitor and understand how technology and software solutions are being applied. As a market leader we will always be at the forefront of the application of technology and software solutions so the SIIA is an excellent place for us to engage with other leaders to understand their needs and how they are applying technology.  We also have a large focus on IT so many of our clients are also members and we want to make sure we are well aligned with them and the groups they are part of.

Naveen: We continually monitor government market trends and developments. Our blog is a great resource to keep up-to-date on trends and the ongoing education we provide both clients and prospects. It can be accessed at http://www.onvia.com/blog

Kathy: What are the best ways for people to get in touch with you?

Naveen: Twitter handle:  https://twitter.com/Onvia

Company URL: www.onvia.com

How best to contact Onvia: smerric@onvia.com

 

 

 

 

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Meet New SIIA Member: qbeats Inc.

July 23, 2013 By

It is our great pleasure to introduce qbeats as a new member of the SIIA. qbeats is a unique information company that combines principles of demand with an accessible and user-friendly platform. Believing it has created the first real “marketplace” for news, qbeats links information consumers to appropriate information providers. Learn more about qbeats and their thoughts on the future of information industry in this exclusive interview with Greg Joslyn.

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Kathy: Tell me about qbeats. What do you do?

Kathy Greenler Sexton, VP & GM, SIIA Content Division

Greg:  qbeats is an internet platform that connects news buyers directly with publishers.  The heart of qbeats is a patent-pending algorithm to determine the price at which content is sold at any moment in time.  The platform also facilitates subscriptions for users who find themselves drawn repeatedly to a particular publisher’s offerings.

Kathy: What is unique about your platform?

Greg: We’ve created what we believe is the first true marketplace for news.  We are sometimes compared with iTunes, but with an important distinction: While a song will have the same static value two hours or two months from now, the value of news is very dynamic.  Think about a big scoop – say, a biotech company has hired an M&A advisor.  A hedge fund trader with a large position in the stock will want that breaking story the microsecond it comes out and he will pay a premium for it.  The CFO of the biotech’s main competitor, on the other hand, is also going to be interested, but she can wait a few minutes till the price goes down.  Meanwhile, a year from now, an equity analyst compiling research on biotech M&A might be happy to purchase the same story from the archive at a fraction of the original price.  Current publishing models, whether one-size-fits-all subscriptions or metered paywalls, don’t do a very good job differentiating between these three use cases and efficiently monetizing the demand curve.  The qbeats demand-based dynamic pricing engine does.

 Kathy: What types of companies does qbeats look to partner with? 

Greg: On the content side, we are looking to team up with publishers of proprietary information who want to grow their audience and add incremental revenue.  We are starting with publishers who have or are seeking an audience with the financial community.

Kathy:Who does qbeats sell to?

Greg: For now, the emphasis is on a professional financial services audience, especially in the commodities and foreign exchange verticals.  But that will broaden quickly.  We think qbeats ultimately will have just as much appeal on Main Street as it does on Wall Street.

Kathy: What do you see as the biggest trends in the industry in the next 12-18 months?

Greg: Publishers seem to be asking, “What’s next?”  They’ve invested a lot of time and effort in crafting paywalls and some are starting to see a return on that investment.  But, while paywalls may be necessary to retain wallet-share from legacy readers who have transitioned to digital, publishers are realizing that they’re probably not sufficient to attract brand new customers and thereby drive significant revenue growth.  That’s where we think the qbeats platform can really help.

Kathy: Is there any recent news that you’d like to announce?

Greg: We started our “by invitation only” soft launch in the first week of June and will be making refinements this summer based on intensive feedback from that exercise, before ramping up with more users in the fall.

Kathy: What is the best way to contact qbeats? 

Greg: Rich Sabreen (rich.sabreen@qbeats.com) and Greg Joslyn (greg.joslyn@qbeats.com) are the point people for prospective publishing partners.

 

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Reportlinker Wins Prestigious Early Stage East Competition

June 24, 2013 By

Early Stage East works to give growing business access to investors, and in turn, to create mutually beneficial relationships that create large revenue gains. In hosting conferences around the country year-round, Early Stage East provides a network of capital investors for businesses looking to grow.Continuing its mission to recognize small companies that demonstrate excellence and large growth potential, Early Stage East declared ReportLinker the winner of a venture competition held at the SIIA’s Strategic & Financial Investment Conference in New York City. Early Stage East evaluated presenting companies on a number of different functions, including the attractiveness of capital investment, the scalability of the business, and the clarity of presentation.ReportLinker will soon make a subsequent presentation at Early Stage East’s Club Pitch Commerce Venture Conference in Philadelphia on September, 26th

Strategic Financial Investment Conference-247

Benjamin Carpano, CEO, ReportLinker accepting the award to present at Early Stage East.

ReportLinker is a search engine that gives users access to more than 1 million reports from credible sources. It prides itself as the only search engine to provide statistics from both public and private sources, and has a growing network of information providers that solidifies its increasingly impressive reputation. Based in Lyon, France, the company is growing and expanding into new markets. It hopes to leverage its more recent recognition later this year at Early Stage East’s most important conference.

 

 

 

 

 

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