Digital Discourse / Information Industry Summit

Breakthrough Talk Recap: Using Big Data to Build Prognostication Capabilities

February 4, 2013 By

Marie Giangrande, Public Notions

In a back stage interview, Factual Inc. CEO Gil Elbaz and Cortera Inc. CEO Jim Swift discuss the drivers and requirements to build a Big Data capability plan.

By Marie Giangrande, Public Notions

Tracking Behaviors Fuel Big Data
“It’s all about tracking events and behaviors in order to improve the accuracy of your decision making” asserts Cortera CEO Jim Swift. Cortera produces credit worthiness rankings from tracking the purchases and payments that a Company conducts. “When evaluating companies it’s good to hear what they are saying, but most important is to see their actual behaviors; tracking actual payments and purchases, for example will give a more accurate prediction of a company’s credit worthiness” continues Swift. Factual’s CEO, Gil Elbaz, agrees: “People expect and need the context to correctly interpret data… stitching together the facts and illustrating the backdrop is what Big Data is all about.” Factual offers a path for companies to source external data, enrich their own data and incorporate a variety of new data sets.

Prognostication Capabilities – The Next Competitive Battle
Behavioral targeting has been used extensively by online companies to target advertisements. Now, this concept is gaining broader appeal as a long term competitive advantage enabling Information Companies to match their content to their client’s workflow and distribution preferences. Companies can use behavior tracking to build predictions about client preferences, to identify partnerships and to develop value added services.

The pursuit of prognostication capabilities has a tremendous consequence: It redefines the importance of data in an organization. It puts an emphasis on data management capabilities. Can I handle streaming data from Twitter feeds or social media outlets? Is a ‘just in time approach’ to data collection needed? Can I enrich my data in order to monetize it? Is the data accurate and extensible?

The Strategic Information Spine

“A lot of companies are living with inefficient collection and maintenance of data. They ignore missing data and inaccurate data because they do not associate the underlying data to their ability to compete” comments Factual’s CEO, Gil Elbaz.

However, as soon as executives link their ability to compete with the value and accuracy of their data, the ROI presents itself. “It’s like an Information Spine” reflects Cortera’s CEO, Swift.”For information companies, the core stream of data is the spine and off this, hangs all their products and services.” The implication is that a company’s ability to compete will come back to the design, sourcing, accuracy and strategic health ‘of the spine’.

An Asset or Liability?

As firms embrace the use of big data for a competitive advantage, it changes all the questions and answers. It leads companies to develop a more strategic view: they identify data assets and data liabilities around maintenance and accuracy.

“Many companies have not yet thought through which data sets provide a competitive advantage and which ones won’t.” comments Factual’s Elbaz. “If you can buy the data, it is most likely not an asset” continues Elbaz. Data that is missing, inaccurate and difficult to maintain may not only be an opportunity cost, but it could actually be a liability, especially if not kept fresh.

For non-proprietary data, companies are developing Data Acquisition plans to give them new agility along with a managed cost structure. “Just as IT Managers embraced Open Source code, now Business Managers are embracing Open Sourced Data” Factual CEO Elbaz concludes. Elbaz points to dozens of internal databases that should be deleted and licensed from readily available, external, sources. He asks, “Why allocate internal resources to manage data you don’t have to?”

Finding the Skills
But finding the skills to manage the internal build, the external licensing and the data architecture is hard to find. “The biggest problem is the lack of people and talent needed for companies to bootstrap their efforts” claims Cortera’s Swift. Data architects and data developers are very different from software developers and IT managers. And both CEO’s agree this is not -necessarily- the role of a CTO or CIO.

Who, inside your company, could nurture and expand your newly found Data assets? The first step, it seems, is for us to prognosticate on that.

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Filed Under: Content, DataContent, Information Industry Summit Tagged With: , , , , ,

SIIA Names Delve the Early Stage Content Company Most Likely to Succeed

February 4, 2013 By

Delve has been recognized as the ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ business in its Previews competition – which annually selects the country’s most innovative early stage content or content technology companies. The top 11 Previews companies were showcased at the 12th annual Information Industry Summit in New York City, January 30-31.

The SIIA Previews Program selects and then spotlights the most innovative new content creators, aggregators and technology vendors that are transforming the information industry. A panel of judges from the SIIA membership reviewed and judged a field of innovative companies to select the 11 Previews winners.

The companies won a slot at SIIA’s Information Industry Summit (www.siia.net/iis) to present to 300 leaders from the information industry. During SIIA Previews sessions held throughout the Information Industry Summit, company CEOs highlight the innovations that have made them successful.

After the presentations, conference attendees voted on the company “Most Likely to Succeed,” and selected Delve. Delve offers a personalized, curated, news reader for professionals with a simple social layer to share relevant stories with colleagues turning news into knowledge inside organizations.

As a result of taking part in the SIIA Previews Program, alumni have received investments, have been acquired, or created partnerships with SIIA member companies. Over the past 6 years, 91 companies have been featured and at SIIA events. In 2013, the program celebrated its 100th presenting company at the SIIA Information Summit on January 30 & 31.

Learn more about the SIIA Previews Program Class of 2013 and read an interview with Delve CEO Sandeep Ayyappan.

Kathy Greenler Sexton is Vice President and General Manager of the SIIA Content Division. Contact Kathy at kgsexton@siia.net.

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Filed Under: Content, Information Industry Summit

IIS Breakthrough Talk Recap: How to Stay in the Forefront by Reinventing and Repurposing Your Business

February 4, 2013 By

 

Marie Giangrande, Public Notions

Post by Marie Giangrande, Public Notions Once a push oriented news agency, Christian Science Monitor re-invents itself with the concept of “Content Scaping”, a strategic, ongoing effort to collaborate with its readers, distributors and editors.

Known as “The Monitor”, the Christian Science Monitor is an international News Agency covering political world news across 11 countries. Faced with a continuing decline in earnings, the company embarked on a challenge to explore new digital offerings and re-invent itself.

At SIIA’s Information Industry Summit, Donal Toole, Finance and Strategy Director along with John Yemma, Editor, talked about the key actions they took to change the Agency’s direction. Today the Agency is creating premium digital subscriptions, distribution-specific packages and readership-driven content. The earnings are positive and overall growth is up.

The success of this transformation hinged on a change in philosophy and management processes. The agency started to think about their readers and distributors as new assets. And they nurtured collaboration internally and externally to understand readership needs.

The executives outlined the most impactful steps they took:

1) Tear Down the Chinese Wall

In the past, there was a ‘Chinese wall’ between the editors and readers. This was erected to maintain ‘our independent, unbiased views’ explains Donal Toole. But it meant that they did not understand what the readers wanted.

As an example, The Monitor was serving news about global events while their readers wanted ‘an analysis of the impacts’. This led the Agency to offer a premium product for Global Political Risk analysis. The executives maintain that they now see their business as a collaborative effort with their core readers. Today, they encourage readers to ask questions about articles and this is circulated to the Editorial group to help enhance their coverage.

2) Institute ‘ContentScaping’ Assessing Segments and Trialing New Offers

The term ‘ContentScaping’ refers to an internal management process to develop new information products. Executives described this as ‘constant vigilance to assess our assets and identify underserved segments’. The starting point is to use the Editorial teams to evaluate and identify new skills and capabilities. These newly identified assets are then mapped against market opportunities and market segments.

Once they make a decision to ‘super serve’ a segment, they reshape content and enter a trail phase.

“It’s very critical to test and trial every new offer, because not everything works” commented Yemma. One time they found a video interview was gaining undue attention. People were watching because there was an inappropriate joke made by a Political figure. “That was not the content we wanted to serve,” Yemma continued.

This process is on-going and has helped the organization adhere to a data-driven decision matrix while developing new content packages.

3) Build a Multidimensional, Investigative Team

“Of all the changes made, none are as important as the creation of a new Executive Leadership team,” explains Toole and Yemma. This team establishes the roadmap for the company’s products and drives the ‘ContentScaping’ process. Both executives at The Monitor underlined the importance of the multi-dimensional team to bring together varied expertise. At The Monitor, they instituted a Leadership Team across:

  • Editorial
  • Digital Outlets
  • Content Sales and Partnerships, and
  • Strategy and Analysis

“Ultimately it’s the people” concludes Toole. And for us in the audience, we can only hope we have catalysts like Toole and Yemma to take us on the path of collaboration and innovation.

________________________________________________________________________

About Marie Giangrande, Public Notions

Public Notions provides Thought Leadership Programs for Information Companies

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Filed Under: Content, Information Industry Summit Tagged With: , ,

SIIA Names 2013 Content CODiE Awards Winners

January 31, 2013 By

SIIA would like to announce the winners of their 2013 CODiE Awards in 25 Content categories, representing the industry’s best products, technologies, and services created by or for media, publishers, and information services providers.

The SIIA CODiE Awards have been the premier award for the software and information industries, recognizing excellence for 27 years. The awards have over 75 categories organized by industry focus: Content, Education and Software. The 25 Content CODiE Awards winners were announced during a special Awards luncheon today in New York City during IIS 2013: Breakthrough, the SIIA’s annual flagship conference for information industry leaders.

The SIIA Congratulates all the CODiE Award Content Winners listed below.
Details about their products can be found at http://www.siia.net/codies/2013/winners.asp

2013 CODiE Awards Content Winners:
Advertising Management Platform

  • BRIQ (BrightRoll IQ), BrightRoll

Best Business Directory (tie)

  • NetProspex B2B Data Services, NetProspex
  • OneSource iSell, OneSource Information Services

Best Business Information Solution

  • Cortera Pulse, Cortera, Inc.

Best Consumer Information Resource

  • Safari Books Online, Safari Books Online

Best Content Management Platform

  • Adobe CQ, Adobe Systems, Inc.

Best Crowd Sourced Solution

  • InfoArmy Competitive Intelligence Reports, InfoArmy

Best Digital Rights Management Solution

  • Sentinel License Development Kit (LDK), SafeNet, Inc. – SRM Group

Best eCommerce & Billing Platform

  • Avangate SkyCommerce Suite, Avangate

Best Financial & Market Data Information Solution

  • TTR – Transactional Track Record, ZUVINOVA

Best General Reference Service

  • Literati Public, Credo Reference

Best Governance, Risk and Compliance Solution

  • Sonatype Insight, Sonatype

Best Lead Generation Solution

  • salesPRISM, Lattice Engines

Best Legal Information Solution

  • Lexis Advance, LexisNexis Group

Best Media & Information Monitoring Solution

  • Cision, Cision, Inc.

Best Medical Information Solution

  • DG Suite-DG Image Share, DICOM Grid

Best Press Release Distribution Solution

  • iReach, PR Newswire Association, Inc.

Best Sales & Marketing Intelligence Solution

  • InsideView TEAM, InsideView

Best Science and Technology Information Solution

  • Safari Books Online, Safari Books Online

Best Search Technology Solution

  • Discovery Search Engine, Transparensee Systems

Best Semantic Technology Solution

  • Luxid Content Enrichment Platform, TEMIS Inc.

Best Service Using Aggregated Content

  • Checkpoint World, Thomson Tax & Accounting

Best Social Media Platform

  • Moontoast Social Marketing Apps, Moontoast, LLC.

Best Solution for Integrating Content into the Workflow

  • Adobe FrameMaker 11, Adobe Systems, Inc.

Best Testing, Monitoring and Analytics Platform

  • Adobe Digital Marketing Suite, Adobe Systems, Inc.

Best Video Platform for Media & Publishers

  • The NewsLook Platform, NewsLook
Angel Scott Angel Scott is Awards Program Coordinator at SIIA. Follow the SIIA CODiE Awards on twitter at Share|
Filed Under: CODiEs, Content, Information Industry Summit

SIIA Information Industry Survey Says More Jobs & Investment Ahead, But Concerns Remain

January 30, 2013 By

As part of the Information Industry Summit, SIIA released a survey of 50 CEOs, vice presidents and general managers of leading digital content and publishing companies today. The survey found strong positive signs regarding job and economic growth, along with a clear industry focus on “big data,” while also suggesting that economic uncertainty remains.

In the most significant sign of future growth, fully three-quarters (75 percent) of information industry executives say their company will have more employees in two years than it has today. Additionally, over one-third (37 percent) of executives say they plan to acquire or invest in other companies in the next 12 months. In another positive economic sign, over half (55 percent) of those executives planning to acquire or invest say they intend to spend more on this activity than they have in previous years.

While the results show strong signs of growth, they also show that executives have concerns going forward. Thirty-six percent of executives say it is either “very likely” or “certain” that the challenge of finding skilled employees will impede growth opportunities. Meanwhile, the same percentage of executives cited global economic concerns as a top possible impediment to future growth.

Another notable finding for the survey is the role of so-called “big data” in the future of information industry businesses. When asked to rank the importance of a variety of business issues – from mobile and tablet publishing to moving content behind paywalls – nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of executives identified “data and analytics” as the most important business issue they face. No other business issue drew such a strong response from these executives.

The SIIA Information Industry Executive Survey was conducted electronically from November 2012 to January 2013.

Kathy Greenler Sexton is Vice President and General Manager of the SIIA Content Division. Contact Kathy at kgsexton@siia.net.

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Filed Under: Content, Content Events, Information Industry Summit

McGraw-Hill President & Internet Archive Co-Founder are Among Execs to Keynote All-New SIIA Information Industry Summit

January 22, 2013 By

SIIA today announced five high profile keynote speakers for the 12th annual Information Industry Summit, held Jan. 30-31, 2013 in New York City. The two-day event, which has been redesigned for 2013, is an important gathering for media, publishing, and information services executives who are seeking breakthroughs in a time of significant change.

Emerging technologies and new social realities are transforming the information industry and global communication. The theme of creative disruption will drive all keynote presentations at the 2013 Information Industry Summit, where the following industry leaders will discuss breakthrough innovation opportunities:

  • George Colony – Chairman and CEO, Forrester Research, Inc.

“Technology Thunderstorms”

Colony is one of the most influential thought leaders in the world of business and technology – a trusted advisor to the leaders of global companies such as Best Buy, Conde Nast and Cisco. Colony will prepare attendees to thrive amid “technology thunderstorms” – social, business and demographic changes fueled by emerging technologies – and will identify four upcoming technology thunderstorms that will change the information industry.

  • Gifford Booth – Co-founder and Partner, The TAI Group

“Fostering Disruptive Drivers of Innovation”

Booth has spent the past 25 years guiding business leaders to create effective teams in both large organizations and complex family businesses. He will discuss how executives can be empowered to drive innovation and creativity for breakthrough products and performance.

  • Glenn Goldberg – President, Information and Media Services, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

“Expanding Opportunity”

McGraw-Hill has undergone a complete transformation. In 2011, the company announced its intention to separate into two companies: McGraw-Hill Financial and McGraw-Hill Education. Goldberg will discuss the challenges and opportunities in capturing the market to expand McGraw Hill’s businesses.

  • Brewster Kahle – Director & Co-Founder, Internet Archive

“Universal Access to All Knowledge”

A passionate advocate for public Internet access, Brewster Kahle has focused his career on making information free and accessible through digital means. Now, he says, we can make all the published works of humankind accessible to everyone, no matter where they are in the world. What will it take to reinvent the concept of libraries and create this ground-breaking resource for open society?

  • Nicholas Thompson – Editor, NewYorker.com

“Who Wins: the Micro-Tweet or the Narrative?”

Thompson is editor in chief of newyorker.com, and oversees the magazine’s tablet and iPhone publishing. In addition, he is a cofounder of The Atavist, a software startup that has designed a platform for multimedia publishing. Thompson will discuss the future of communication: will communication keep getting more and more concise, or is there an increasing role for long stories and big ideas? Who shall win: the micro-tweet or the narrative?

Other highlights of the Summit include the Content CODiE Awards Dinner, which honors the year’s best products, and the Previews program, which introduces emerging content and content-technology companies set to revolutionize the industry.

Kathy Greenler Sexton is Vice President and General Manager of the SIIA Content Division. Contact Kathy at kgsexton@siia.net.

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Filed Under: Content, Content Events, Information Industry Summit, PSIG

Meet Previews Company Visual Revenue

January 21, 2013 By

Meet Previews Presenting Company Visual Revenue. In this interview, their CEO, Dennis Mortensen, tells us what makes them unique. Learn more during their presentation at SIIA Previews, January 30-31 at the SIIA Information Industry Summit(IIS).

In a sentence tells us what your company does.

Our real-time predictive analytics platform makes human editors the most powerful force in today’s data-driven newsroom.

What is your secret sauce that will make you successful?

We have a tremendous product today, and it will be even better tomorrow, but that is only a result of our ethos, summarized in 5 points:

  • Our customers drive our product
  • Simplicity and ease of use is paramount
  • Exceptional customer service is a given
  • Honesty is always the best policy
  • We really do care

What are you looking to achieve in presenting at IIS (Investors, Partners, Content)?

We’re looking for partners to participate in what we’re doing (because they too believe it will have a profound impact on the media world).

What is your favorite breakthrough technology or company?

Well, of course our favorite is Visual Revenue, but putting that aside for the moment, we love Square: Simple. Elegant. Highly disruptive.

Learn more about Visual Revenue, and the other 2013 Previews Presenting companies at IIS Breakthrough. Each presenting company will deliver a 5-minute presentation to an audience of key decision makers during the IIS Breakthrough event being held from January 30-31, 2013 in New York City. Presenting companies will also have 5-minutes for audience Q&A and an opportunity to showcase their companies to IIS attendees during the SIIA Previews and CODIEs Showcase and Networking reception. To top things off, the IIS audience will vote on the company they believe is most likely to succeed.
About Previews

Over the past six years, SIIA Previews has showcased innovative content companies, including publishers, media, aggregators, and technology plays, and 2013 SIIA Previews will feature the 100th Preview Company!

Each Presenting company has been selected after two rounds of Judging. To qualify, presenting companies must have less than $10 M in revenue, no more than series A financing, and real customers.

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Filed Under: Content, Information Industry Summit Tagged With: , ,
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