Digital Discourse / Archives for Models of Excellence

2013 Model of Excellence Companies Unveiled

September 23, 2013 By

For 10 years, the Model of Excellence program has answered one question: who is re-setting the standards for data excellence?
Each year, the InfoCommerce Group, reviews the data industry landscape to identify the data products that are pioneering or perfecting new business models, exhibit best practices or offer technological innovation. The results are the Model of Excellence that are honored throughout the DataContent Conference.
During the “Excellence in Action” showcase session, we’ll present to the audience both examples of companies with intriguing business models that can offer insights and inspiration to other publishers, as well as new ways to think about and apply data. The session is designed as a showcase, so presenters are encouraged to provide a brief overview of their products and talk about their businesses generally. Here are a few teasers to get started:

  • Equilar is based on public domain data, and will describe what’s involved in normalizing and enhancing it so that it can become premium-value content.
    Equilar MOE Profile
  • Segmint will  highlight the power and value of this real life example of Big Data at work, with near-real-time analytics and predictive models (and how this technology can be applied to other markets and databases). Segmint MOE Profile
  • Enigma provides consolidated access to thousands of public domain databases whose owners generates immense amounts of high-value data at little or no cost, but have no real incentive to make it easily accessible. Enigma MOE Profile
  • FindTheCompany mixes public domain,licensed and harvested data, yielding deep profiles and insights that many publishers have talked about but few have delivered.

Register Now

Share|
Filed Under: Content, Content Events, DataContent Tagged With: , , ,

Excellence Revisited: Past Models of Excellence speak at DataContent 2013

September 18, 2013 By

During the “Excellence Revised” Session at DataContent 2013, we will hear from past Model of Excellence honorees on how these companies adapted to industry-changing trends. BrightScope, DemandBase and WAND were among the first to be singled out for producing exemplary data products over 5 years ago. That was pre-cloud. Pre-social. Pre-crowd. Pre-analytics.

 

  • BrightScope took public domain data, but rather than simply selling it as sales leads like so many others, it flipped this data to make a useful and valuable benchmarking product that helps companies and their employees compare the quality and performance of their 401(k) plans.
  • DemandBase was billed the “iTunes store of business contacts,” aggregating data from a number of reputable data providers, adding several layers of value including prospect scoring, and allowing user to buy just the number of records they needed – no need to buy access to the entire database.
  • WAND sold a database publishing platform but with two unique twists: clients add listings and sell enhancements in their own markets, creating a vertical market online directory that also becomes part of WAND’s global directory. And to add a further level of value, all companies were coded against a sophisticated product/service taxonomy developed by WAND.

 What this session has come to underscore is the pace of change and innovation. It is also known as our “open the kimono” session, where the top executives from past InfoCommerce Model of Excellence companies review both the intervening years since they received their recognition, and their entire company history to answer some of these burning questions:

  • Is the product you initially came to market with the same one you are offering now and if not, what changed and why?
  • Just how easy or hard is it for an online start-up to compete with legacy print publishers and/or create entirely new product categories?
  • How has your mix of revenue sources changed over the years?  Is it much the same as at launch or have you found the mix is dramatically different from first envisioned?
  • As you built your business, did you discover unexpected revenue opportunities? If yes, did you pursue them, are they material to your revenues now, and what are the trade-offs involved in being opportunistic? 
  • What kinds of curveballs did you encounter along the way, and how did you deal with them?
  • What are the most important “lessons learned” you can draw out of your years at this venture?
  • What were the easiest aspects of launching your business and what were the hardest?
  • Could you start the same business you have now from scratch in 2013, or are things too competitive, too developed, too risky, etc.?
  • What’s your advice to both start-up entrepreneurs and established companies looking to launch new products in the near future?

What we’re interested in bringing out in this session is not just “what went right” but what went wrong, what didn’t pan out, what turned out surprisingly (either good or bad), how your business has evolved since it was started. Our goal is to leave the audience with useful insights and lessons they can apply to their businesses and new product launches.

During DataContent 2013, you will also have a chance to meet the 2013 class of the Models of Excellence program, network and have some fun at our annual Models of Excellence Networking dinner held at Cuba Libre.

Register Now

Share|
Filed Under: Content, Content Events, Data Content, DataContent Tagged With: , ,

Models Of Excellence: Innovation Around Content and Data

August 29, 2012 By

I’m pleased to introduce you to this year’s Model of Excellence recipients. The Models of Excellence program highlights young companies that are industry “exemplars,” setting standards for innovation in application, business, and content models. Each company is diligently reviewed and selected by our DataContent partner, the InfoCommerce Group. Honorees will be announced during the Model of Excellence Dinner during DataContent 2012.

This year’s Model of Excellence recipients:

  • Bundle is a true pioneer in turning Big Data into a high-value data product. By turning anonymous credit transactions into unbiased reviews of retail establishments, Bundle helps consumers make smart buying decisions based on objective analysis. They’ve made an impressive start to bringing hard data to the business of business reviews.
  • Caplinked leapfrogs the existing virtual data room services by providing a platform that is social, viral, mobile, affordable, and easy to use. Caplinked equips small- to medium-size companies with the same ability to raise capital, manage M&A transactions, and handle investor reporting that was once only available to big players. They have grown 6,000% in the last year and are assembling a community that represents the economic powerhouses of the future.
  • GovTrak addresses an increasingly important and complex challenge: finding, understanding, and tracking government legislation. GovTrak is a well-executed example of how the combination of data, tools, and analytics can deliver power to those who are seeking the truth.
  • InfoArmy revolutionizes how a content company is built by marshaling two of the industry’s most powerful trends: crowdsourcing and community. Success is participatory, self-managed and self-re-enforcing. InfoArmy is a true example of content unbound – non-bureaucratic, collaborative and exponential.
  • Reachable does amazing things with graph technology and mashups of various contact lists enabling what it calls “social proximity selling,” where sales people can use identified “connection paths” to reach specific prospects. It is particularly powerful for larger organizations as a tool for co-workers to leverage each other’s connections. Reachable is a very distinctive offering with its own specialized functionality and value proposition.
  • Speakerfile transforms the way companies connect their experts to the global market by combining a marketplace model with a dynamic visual search experience, as well as strong content management and workflow functionality. The expert visibility platform helps thousands of event organizers, media, and potential customers discover, evaluate, and connect with thought leaders around the world. Speakerfile has created a useful, high-value service for organizations to help achieve or maintain eminence in their industries.
  • RedBeacon has reset the bar on lead generation by investing lots of effort to customize the negotiating and selecting experience, providing a highly-secure bid process, and even accommodating non-standard service requests. The real product RedBeacon has produced is trust, and they reap the rewards by keeping themselves firmly in the middle of all transactions.

Don’t miss the Models of Excellence Dinner, and the complete DataContent conference. Register now to join us as we explore the intersection of Data, Communities, and Markets. (You’ll save with early-bird rates, but only through Monday, September 10.)

Share|
Filed Under: Content, Data Content, DataContent Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,