The information content market
In the KM realm of the information industry, focus has remained largely on IT and content-management solutions, which together comprise the best understood component of this market. Now, however, information industry research and advisory firm Outsell is shedding light on the other component of the market--the actual content itself--and is revealing it to be just as important to understand for those concerned with KM in the enterprise.
The information-content market exceeds $140 billion per year, according to a massive business-to-business market sizing research project from Outsell. “While IT side has been tracked and analyzed, there has been limited focus on the information content [IC] side of the industry,” says Outsell VP Louise Garnett.
IT has provided the backbone and infrastructure required to pipe in huge amounts of information content that companies rely on to understand and react to their market environments. But IC is expected to come under increasing scrutiny by companies that intend to thrive in the knowledge economy. “Now that the IT professionals have opened the door for external content to flood into corporations, it’s important for them to partner with the people who understand that content,” says Mary Corcoran, another Outsell VP spokesperson, in an interview with KMWorld. “And indeed, we are seeing an increase in the number of information professionals reporting into an integrated knowledge and information management function in corporations.”
“External content has always been relied on as the ‘buy vs. build’ knowledge management and market intelligence decision,” says Garnett. “With the preponderance of corporate intranets, extranets and portals, choosing the right and most reliable information content is a strategic decision. And buyers face a daunting array of companies, products, and ‘solutions’ for the IC dilemma.”
Outsell’s comprehensive study findings are detailed in the company’s briefing series “Industry Trends, Size and Players in the Information Content Market.” The reports describe the players, their sizes, and market trends, and provide analysis and advice to buyers, sellers, and analysts covering the IC industry. Each in-depth briefing focuses on one of the categories Outsell has identified in the business-to-business IC industry: Market Research, Reports, and Services; News and Trade; Company, Credit, and Financial; Scientific, Technical, and Medical; General Aggregators, Distributors, and Services; and Education and Training.
“These reports provide market size estimates for the enormous and largely untracked content side of the information industry,” Garnett adds. “The information industry is really a collective of a number of different markets that includes all forms of content as well as the technology that enables the distribution of that content.”
The complete IC briefing series, an important source of intelligence for any company in or considering entry into this huge but hidden industry, is $4,995. The briefings are also provided to clients of Outsell’s flagship advisory service, Information About Information. The advisory service consists of in-depth briefings, a weekly e-briefs newsletter, inquiry privilege and other benefits to provide decision support and fact-based analysis to information buyers and vendors.