Outsell, Inc. Research Shows Bright Horizons for Enterprise Information Management Functions

Business Wire, June 7, 2005

BURLINGAME, Calif. -- Survey of 215 Corporate Information Management Professionals Shows Budgets Up and Global Roles Expanding

What: Outsell, Inc. reports an upbeat marketplace for Corporate Information Managers, with growth in the job function allowing managers to take on more powerful roles after facing turmoil and uncertainty in recent years. Pre-released highlights from Outsell's research of 215 corporate Information Management professionals about their 2005 operations, shows they are enjoying larger budgets and more global responsibilities. Specifically:

--Information Managers are going global. In 2005, 48 percent of managers held global or enterprise responsibilities, versus 44 percent in 2004. Furthermore, Information Managers are now reporting into corporate administration/shared services at a greater rate - from just two percent last year to 23 percent now.

--Budgets are up significantly. They have increased 28 percent, from an average of $2.133 million in 2004 to $2.725 million in 2005, with continued increases projected to $2.788 million in the next budget cycle.

--A general state of user discontent with information environments is leading to job shifts. Thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley and other events, information managers are shifting to roles where they have bottom line and tangible organizational impact. Outsell data shows information managers shifting to roles in enterprise content management (up from 14 percent in 2004 to 22 percent in 2005), to Knowledge Management (from 19 percent to 24 percent) and Records Management (13 percent to 17 percent).

--Competitive intelligence remains a huge unmet need - and opportunity - for Information Management functions to take on. The need for Competitive Intelligence is the single biggest unmet information need articulated by over 4,000 knowledge workers in separate studies fielded by Outsell. Yet this newest study shows that Information Management functions' adoption of this role hasn't changed--with only 39 percent of information managers offering Competitive Intelligence services in 2005, versus 38 percent in 2004. Outsell analysts see this is a missed opportunity for Information Managers to provide more value to their organizations.

With greater responsibility, accountability and budgets, information managers have more clout in selecting information providers. Research findings about their information-product satisfaction for example, found:

--Service and support, as well as flexible licensing models, will be the new differentiators. Buyers are generally satisfied with what they buy, but in a world of increasing commoditization and vendor choices, vendors need to break out of the pack. Users rate news and trade aggregators Factiva, LexisNexis and Dialog about even.

--Highest satisfaction ratings are given to the less traditional business-to-consumer models going enterprise (such as Amazon) and government providers (CISTI).

--With service and support being the new differentiator, users report the big commercial vendors (Thomson, Elsevier and Reuters) need to improve ease of use.

Full details will appear in an upcoming Outsell Briefing scheduled for later this summer.

ABOUT OUTSELL, INC.:

Outsell, Inc. of Burlingame, CA is the leading research and advisory firm providing actionable market analytics for the information industry. Founded in 1994, Outsell helps publishers, commercial information providers, and content software technology vendors identify, maintain, and grow markets and revenue streams. Outsell also works with information management executives in top corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions to benchmark spending, optimize performance, and demonstrate best practices. Outsell invests heavily in unique information industry data assets that form the core of its high-quality, fact-based research, analysis, and recommendations for clients worldwide. For more information, see www.outsellinc.com.