SIIA Executive Summit: Lessons From the Survivors

(by guest blogger John Blossom, President, Shore Communications Inc.) Like a horror film hero who just won’t give up, content companies have reinvented themselves so many times over the past several years that it’s amazing that they don’t take out a patent on their collective ingenuity. Lee Greenhouse, President of Greenhouse Associates, moderated a panel of well-seasoned CEO survivors, including Patrick Spain of newly rechristened HighBeam Research, LLC (formerly Alacritude), Clare Hart of Factiva, Lloyd Linford of Reis, Inc., Joe Mansueto of Morningstar, Inc. and Gitesh Ramamurthy of CCC Information Services. The winning formula seemed to condense into a mantra best summed up by clare Hart: “Content, technology and services.” Keeping all of these fresh and focused on client needs kept all of these companies on the cutting edge of their sectors and allowed them to extend their products in new ways into new sectors: Morningstar now services both individuals and institutions effectively, while Factiva’s by-the-drink sales and content integration partnerships thrive. Pat Spain took a company with ragged technology and ill-focused marketing to new levels of performance by throwing out the old and experimenting with new models to find a winning formula (on-site ads were added to HighBeam yesterday). The other key theme seemed to be helping clients to find not just pretty good (read: Google) search results but to provide what Lloyd Lynford calls “THE critical piece of information”. Gitesh Ranamurthy emphasized getting close to your network of customers, a process that takes years of investment but that then pays out strongly. Highly relevant content and context, effective technology and close partnership with clients to build real-world business solutions: that’s today’s surviving – and thriving – content business.

This coverage is sponsored by HighBeam Research.

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