Dec

1

London Online lingering memories..

Filed Under B2B, Blog, internet, Publishing, STM | Leave a Comment

If I am not careful this blog will go travelogue.  Yet I must record the fact that after yesterday’s rigorous briefing from the Noah event, I spent today at the annual London Online event, Online Information 2009, at Olympia.  I notice that they have stopped saying how many of these events have taken place.  We certainly exhibited Eurolex here in 1979 (it was then in the Hammersmith Novotel), so it has been an annual pilgrimage for me for 30 years.  It is now smaller than its peak Olympia size, but still retains a core of exhibitors from those early days, and a focus on STM, B2B, and, more recently, on the tools and programs associated with database service development and search.  I love it, and I hate it .

I love standing in a central aisle and meeting again so many of the people that I know in this industry, and reflecting on the brightness and the kindness so commonly found in this sector.  I hate the stuffy complacency all too often  associated with publishers defending fixed positions and pretending that users are really satisfied with what they are given.  I love the idealism associated with invention, and attempts to change markets, just as I hate the refusal to innovate until the cliff-edge looms.

Today my highlight was Mark Holland of Gale/Cengage introducing and launching the new Financial Times archives online.  When I think how many such archives Mark has launched, I reflect with wonderment on his ageless enthusiasm, and wish he and his colleagues every success with this new addition.  I was also very taken by the continuing development of Ovid SP, a story of phased vertical search development and integration which is now an excellent case study, with the integration of eBooks, the addition of Chinese language services, and the continued development of specialised service and domain sectors – take psychology, or nursing, to represent varieties within these categories.  And a newcomer?  If you go in the next two days look at Get Abstract, an abstracting service for business books, which demonstrates that you can take an age old idea like A&I and give it a shine in a new context.

Will I go next year?  Of course, all those wonderful people draw me back.  And even as I complain about my aching feet, I know that the next stand I see will have something almost completely new …or so I hope.

Nov

25

Battle of the Indices

Filed Under B2B, Blog, Industry Analysis, STM, Workflow | 1 Comment

Have a quick look at what is happening in the oil information markets.  Major player Platts (a part of McGraw-Hill’s information division) produces the pricing data which underlies the valuation of West Texas Intermediate as traded on Nymex (the New York Mercantile Exchange).  In turn, this index is used by the Saudis as their benchmark in pricing their crude oil exported by Aramco.

“Is” became “was” this month. From January 2010, the new measure of oil pricing for the Saudis will be the Argus Sour Crude Index, produced by a UK player that is a comparative minnow to McGraw’s Platts.  Neither company is responsible directly for the change, which has happened because West Texas prices began to veer away from Brent Crude prices for technical reasons that nobody appears to understand or admit.  But one up for the little guy, and a real revenue stream in providing access to the underlying pricing data.

Then a month elapses. Platts announces a new index, to cover oil production from the East Siberian fields.  ESPO pricing is expected to be an exciting new prospect in oil price indexation, alongside Platts flagship indices, Platts Dubai and Platts Dated Brent.  All part of the cut and thrust of competition in the energy sector, one of the most vibrant B2B information sectors of all (www.platts.com).

So why I am burdening you with all this unnecessary information?  Simply as a way of underlining, if needs be, that like accreditation in training, index publishing is becoming an interesting value phenomenon.  It creates lock-in around which workflow activities and value-add analytics can be built.  It gives brand focus and recognition.  It provides contract opportunities to supply and maintain service points on client intranets. In truth, it is sexier than it sounds.

But it is not without risk.  As this story shows, you can lose an index and you can invent a new one where none existed before.  Those who have them are inherently more valuable than those who do not.  And the principle of indexation spreads far and wide across B2B information; if you can benchmark pricing you are in a position of strength.  So why did the FT sell out its ownership of the FTSE , and why is Murdoch doing the same with the Dow?  Answers on a postcard: entries including the words “death wish” will not qualify, as being too obvious.

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