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Turning Market Challenges into Opportunities Through Collaboration |
Thank you Ed for that most kind introduction. Often when I am asked to speak at a gathering like this...I look out over a sea of faces I do not recognize. I am...however...pleased to say that is not the case today.
Not only am I delighted to see many SLA members in attendance. I am also pleased to see many of you in the SIIA community who I am proud to say have become friends as well as business associates. As most of you are no doubt aware...SLA and SIIA are partnering this year to offer information professionals an innovative learning opportunity.
The Certified Content Rights Manager course not only walks participant through copyright law...it shows corporate info pros how to develop an effective content rights management plan and how to properly disseminate content throughout an organization of any size.
The course...which SIIA teaches and SLA markets...has been given five times...including two dry-runs with SLA members...and is actually being offered today down the hall. I am pleased to tell you the feedback we have received on the quality and value of the course has been very positive. I am also pleased with the initial response to our joint offering and I am even more enthused about what this growing relationship between our two organizations could mean to SLA members and to you and your companies.
I would be less than candid if I did not admit there are some in SLA who do not support a collaborative relationship between you and SLA. In fact...some have gone so far as suggesting we are "sleeping with the enemy."
But I could not disagree more. You and the information professionals I represent both have an enormous stake in the future of information and the technology that will deliver it.
You care about meeting the information needs of your customers. So do we. You want the best products and services to meet your customers? needs. So do we. And...you want your companies and your customers to be successful and flourish. And so do we. If we agree on these basic core values...and I think we do...it makes sense for us to work together to ensure we meet these common goals of our members and your companies.
How do we do this? As your customers...we can help you on the front end to develop the next generation of highly targeted... efficient...and effective products. We can be your most vigilant partner in protecting your intellectual property and licensing rights. And...we can be your strongest advocates within our organizations for your products and services.
These are ultimate win-wins for both of us.
As we look back over the past few years...the speed of change in the information industry has been breathtaking. Many of you have personally experienced dislocations caused by sudden changes in the marketplace.
I think Neitzsche?s observation... "That which does not kill you makes you stronger,"...aptly applies to those of you working in this business today.
I may not be a techie...but I could probably be considered an "early adopter" of certain technologies. That probably explains why I frequently find myself wandering through the Apple Store near my home on weekends. And... more often than not...SLA members are the first to acknowledge and adopt new information technologies in their areas of expertise.
That is because info pros work for corporations... research laboratories... consultancies...non-profits... universities and units of government that must rely on the most current and reliable information and data available. They need it to make intelligent strategic decisions in environments as complex and turbulent as any.
Like many of you...I attend a number of industry conferences throughout the year.
One of the things that intrigues me about these events is the willingness of presenters to make rather bold predictions about the future of information and its distribution...a risky proposition at best...especially in public.
There has been a lot discussion at these conferences about the continuing influence of social networking...search engines...and many-to-many publishing in the post Web 2.0 world where "prosumers"...those who both produce and consume digital content... will continually stretch the boundaries of user participation ...collaboration...and imagination.
Whether through blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds...Second Life... or some...as of yet undeveloped applications....prosumers are just beginning to tap the power of personal and professional expression that IS the Internet. I would say there has been nearly unanimous agreement that successful organizations in the future will have to find ways to harness this emerging powerhouse of collaborative creativity.
And after yesterday?s eye-opening discussion of the potential commercial opportunities available in Second Life...I think a number of us may be reconsidering our earlier impressions of this new virtual universe.
I am still trying to comprehend the growth in Second Life inhabitants from two-hundred twenty thousand in August 2006 to more than five and a half million now. That is extraordinary growth.
So what does all of this activity tell us? I think it tells us that none of us will be getting much sleep anytime soon.
I?m only half joking. Your role as innovators in this evolving information technology marketplace is to make sense of all of this and create the next layer of innovation that will meet the future needs of your customers. In other words...us...the information professional.
But we do not expect you to do this alone. As I said...we can help and I believe we have a role to play.
As your customers...we know what we want and what our organizations need...and we would like to tell you. That being said...I can just imagine some of you thinking, "You know...this would be a pretty good business if it weren?t for know-it-all customers."
I am serious...however... about our members working with you to envision our future information infrastructure. Help them...help you.
After all...SLA?s members have a pretty big stake in your success too. They too inhabit a world that is recreating itself constantly overnight. As you know...the role of today?s information professional is very different from that of a traditional special librarian of just a few years ago.
While I know many of you speak regularly with info pros around the globe...I would like to take just a few minutes to talk about how I see their role evolving as demands for information management changes.
Let me begin with a pretty startling statistic...at least it is startling to me. In the most recent comprehensive survey of SLA members in 2006...more than 75 percent of respondents indicated they are likely or very likely to experience a rewarding sense of job satisfaction over the next five years. Let me say that again...more than seven out of ten information professionals said they expect to be find satisfaction in their jobs over the next five years.
I have puzzled over this statistic some. How can info pros think they will continue to be happy in their jobs when they know they will have to cope with constant change? Change is not something most people embrace naturally.
Information professionals have faced a lot of change in recent years as their roles have evolved in response to the growth of online content. A recent study of twenty-four Fortune 500 companies by Best Practices found that nearly 50 percent of all corporate library resources are currently available electronically.
About one in three of these companies now offer more than 90 percent of their content electronically. And yet...more than seven out of ten info pros say they expect to be satisfied in their job over the next five years. How can that be?
While change is often fraught with peril...it also creates opportunity. Without question...the changing role of information professionals at companies and institutions is creating opportunity like never before. Today...you often find info pros imbedded in business units or in other strategic areas of an enterprise. As an illustration...SLA?s two newest and fastest growing divisions are Knowledge Management and Competitive Intelligence.
In the past...they primarily responded to requests for information and data. Today...they play an active role as collaborators with decision-makers within their organizations; offering up insightful ideas and meaningful solutions before they are asked for them.
I think Jim Reeves of Thomson R-I-A summed up the value of info pros yesterday when he called knowledge workers "key assets."
These new roles and responsibilities of info pros are often reflected in the various titles many of them hold. In the survey of members I referred to earlier...we found nearly 300 job titles representing the disparate roles info pros play.
A few of these titles include: Knowledge Officer, Business Analyst Content Systems...Reference Attorney...Closed-Loop Marketing Analyst...Electronic Resources Coordinator...and Information Technology Data Architect.
But titles tell only part of the story. When it comes to the information needs of an organization... no one can match the skills of the information professional.
That is why in many organizations...they have become like the hub of a wheel...playing an integral role in all decision-making and education practices surrounding them.
I would like to quote a past president of SLA...Cindy Hill...A-K-A Sydney Delphin... who you heard from earlier. I think she described this emerging role extremely well when she said, "For years...we have promoted the fact that information professionals play a pivotal role in gathering... organizing...and coordinating access to the best information sources for their organizations.
Global organizations are realizing that there is a critical need for turning information into usable knowledge and this can only be achieved by hiring qualified information experts, which in turn contributes directly to a corporation?s quality decision-making and bottom line."
This view of the information professional as contributor to the bottom line is supported by a study conducted a year or so ago by Bersin Associates. The firm surveyed business executives to determine how they learn... stay informed... and access timely information. The results were revealing
- While 71 percent of these executives felt they were well-informed..., most admitted they devote a significant amount of time to searching for information.
- Seventy three percent indicated they spend 2 to 4 hours per week conducting research.
By taking into account the typical salary of a top executive, Bersin calculated that at least one thousand dollars per week is lost in time spent on each executive doing his or her own research. AND...this figure doesn?t reflect the opportunity cost associated with these executives focusing on activities not directly tied to their primary responsibility of managing their companies.
It is not surprising then that info pros are taking on more and more responsibility for information management inside their organizations. Who is better qualified than an info pro to explain to a CEO or other senior management the usability and benefits of one information application or technology over another... or help decide whether an enterprise should allow advertising on content behind its firewall as we heard this morning?
I would not be completely honest with you ...however... if I said that every organization has seen the light with regard to the strategic value of info pros.
I suspect we all have stories about a company that closed its library or information center and laid off its info pros because some senior manager could not see beyond the end of his or her cost cutting pencil to the real ROI info pros provide.
Many of these myopic managers believe all you need is technology to filter non-essential information, acquire credible information and stream-line decision-making. But we believe...successful knowledge strategies and effective decision-making require human management.
I would go so far as to say that every organization needs a trusted intermediary to ensure the right information reaches the right person at the right time. And these trusted intermediaries are SLA members.
I was extremely interested in what Stephen Covey had to say about trust in his keynote speech yesterday. He spoke of the importance of credibility and behavior in developing and maintaining trust relationships. More often than not...information professionals have already developed these types of relationships inside their organizations...and this has contributed to their status as trusted intermediaries.
Nevertheless...info pros must continue educating executive management and IT professionals about their numerous contributions. They must also continue to educate users about respecting copyrights and managing license agreements.
One of SLA?s responsibilities is to help members communicate the value of their roles more effectively. We encourage members to regularly communicate the business case for their positions throughout their organizations.
It is also why we urge them to find ways to think strategically...with a focus on organizational goals... in order to gain support and attention from senior management. No matter what area of practice, no matter the scope or scale of work, no matter what industry an information professional works in...he or she must align his or her thinking and actions with those of the leaders of change within their organizations.
Ever since I joined the SLA leadership in 2003, I've repeated a quote from retired U.S. Army General Eric Shinseki many times. He is known for saying: "If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."
Change requires flexibility. That is why we remind our members frequently that with vision and the ability to mesh their values with those of their employers...they are much more likely to be successful than if they do not.
Flexibility will allow them to adapt to change while intelligence... experience... and creativity will make it possible for them to seize new opportunities and thrive in this new reality.
If you are wondering what all of this has to do with you and SIIA...let me tell you. Info pros are the people who truly understand the value of your products and services and are your strongest evangelists when it comes to influencing purchasing decisions about content and information technology inside their organizations. They also have considerable influence in the adoption of specific solutions among their peers.
In yesterday?s Undiscovered Genius Interview...Ezra Ernst talked about the wisdom of content providers making librarians and info pros heroes inside their organizations by arming them with the best possible tools to meet their clients? information needs. He is right.
If you strengthen the hand of those who can influence the decisions on content and technology solutions...you will also strengthen your own position in the marketplace.
Let me share one final statistic with you from the SLA membership survey. The number one reason members join SLA is for the opportunity to network. Information professionals KNOW how to network. They are natural collaborators with a natural tendency to share.
After all...the job of an information professional is to gather information and disseminate it. What an advantage this could be to you and your companies if you involve them in the development of your new products and services. With a sense of intellectual ownership in a product...just imagine how influential they could be in its adoption.
Bill Burger of Copyright Clearance Center gave us a model yesterday of how he has used info pros to develop their new Rightsphere product.
As I said earlier, we want to work with you in shaping the future of information industry. SLA?s members drive the information solutions in their organizations. And your companies need the best insight they can get from users to develop targeted solutions with the best chance of success in the marketplace. We CAN do this together. We should continue to meet and to engage on issues of mutual concern.
Include SLA members in your brainstorming and incorporate them in your Beta tests. I promise... they will not be shy about telling you not only what they need...but what they want.
The future of information is bright with possibilities, but, as we all know, future success will belong to those who work smart and work collaboratively. The power of collaboration results from the synergy created when two individuals or two organizations acting together can achieve more in combination than they can achieve alone. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
I would like to conclude with a brief story. The famous out-of-the-box thinker...Buckminster Fuller...once observed that the jet engine would not exist today if not for the synergy that comes from combining chrome...nickel... and steel to achieve an alloy that is five to seven times stronger than each constituent part on its own. As a result...this alloy is able to withstand the great heat at which jet engines operate.
Synergy helped to change humankind?s relationship to the earth by giving us the ability to fly at great speeds...And I believe synergy between SLA members and your companies will propel the information industry into the future in exciting ways we have not even begun to imagine.
Thank you very much.
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