Hoovers gets more personal
Jinfo Blog

16th March 2010

By Penny Crossland

Item

For a while now, Livewire contributors have been following Hoovers’ (http://www.Hoovers.com) development from a basic company database to a sophisticated business development tool. Along the way, Hoovers has added on various features, such as a mobile interface (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e19885) and its Jobseekers Report (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e26261) Each new feature has contributed towards the company’s aim to move away from the ‘one size fits all’ database towards a more targeted and personalized business tool. Now, Hoovers has taken a big leap forward: it has launched a new platform with a much improved interface and has doubled its company and contact coverage. The database now covers 65 million companies and 85 million contacts worldwide. The link up with online business directory Jigsaw in November last year (see Tim Buckley-Owen’s posting on the partnership at http://www.vivavip.com/go/e27037) boosted the size of its contacts database by more than 7 million. The recently launched platform, clearly aimed at the sales and marketing professional, is intended to provide workflow tools to make prospecting more targeted and efficient. In addition, the vast contacts database gives users more opportunities to connect with decision makers (http://digbig.com/5bbhpd). However, information professionals, too will benefit from the Hoovers’ enhancements. They include downloadable company structures, financial charts and graphs, as well as access to First Research Industry Profiles (for US markets only, as far as I could see). Researchers will also welcome access to the 'Build a List Tool' which has more data points, including email addresses for contacts – courtesy of Jigsaw. A point of caution, though: Jigsaw’s database is made up of user-generated content – data quality is not guaranteed. (Look out for a comparative review of online contacts databases in VIP Magazine’s May edition) Interestingly, Hoovers has added a new advertising platform to its relaunched product. This offers advertisers a wider range of ad sizes and promises improved placement in relation to pages’ content. As if this were not enough, Hoover also announced its app for the iPhone and iPod touch (soon to be followed by the iPad), called the Hoovers Near Here App, (http://digbig.com/5bbhpe). This allows customers 'on the go' to find business information via their mobile devices by searching for the location of companies according to a number of criteria. The mobile search facility is currently only available for US and Canadian companies.

« Blog