Jan Sykes Subscription Update for Professional Services
Jinfo Blog

17th June 2015

By Jan Sykes

Abstract

Professional services firms make up a significant portion of FreePint's customer base. We work closely with our customers in this industry to produce resources that speak to their broad-based content requirements and particular needs for information strategy, procurement, skill development and collaboration with other parts of their businesses. Here we highlight recent and upcoming items from FreePint's Content, Community and Consulting.

Item

Content (Articles, Reports and Webinars)

The current FreePint Topic Series, "Best Practices in Information Skills Development" focuses on a business issue that is of critical importance to information professionals working in professional services firms.

We are required to keep pace with evolving technology tools and content products in order to support strategic initiatives and minimise risks in firms in which we work.

Several approaches to creating effective learning events and incorporating learning opportunities in busy schedules are recommended in this Series, including the following Subscription articles:

Webinars have also provided useful insights and opportunities for discussion around the subject of skills development.

Ebooks seem to be ubiquitous and it is a challenge for professional services firms to identify not only the appropriate content and collections given the wide range of industries they cover, but also compatible delivery platforms.

The FreePint Report: Ebook Research 2015 discusses the penetration of ebooks in professional services firms and provides detail on vendors, licensing considerations, and strategies for launch and management of ebook collections.


Community

FreePint hosts Communities of Practice via teleconference and in-person to support customers with similar needs. The list of upcoming teleconferences and briefings can be found here.

  • Getting Information Skills Development on the Strategic Agenda, 25th June. This upcoming teleconference complements the current topic focus of "Best Practices in Information Skills Development". It focuses on ways of identifying and cultivating skills needed by information professionals in order for them to continue to be successful in their profession. Register to join the teleconference here.

  • Driving the Future of Information - FreePint's Research Agenda: FreePint's director of research, Robin Neidorf led a special in-person CoP at the SLA Annual Conference in Boston on 15th June where she shared three headline ideas which will affect the entire business, not just the information centre:   

    1. The time has come to break down the walls between IS and IT

    2. The majority of information practice now takes place on the desks of knowledge workers, not in the information centre

    3. Consumption of information is tipping to automated systems - by 2017, information usage will look dramatically different than it does today.

      These themes are of great interest to many of our Subscribers and one of the participants commented, "Great session this morning. Took more notes and wrote down more ideas than any session yet."


Consulting

A professional services firm has undergone dramatic structural change in its European research operations, which it now wants to carry over to its North American research operations. However, the North American environment is quite different with respect to the level of experience, overall resources, and existing relationships between researchers and the business lines they support, from their counterparts in Europe.

FreePint is working with information services leadership to lay out a practical, ambitious, yet still workable, plan for adapting the new European model for the North American environment. The plan requires evaluation of key stakeholders, analysis of gaps in skills, and prototyping of core "products" the information services team can provide, all with an eye to what will make the most difference to quickly build momentum and support for longer-term progress.

 

Editor's Note: A FreePint Subscription at the Content level gives access to all FreePint articles, reports and webinars, at the Community level gives access to all FreePint Communities of Practice (as well as all FreePint Content), and at the Consulting level adds a credit for up to six hours of annual consulting time. Find out more.

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