Supporting Senior Stakeholders in their Content Decisions? 3 Tips for Information Managers


The following is an excerpt from our white paper, Tips to Raise the Strategic Profile of Your Information Center. Get your copy here

Developing a ‘one-stop shop’ for discovering externally published information can be tricky in a global organization. Establishing relationships with the end-users and stakeholders around the world who will use that content? Even trickier.

Creating a user-driven strategy is critical if you want to generate enterprise buy-in and ensure information services are not seen as a commodity – but instead as a value-adding asset.

Here’s a look at three ways we support our users and stakeholders in their content decisions – ultimately allowing us to be a strategic partner in larger business goals.

1. Conduct a Stakeholder Analysis

We conduct a stakeholder analysis to identify our “enthusiasts” and “non-enthusiasts.”

Through this analysis, we created an information advisory network with representatives from key business functions across the company.  This was augmented with user-driven focus group across different regions including Northern America and APAC.

Having communities of individuals who can pressure test ideas and give feedback, both positive and negative, is key for success.  As we made ourselves more visible across the organization, end-users became aware of the service we provide, and now, our team is positioned as the ‘go-to’ for all things information.

2. Expand Your Relationships

Here are a few ways we work to expand upon these relationships and continue the same levels of support and development:

  • Offer ad hoc phone calls to discuss account usage and identify any potential issues or pain points.
  • Provide account review sessions and one to one sessions to improve or expand the relationships with power users or stakeholders.

These individual touch points ensured users and key stakeholders felt their input was valued, which in turn built confidence in both our tools and the team. In conducting these smaller, or more specific relationship sessions, we were able to develop strong advocates by enabling the end user to successfully and confidently use our tools.

In addition to creating a knowledge landscape and supporting end users through a competency-based training strategy, we also support senior stakeholders in their content decisions, and provide visibility for the data-driven licensing process used within the Scientific Information team.

3. Conduct an End User Subscription Survey

During the licensing period, we conduct an end user subscription survey to determine potential gaps in the current subscription portfolio and aggregate the responses with the data provided by RightFind Business Intelligence. This process ensures that the voice of our users is represented in any licensing decisions we make.

In addition to this, we hold proactive ‘relationship calls’ with stakeholders to provide additional visibility on the data-driven licensing process.

Through this, stakeholders learn to see RightFind as a tool that provides a strong ROI for the organization. The results? They gain confidence in its utilization, are likely to continue to use the tool and are likely to recommend its use.

 

White Paper: Tips to Raise the Strategic Profile of Your Information Center

Ready to learn more? Check out:

Topic:

Author: John Boon

John Boon is a Marketing Content Manager for CCC, based in the UK and is responsible for creating and managing content for the RightFind Suite. He has previously held roles such as Software Client Engagement Manager where he was responsible for the account management of Pfizer, Fresenius, Ipsen, Chiesi and other large European clients. He has also worked as a Senior Information Specialist as part of UCB’s Scientific Information and Intelligence (SII) Team and throughout that time worked to develop a growing global network of active users for the RightFind platform, increasing the global footprint of the SII team through training and outreach. Prior to this, John has held diverse roles in sales, library management and content creation and marketing, and in each role has developed new strategies of working for each sector.