Ann Persson Sales Manager - Academic Sales PrioInfo AB

Improved information at lower costs? Challenges and possibilities for agents, publishers and users of information

Objective with presentation Increased competition in the information industry Fast development of new services, platforms and solutions Change of market structure Change in the use of information New role for all players in the industry Improved products at lower costs?

The perspective of the agent/mediator

PrioInfo - mediator of information services Company founded in 1994 Mediator of information services in medicine, science and technology Business activities in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and the Baltic States 15 persons full-time employed turnover 2001: ca 65 million SEK Consortia projects

Is the quality of information, information structure and retrieval systems improving?

...yes! (?) Improved content More frequent updating services Search and retrevial systems Coverage Specialization - tailor-made information Intergration products User friendlieness Combination products & linking systems

Is the cost of new information products too high?

Are there ways to buy the new and improved information products at lower costs?

Price differentiation and flexibility Stronger competition Different pricing structures for different customer groups Different pricing structures for different countries & regions Pricing based on user population

Larger volume - lower price New user groups ”end-user” revolution Market growth Production costs and product development can be covered by high volume instead of higher prices

Sponsored (free) information Web-portals Example: Pharma Industries Newspaper sites - financed by advertising High quality content and information is driving visitors to Web-sites

Consortia and buying co-operatives National consortia organizations (FinELib, BIBSAM) Pan-Scandinavian Academic Consortia Industry Association Membership Offers Corporate Consortia Mixed Academic & Corporate Consortia Advantages for publishers, users and agents

Case 1: Scandinavian Academic Compendex Consortium 40+ universities and university colleges in Scandinavia Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland Tier 1-3 structure with lower prices for smaller institutions Large growth potential Administrated by PrioInfo in co-operation with SUTL-Group - PrioInfo - Engineering Information % discount for consortia members

Case 2: Scandinavian Corporate Materials Science Consortium Swedish Metals Research Institute License to Materials Science Collection with METADEX from CSA 16 steel and metal industries in Sweden, Norway and Finland 25% discount achieved through the consortium.

Case 3: SIK/FSTA-Consortium Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (120+ members, Food Industry, Universities…) FSTA - Food Science and Technology Abstracts SilverPlatter-IFIS-SIK-PrioInfo Discount-level 50% 10+ consortia members

Case 4: Finnish Hospital Pharmacy Consortium Martindale + DrugDex. Drug-information databases from Micromedex (Thomson) 27 Finnish hospital pharmacies - independently financed by regional healtcare Seminars and training 20-25% discount

There are ways around High Quality = High price!

Challenges and possibilities for agents, customers and publishers.

Challenges for the agent Active business partner instead of passive order taker Consortia facilitator Close customer integration & co-operation Initiate new ideas & projects Vertical approach on local markets Service and customer contact Active marketing and information

Challenges for the publisher Product development Greater need to listen to the market Higher flexibility Close contact with customers Globalization - Localization

Challenges for the librarian Active business partner - instead of passive consumer/mediator

Thank you for your attention!

Ann Persson Sales Manager - Academic Sales PrioInfo AB