What Have You Done for Me Lately? Jude Hayes LexisNexis SLA Nashville 2004

ROI / Value Value is an amount of goods, services or money considered to be a fair equivalent for something else Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor

ROI / Value Understand what your senior management considers important, and make sure your metrics measure it How do they judge value Ask them and adjust your activities and metrics What you think is important may not be what they think is important NEXT STEP: Document your value proposition…and tell everyone

ROI / Value Statement The Information Center is in the business of employing the best tools to help reporters write better stories faster. The stories are accurate to reduce risk of lawsuits. Better stories sell more magazines, which increase ad revenue.

ROI / Metrics Value metrics are both quantitative and qualitative ROI Metrics in corporate libraries are collected by only 7% of respondents according to an Outsell survey

ROI Metrics / Quantitative Measure Increased Productivity Hours of time saved by library users (when average salaries are known) Searching, digging, identifying sources for cover story Taking on a new task that saves headcount Writing crawlers …blurbs for cable news channel that are streamed across the screen Public Records

ROI Metrics / Quantitative Measure Profits Raw numbers of requests fulfilled Profit margin for each report generated Number of cases closed Number of deals closed

ROI Metrics / Quantitative Measure Negotiating site license or enterprise agreement for more favorable term$$ Single invoicing across corporation to reduce processing cost$$ Access to new tools Increased number of users access more content

ROI Metrics / Qualitative Measure Information provided that supports decision making at high levels CFO needing due diligence for possible acquisition Kudos We could not have done that story without you. We were the only network that had that information in our story. You found something I could not find. Reduce risk Avoid lawsuits by properly documenting primary and secondary sources

ROI / METRICS / Qualitative and Quantitative Using technology to improve efficiency…and stay competitive Customer profile information distributed throughout organization Legislative information affecting lobbying efforts Persistent queries to increase efficiency and speed of information delivery

ROI / METRICS / Qualitative and Quantitative Increased Productivity and Efficiency SALES Desktop tool to create prospect lists and provide background information Desktop tool to evaluate suppliers for purchasing departments

ROI / METRICS / Qualitative and Quantitative We need to enhance the skills of our people Training is a key focus Statistics Who was trained How many were trained What departments were trained

ROI Metrics / One Example Quantitative Number of requests Hours spent Departments served Qualitative Value statements from users Champions / Star reporters

ROI / Leverage Your Expertise Spend money to make money Purchase a database to service others within your organization; e.g. M&A for advertisers Mail trace system for list management and distribution Select and publish to your intranet

ROI / Be Bold Invite your CEO to a demo Approach an executive and sell your services Follow the money Get closer to the action Broadcast your success

ROI/ References Roger Strouse. The Value of Libraries: Justifying Corporate Information Centers in the Year of Accountability. Outsell Inc., 2001 Jan Sykes. Value as Calculation. Information Outlook, Vol. 7, no. 3 March 2003