FREE BI Review Site Registration!
Sign-up today and access BI Review on the Web!

Your FREE registration entitles you to:
FREE email newsletters

FREE access to all BI Review content

FREE access to web seminars, resource portals, our white paper library and more!

   

Answer This Question

I dare you. Name a great business-to-business Web site. Don’t forget, I said great. What comes to mind? Dell? Staples? Those sound consumer-ish and more generic than B2B. It’s not very easy, is it?

Back in 2003 when I was working at a different publication, I wrote a story about Dow Corning that had a lot to do with collaboration and information sharing across a large and fragmented corporation. At the time, Dow Corning had just embarked on a customer portal project, the fruits of which are described in our cover story. What this story taught me was that B2B projects aren’t about Web sites as much as they are about customer behavior and ways to align information - for both sales and consumers - across common resources.

Our second feature story has a lot to do with the ways job roles and responsibilities are changing in the new era of information management. While I’m sure that a lot of readers can relate to Marge Williams at Burlington Coat Factory, the real message is that it’s time for a management reality check to understand, nurture and retain the real information enablers scattered across the corporation. In the future, we’ll be writing stories about the ways managers like Williams are recruited, trained and rewarded, and you’ll never have a better opportunity to prepare than you do now in your own business.

William Hayes of Biogen Idec offers a concise but detailed take on his company’s vision of a customized information delivery system in a highly competitive industry. More technical readers will find value in the nuances of Hayes’ choices, but non-technical managers would also be wise to look into the strategic and process work done at Biogen Idec, which is all based on business requirements and applicable to any industry.

This issue of BI Review includes a blue-ribbon trio of columnists. Tom Davenport of Babson College offers his thoughts on the values of scientific testing in the contest of common BI programs; Tom Koulopoulos of Delphi Group has some high-level thoughts on the difference between invention and innovation; and legendary consultant Judith Hurwitz offers her first column to BI Review with her thoughts on the always-interesting topic of technology and politics. Once you receive this issue you’ll also be able to access an online-only column from risk specialist Bob Charette, who looks at the inherent value of games in the context of progressive BI users and other content.

Finally, we are very excited about the debut of an all-new BIReview.com Web site, so if you haven’t checked it out already, please take a moment to do so. This new site is much more powerful and combines search with our sister publication DM Review for the most comprehensive database on information management you’ll find anywhere. Registration is new but takes just a few seconds. With this new platform we’re already in the process of adding new audio and rich media features, and interactive and feedback channels to support the community we’ve built here at BI Review. Starting in the New Year, we’ll introduce a new user-friendly digital version of BI Review Magazine with a much-improved and interactive front end.

We hope you’ll see that all these improvements are about empowering the user experience and offering ourselves as a partner resource in your busy working day. Especially now, we’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions, so please contact me directly at jim.ericson@sourcemedia.com.


Jim Ericson is editorial director of DM Review, a SourceMedia publication. You can reach him at Jim.Ericson@sourcemedia.com.

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:



Industry Vendors