Content User Profile: Corporate Finance Professionals

Finance workers in corporations spend over $8.3 billion annually on non-centralized content purchases (content bought individually or at the department level, rather than at the enterprise level), making them one of the highest-spending buying blocks, second only to sales professionals. Fifty percent of corporate finance professionals report that they themselves buy content. These workers have a unique set of information needs that is reflected in their buying habits. This Briefing, based on Outsell's Normative Database of information about end-user habits and preferences, identifies the characteristics of this group of content buyers and the trends and issues driving change. It maps typical work processes for finance professionals to the kinds of content required. It also provides a comprehensive profile of corporate finance workers: their goals, drivers, information behaviors and habits, spending levels, and attitudes toward the Internet. For commercial content vendors, the Briefing provides insights into the unique characteristics of an independent group of content buyers, and recommends a strategy of marketing financial information products directly to end users. For content managers, it recommends putting resources toward embedding content into workflow applications by partnering with IT functions.