The Changing Roles Of Content Deployment Functions: Outsourcing Secondary Research

Outsourcing has been a management strategy in IT shops for a long time, as a way to cut costs for high-volume, low-value, or commoditized functions and enable resources to focus on high-impact, high-value activities. As other corporate and business functions and services have jumped on the outsourcing bandwagon, content deployers have begun to consider whether outsourcing secondary research makes sense in today's business environment. This Briefing examines current outsourcing practices in the industry and the extent to which the outsourced functions are expanding beyond traditional areas, such as document delivery, to secondary research. It analyzes in detail six providers of outsourced research: FIND/SVP's Teltech Division, Irevna, Johns Hopkins University's Entrepreneurial Library Program (ELP), Nerac, OfficeTiger, and Technology & Patent Research International (TPRI). A table references a total of 39 providers. For content deployment professionals, this is an essential guide to secondary research outsourcing best practices and vendors. For research providers, it is a guide to competitors and changing market demands.