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Uses and Types of Business Information
Business information is used heavily in disciplines such as
sales, marketing, procurement, M&A and finance, legal compliance and
consulting. Business professionals use it to support research, planning and
decision-making tasks; and get business intelligence on companies, industries
and key executives. The main types of business information include:
- Industry
market research
- Company
information
- Executive
listings
- Credit and
financial data
- IT profiles
- News
Sources of Business Information
While there are hundreds of free sources of business
information sources, the quality and completeness of this information varies
greatly, and it is often very difficult and time consuming to pull together
information free sources. Moreover, data from free sources is not as
complete as the information from business information services.
The most complete business information services aggregate and
package content from multiple, disparate providers – usually with a
subscription. They typically cull content from a variety of sources including:
- Primary research via surveys
and phone interviews
- Regulatory filings by
publicly traded companies
- Corporate web sites
- Company press statements
- Annual reports
- News stories
- Analyst research
Business Information Quality
The usefulness of business information is measured by its
quality. In turn, content quality is a factor of the unique characteristics of
different data sources.
For example, the depth of information available differs
between public and private companies. It also varies from country to country.
The quality of coverage on a company also depends on the visibility of its
leadership in corporate communications. This is a factor that can vary widely
from company to company.
A key to obtaining quality information is to blend data from
several sources. This is where a premier business information service like
OneSource adds value. OneSource does the work of selecting the best content
providers, collecting all relevant information, and blending and normalizing
many data streams into one consistent, consumable asset. It also takes many
steps to optimize information quality and usability with advanced automated
processes and expert editorial oversight.
OneSource Approach to Business Information
OneSource Information Services, Inc. aggregates more data
from more disparate sources than any other business information provider.
OneSource does the hard work in pulling together this information and making it
consistent so that customers of the OneSource service can quickly and easily
access the highest quality information.
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