Combating Low Cost Information Providers

It’s extremely difficult to compete on a cost basis against information provider firms operating in 2nd and 3rd world countries. The internet has somewhat leveled the playing field for information providers to the extent that data is far more searchable and accessible and IP telephony makes people easier to connect with. And web software means that anyone can throw up a website and optimize it in no time flat. Social media and marketing tools make it simple to publish and push content. Labor cost differentials can go as high as 5:1 vs Western countries.

The other side to this is that technology and cheap labor have flooded the market with reports that are shallow with barely informed analysis and opinions. One dissatisfied customer joking remarked that he thought he could have done a better job writing a report after spending the night drinking beers with his mates and settling down in his tub and writing the report.  While in some cases the products have improved the constant launch of new firms ensures a consistent flow of lower quality offerings. 

So you have two problems to deal with, companies that can generate reports at costs lower than what you can and firms that damage the profession by pushing out junk that makes nearly everything suspect in the buyers’ eyes.

Let’s try and consider the cost and quality issues separately even though they intersect in many ways.

But while the quality of work from low cost producers isn’t always terrible, it’s certainly beatable and that’s one place companies should focus their efforts. Remember, it is a common practice for these shops to have analysts working on health care one month, IT the next month and solar the following. Or, they are simply republishing work from local freelancers who publish reports between jobs or for a host of other publishing companies. Watch the job postings and they recruit for senior level analyst roles asking for less than 5 years experience.

Furthermore, the firms churning out 275 page reports have another significant and exploitable flaw which is the lack someone of any reasonable stature to front the research. Most of the time you see anonymous work that is associated with website and an 888 toll free number and a contact form. And without an analyst to identify with the buyer is left with no choice but to wonder just who exactly wrote the report.