Business Information is one of the three main segments of the Information Industry. The other two segments are Scientific, Technical & Medical (“STM”) and Educational & Training content.
The Business Information industry is presently estimated to be a more than $358 Billion market, according to industry analysts Outsell, Inc. Where much of the content industry revenues are advertising-driven, the Business Information segment remains largely driven by paid content, either via subscription or transaction (pay-per-view).
The primary forms of business information include:
- News
- Market Research
- Credit and Financial Information
- Company and Executive Profiles
- Industry, Country and Economic Analysis
- IT Research
While Wall Street’s thirst for information traditionally drove the business information market, its use is much more widespread today. Market research is the process of systematically gathering recording and analyzing data and information about Customers, Competitors and the Market In addition to the financial markets, business information is used heavily for sales and marketing, competitive intelligence, strategic planning, human resources and many other strategic business functions. A broad definition of Competitive Intelligence is the action of gathering analyzing and applying information about products domain constituents customers and competitors for the short term Strategic planning is an Organization 's process of defining its Strategy, or direction and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy
Today, there are more than 200 [1] providers of business information. While the Internet has made it easier for business information publishers to deliver content directly to their users, there remains a strong market for aggregators of such content which package business information in ways to meet an industry or customer’s workflow.