Ed Keating is Vice President of the Content Division for the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). Keating has over 15 years of experience in the information industry as both an internal manager and a consultant. He has led marketing, product management and sales organizations at both startup and established information companies. His work to enhance product processes and organizational effectiveness has helped numerous companies enter unfamiliar markets and launch new products.
From his vantage point at SIIA, Ed has a unique view into the operations of hundreds of content companies. Ed is also author of the ContentEd blog.
Content Matters: 2009 will certainly have its share of challenges. What do you see for the Content industry in 2009?
Ed Keating: In looking at the four vectors of social change (Economic, Technology, Sociocultural, Political/ Regulatory) I think the biggest challenges will be on the economic and socio-cultural front. With so many jobs being lost in some key information industry markets like finance and pharma, there will be economic impacts. This will ripple through companies in a myriad of ways. As an extension, there are sociocultural impacts as the information industry workforce contends with the economic uncertainty that accompanies the drumbeat of layoffs.
While I don’t see much in the way of technological challenges, there may be some threats to the industry if the government tries to become a prominent publisher and competes with industry companies.
CM: What shoes have yet to drop? Which less obvious sectors might be facing troubles in 2009?
EK: The ease of creating businesses and products, coupled with the simplicity of building social networks could create new entrants into the professional publishing space. What would happen if a group of scientists decided to come up with their own naming conventions for chemicals or if a financial team tried to usurp the CUSIP system? Neither is an easy feat but the building blocks are becoming easier to stack up.
CM: Other than the economy, what macro issues do you think will have an impact next year?
EK: The biggest change will be the shifting of nexus from Wall Street to Washington DC. With an estimated $3-4 trillion to be spent, DC is seen by some as the new Wall Street. On the plus side, new regulations have historically been great for professional publishers. It has always been a reason to “fire up the printing presses” as professionals have always relied on regulatory publishers to explain the new world in Washington.
There is also the challenge of our industry having some conflicts with the new administration. With a “wired White House”, there may be challenges to publishers if the government tries to become a premium publisher. As the old adage advises, never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. If you do, be sure to be an SIIA member!
CM: In 2007, Facebook was all the rage, while in 2008 it was clearly Twitter. Yet neither has shown the ability to make money yet. Do you see social media making a breakthrough impact for business in 2009? Or, is that window closing?
EK: These products were certainly the rage of the cognoscenti but in 2007 Facebook was still largely populated by students with student-level purchasing power and Twitter is still only used by a narrow band of early adopters.
I don’t think 2009 will be the year of a big breakthrough, but I believe we’ll continue to see incremental breakthroughs. For example, now that Twitter is internationally recognized for breaking the USAIR Hudson River crash, more companies may try and build unique alerting/warning products. Maybe some will even charge for these services!
CM: While there’s a lot of gloom and doom about, there are always bright spots. What are you optimistic about in 2009 (professionally or personally)?
EK: Having worked through a number of recessions in the last 20+ years, these down times can help businesses focus on what is important and let go of marginal people, products and services. It may also build in some perspective in the workforce so that we are all a bit more skeptical when the next bubble begins to emerge.
CM Note: Ed - the annual Information Industry Summit is to be held next week. I couldn't let you go without a quick plug.
EK: During the past seven years, the SIIA Information Industry Summit has earned its reputation as the digital information industry’s flagship conference. This annual Summit of industry leaders is one of very few forums providing strategic guidance to senior business leaders representing publishers, content technology companies, bankers, analysts, bloggers and press.
Corporate and business development executives interested in sourcing new technology or vetting deals, and venture capitalists and other bankers, should attend the 3rd annual pre-conference event, SIIA Previews, taking place January 26. CEOs of young innovative publishers, aggregators, and content technology companies will provide 5-minute presentations followed by Q&A.
Registration for the SIIA Information Industry Summit includes registration to attend SIIA Previews, or you may also choose to attend just SIIA Previews.
For more details, please visit: www.siia.net/iis/2009/
Thanks, Ed, for your insights. And to those attending IIS next week, I look forward to seeing you there!
