December 1st, 2006

Business context search, a researcher's dream come true

Posted by Dana Gardner @ 11:46 am

Categories: Podcasts, search

Tags:

I've been experimenting with search on a new level — business ecology networking. And it's proven an IT researcher's dream.

ZoomInfo has taken a new slice on search by giving its users not only a resume-like definition of individuals — it gives a powerful definition of the bucket or buckets that any company operates in. That is, it actually defines business ecologies, product niches, and essentially markets. If you can find one company in a business area — you can find just about all of them, certainly all of them that matter.

Analyst firms used to charge big bucks for the quadrants and product universe lists to help IT buyers define who they should look at before actually seeking bids or buying. Now a large amount of that categorization is instantly available with as little as the name of the company to start with — even a vague notion of what product or service you seek works. Remember the Thomas Register? Well this is better, much better.

I've been using ZoomInfo's search and PowerSearch capability in conjunction with, and not as an alternative to, Google. I use Google searches to begin certain kinds of research. For example, when I write an analysis report (or a blog) on any company I gain a sense of what's hot with that company by viewing the ranked Google search content and links. It gives a certain zeitgeist meter to what impact that company is having in its market, and what the market thinks of it. And those inferences include Google news and blog searches, of course.

But now I can get much more information by using the Google findings as a starting point for my ZoomInfo research. By doing a ZoomInfo search on what I found in Google, a get a listing of all the companies that my company of interest competes with, not just some that may appear via a Google ranking based on page associations and links. By using ZoomInfo's PowerSearch (registration/subscription required) you can just click on "Find Competitors" and you get a weighted listing of the business ecology your target operates in. Consider this for buying, selling, seeking a job, doing research, marketing, partnerships, business development. Wow.

I've even begun to use the free ZoomInfo listing on people when I name someone in a blog. It gives an instant biography/CV from multiple sources by showing all the job positions the person has had for years and years. Try yourself, it's like an instant resume builder, just from a name. It's comprehensive and objective. If I want to quote Robert Scoble, for example, I'd do a ZoomInfo search and link to it to give readers a Robert career portrait.

So now I've not done my job as an analyst without a quick ZoomInfo search to "find competitors" whenever I write on companies. It gives me a safety net that I have not missed anything, like a new company emerging in a space. It allows me to quickly develop a market snapshot, with the links to the firms and their leadership. Very powerful.

Not only does this prove highly valuable for being comprehensive about knowing the players in any given business niche, it's very helpful when shopping for B2B goods. For example, I recently needed to buy some more podcasting production equipment. I didn't know much about the high-end stuff, so I just Googled on general definitions of the types of equipment I wanted, like … mixer. The first company that looked close to selling what I want served as my ZoomInfo search beginning.

I've been using the ZoomInfo beta of its latest PowerSearch capability, which — when used with the audio equipment company name I found on Google — gave me a super-useful list of all the companies that make the types of audio equipment I'm interested in rating and reviewing. In a short time, I had narrowed down the list of equipment, the top providers, and then did comparative shopping before making my purchase online.

You can dig into sub categories and find a trove of information on very discrete business ecologies, not just a company. Or you can expand the criteria and define a supply chain. This should help when regulations affect buying patterns, too.

It occurred to me that if his works for a B2B purchase of $500, it could also be useful for $50 million purchases as well. So purchasing agents, analysts, business buyers … get the full picture of a business ecology and potential marketplace before you begin the actual shopping. ZoomInfo PowerSearch really redefines the request for proposal (RFP) process by getting the heavy lifting out of the way so you can really do the research that makes the decision process fruitful and comprehensive.