The SEC is expanding the scope of insider trading to include expert networks. They’ve been looking at firms that evaluate supply chains, talk to company employees, and survey customers; in other words, firms that actually do their homework. Apparently, diligence has become an unfair advantage. Aite Group might be considered an expert network. Our product is intellectual capital born of excessive diligence. Do we strive to provide our customers with a competitive advantage? Absolutely. Is that unfair to companies that do not have access to our research? Probably. One of the first phrases most pre-teens learn is, and say it … Continue Reading →

In the areas I cover―the institutional investment management and brokerage businesses―firms are cautious and questioning the value-add for the B2B sector. Much of what I see posted in social media or imagine as relevant to institutions appears behind a firm’s firewall on their private website. In fact, institutional providers prefer client portals, which reinforce the personal relationships that institutions value. In this private venue, clients have access to account data while firms can also push out blog posts, podcasts, and videos specific to those clients’ interests. Customization and privacy are what institutions value. Institutional staffs do like to share their … Continue Reading →

Has the moment finally arrived when the bastion of business development will move off the golf course and onto the Internet? Has the Internet equalized the business field for those of us with an abysmal golf game? Could Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace and Blogger become the apex of business activity? We’ve been here before. Remember when the Internet first hit business? We were frantic to establish a website. E-mail? That was actually quite a thrill; no more rolling into voicemail trying to catch someone…we could even avoid talking to someone we weren’t particularly fond of.  Next, we moved to instant … Continue Reading →