Marquis Launches Online Art Gallery

Marquis Who's Who this week announced the launch of an Artists' Gallery web site that will feature artwork from hundreds of prominent artists. The gallery first appeared in the 2008 print edition of Who's Who in American Art before launching as a standalone online offering.

The Artists' Gallery (www.whoswhogallery.com) is searchable by artist name and media. Works range in style from oil and watercolor to sculpture and photography, and are selected by the artist. Each listing includes information such as title of the work, media, dimensions, representing gallery, personal web site and the artist's contact information. In addition, they also contain the artists' full biographical entries as they appear in the Who's Who in American Art.

The public can view the site free of charge. Marquis has already announced plans to include more artists on the site later this year.

What a clever idea. Of course, something so visual should have visual representation. Text listings just don't give such listings justice. This is really giving artists a true online portfolio; one that can't be communicated through those traditional text listings. Such listings, of course, provide value. But that value is only supplementary in this case. A picture really is worth 1,000 words.

The value extends to the featured artists (who will gain tremendous additional exposure) as well as Marquis. Since the company likely charges a fee for inclusion on the site, the new offering will help the company sell more subscriptions to the print Who's Who in American Art, thus serving as an innovative new source of revenue for Marquis.

CCC Information Services Tool Launches Workflow-Integrated Product

CCC Information Services Inc., a provider of automotive claims and repair solutions, this week launched the CCC Valuescope Salvage Management Solutions. The new product includes a data-driven decision support tool to help with workflow related to total loss and salvage processes. The new offering will eliminate manual processes, such as data entry.

The solution includes a salvage assignment and workflow feature that eliminates users' needs to call salvage vendors for assignment. Instead the tool sends an assignment to the vendor during the handling process. Users can also obtain updates to help them determine the status of salvage disposal. In addition to the assignment and workflow feature, they can also use the CCC Intellisphere Reporting Solution to measure salvage process efficiencies during a claim's life.

This is yet another segment of professional business information users that will benefit from a solution that is integrated into the workflow. It's certainly becoming the norm, and not the exception, these days for information providers to combine content and services to create efficiencies in the workplace.

Users of the CCC Valuescope Salvage Management Solutions will undoubtedly reap immediate benefits. Perhaps the only challenge will be the learning curve. Transitioning users accustomed to manual processes may take some time. But if CCC's solution is as user-friendly as such solutions strive to be, user acceptance won't be far behind.

McGraw-Hill Product Integrates Content with CRM Capabilities

McGraw-Hill Construction, a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, this week launched Network Express, which provides project information from the McGraw-Hill Construction Network (built on the company's Dodge database) that can be integrated into customers' CRM systems. The new service also offers company data from the McGraw-Hill Construction Sweets Network, media sites and Target Leads/Spec Alerts.

Customers will now be able to integrate Dodge information into their CRM systems and immediately yield results for their sales and marketing efforts. The Dodge database contains more than 90 percent of all U.S. and Canada-based construction projects with values of $500,000 or more.

With this information in their CRM systems, McGraw-Hill's sales customers will be able to identify people, companies and projects that they want to follow up with. They will also be able to follow up on sales leads from McGraw-Hill Construction Media and the Sweets Network, access plans and specifications and track progress through the entire sales cycle.

Customers can access content through a direct feed from Network Express and a set of certified partners who have experience integrating content into CRM platforms, noted Andrew Fischer, senior director of the McGraw-Hill Construction Network, in a company statement. Those partners include Astadia (Salesforce.com), Code Theatre (Siebel On Demand), Infinity Info Systems (Microsoft CRM and Sage SalesLogix) and Ingenium (Construction Points).

This is yet another example of the power of combining content with services. McGraw-Hill recognizes the limits of content at face value. Customers will always need great content, that's for sure. But they need to make it actionable as well--and quickly yield benefits from that content.

Network Express is designed to do just that. If it delivers as promised, McGraw-Hill will have a real winner.

Elsevier Bolsters Pharma Offerings With Windhover Buy

Global STM publisher Elsevier yesterday announced its acquisition of Windhover Information Inc. Windhover is a healthcare business intelligence company that provides analysis and commentary on healthcare business strategy, industry deal making, marketplace trends and medical start-ups. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Among Windhover's products are journals (including IN VIVO and the RPM Report), a database of healthcare industry transactions (Strategic Transactions Database), as well as a series of medical-device and biopharmaceutical partnering and strategy conferences.

Windhover will be integrated into Elsevier's pharma business intelligence unit, which also houses F-D-C Reports Inc. ("The Pink Sheet" and "The Gray Sheet") and the drug development database, Inteleos.

In a statement announcing the deal, Elsevier notes that the Windhover buy is in line with the company's e-health strategy to provide a strong combination of technology and content to its pharmaceutical professional customer base. Windhover is just one more investment Elsevier has made recently in content, workflow tools and e-health services, the statement also notes.

Elsevier really understands the importance of providing customers both the content and tools to accomplish their goals. This acquisition represents how knowledgeable Elsevier is about customer needs. Without tools and analysis, content's value is truly limited. Companies like Windhover can really help organizations like Elsevier provide even more value. Expect Elsevier to further bolster its content and tools capabilities with additional acquisitions.

Grey House Goes to Washington

Grey House Publishing and Penn Hill Publications last week announced the acquisition of Hudson's Washington News Media Contacts Directory. Grey House will publish the 2008 edition of the directory, along with a new companion directory, Washington Associations Contacts Directory, this month.

The 2008 edition is the 41st for Hudson's Washington News Media Contacts Directory, which contains information about more than 4,000 contacts within Washington DC's newspapers, syndicates, radio contacts, magazines and newsletters. The directory's information is contained in sections, such as state-by-state listings of radio, TV stations and newspapers in Washington, news bureaus, specialized news services and syndicates, Canadian and foreign media, freelance writers and photographers, as well as general and specialized magazines, periodicals and newsletters.

The Washington Associations Contacts Directory contains listings for associations in the Washington, DC metro area, including Virginia and Maryland. It covers nearly 100 different subjects, from aviation, education, biotechnology and telecommunications, for individuals seeking contacts at Washington, DC-area non-profit entities. Each listing includes complete contact information, key contacts, the association's publications, email addresses, web sites and a description of the association.

The newly acquired Hudson directory will fit nicely with Grey House's business directory segment, which already serves a variety of business customers in a wide range of industries. In essence, Grey House has created a sub-segment of Washington-related information with the simultaneous release of Hudson's Washington News Media Contacts Directory and the Washington Associations Contacts Directory. Launching a new directory to serve as a companion to its new acquisition really shows Grey House's commitment to this space. Grey House has targeted a large customer base for these directories: associations, businesses, professionals, educators, public relations firms, embassies, government offices, labor unions, consultants, researchers and libraries.

Chances are that these customers who are initially interested in one book will be enticed to purchase both and Grey House has addressed that. Each directory is available for purchase separately (Hudson's for $289 online; $329 online/print combination; $289 for print; Associations for $200 online and $250 for online/print; $150 for print) and bundled as a print set for $375.

It will be interesting to see how successful these books are and if Grey House will add new titles to this subject area any time soon.