The news that Dun & Bradstreet has acquired Avention brings to a close one of the more interesting chapters in the annals of company information services. The firm came into being as OneSource, a CD-ROM company data aggregator that took the Internet plunge early and had more recently morphed into

There is often a tendency for the folks who build and run information services to adopt a “set it and forget it” approach. These services are tough to build and once they are up and running it’s easy to sit back and focus on renewal marketing. This is a mistake.

CRM databases are full of bad, old data. The garbage continues to accrue over time getting worse as new files from purchased lists are added, acquired firms’ CRM files are merged, and salespeople keep adding their Rolodexes while no existing records are ever removed. For this reason salespeople at most

In 2015 we saw strong incremental progress on several technical fronts that should make 2016 an interesting year for those of us in the data trenches. The volume of data is ballooning across the board. Unstructured data is becoming more structured (making it easier to use), so we’re witnessing an

These days, advertising technology (both serving and blocking) is generating a lot of discussion. Most falls into two categories: “I Hate Ads” and “Publishers are Screwed.” Both approaches add zero to the very real discussions about new models for delivering content held behind closed doors at the major content creation

What happens when you have more metadata for a database record than there are fields of data in the original record itself? If you’re like almost every other company in the world you don’t have to imagine this scenario. It’s a reality you’ve lived with for quite some time. Every

The recent news that Dun & Bradstreet purchased data-dealer turned data management service provider NetProspex further advances two seemingly contradictory corporate storylines for the B2B data industry’s bellwether. This may be another in D&B’s string of acquisitions designed to buy the company’s way into the future. Or, this could be

A recent article in the SF Chronicle gave a vivid, very visual, demonstration of the power access to “public” data can have in municipal policy debates. The story covered companies that match buyers and sellers of services often heavily taxed by municipalities: taxis and hotels. Specifically, it looked at their

It’s no surprise to anyone that print directories are being retired in the face of the seismic shift to electronic information services. I’m not one to wax nostalgic about this, especially since I’ve worked hard to bring about this shift! Since many of us are participating in this publishing industry