Gaining additional value from secondary data resources: Using existing internal data and knowledge to create new company-centric resources

Information teams within biopharmaceutical organizations are usually the decision-makers on purchasing external data resources, matching customer and business requirements to the most useful and cost-effective resource. Many of these resources are provided for end-user access and the information teams also use them to answer regular and ad hoc enquiries and feed into regular operations such as issuing alerts, or creating monthly competitor overviews. In today’s increasingly cost-conscious environment it is important to seek ways to increase value from investments in information resources. Information teams also need to demonstrate the relevance of their skills and services to the organization they serve and show how they contribute to the organization’s aims in tangible ways. This article describes two instances of using data from externally subscribed resources, combined with internal explicit and tacit knowledge to create new company-centric resources: a global epidemiology resource and a market attractiveness platform for assessing commercial-viability for products in emerging markets.