Quantum² : InfoStars : Information Guru in an Info-Intensive Industry

Information Guru in an Info-Intensive Industry

William Blair & Co. LLC's Carol Gates

Carol Gates' customers have a lot to say about her information center. "A great help." "Makes my life tons easier." "Nothing short of superb." "I shudder to think what my life would have been like without their help." "With the Business Information Center, it is never, and I really mean never, a problem."

The Business Information Center at William Blair & Co. LLC was featured recently in the internal Blair newsletter, and the quotes from satisfied users said it all. Carol Gates, Manager of the BIC, says that it's all a matter of applying the lessons of Customer Service 101, day in and day out. She and her staff of 11 take pride in providing a good service, in meeting their users' deadlines, and in going the extra mile. "We're in an environment that is very information-intensive," she said. "People are so busy, and they work under such tight deadlines, that they can't do all of their own research at their desktop. They just don't have time."

The investment bankers at William Blair use the Business Information Center for more than just research. Carol's group also provides extensive training services, to both the investment bankers and the support staff, on how to best use the information products available throughout the firm. She noted that the secretaries are particularly enthusiastic. "The ones who haven't yet been trained are clamoring for it. It enables them to free up the professionals' time so the bankers can concentrate on what they do best."

Carol has seen a striking change in the workload of the Business Information Center staff over the past five years. Their workload has tripled, despite the fact that they have rolled out electronic content from at least twenty vendors to the desktops of their users. Carol commented that "the types of questions have changed, and the workload has shifted. We're doing a lot more training than we used to."

The BIC's mission is to be the resource for the business information that Blair employees need in order to do their jobs. That means providing research and current awareness services, teaching people how to use the web as a business research tool, and coordinating the evaluation, purchase and support for desktop information.

Working in an industry that is as dependent on information as is investment banking means that the Business Information Center has a generous budget for electronic resources. The biggest challenge Carol has encountered has been hiring the highly-skilled researchers that have a high level of online search experience and can hit the ground running.

While she prefers hiring researchers who are comfortable searching a number of professional online services, she says that it's particularly helpful if they already know how to search Dialog. "When you get trained on Dialog, you learn what's going on behind the scenes. You can translate that to any other online system, because you already understand the inner workings of a database," Carol said.

When recruiting for a new researcher, Carol often takes three months to make a hiring decision. Finding someone who will fit in well, who has initiative, and who is a strong team player takes time. The pay-off, of course, is the tremendous reputation that the Business Information Center enjoys within William Blair. As their satisfied customers have said, "the entire staff of the Business Information Center does an absolutely outstanding job," they are "an absolute God-send" and "a joy to work with."