Application for the Centers of Excellence Technology Award SLA Business

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Applicationfor the Centers of ExcellenceTechnol
ogy Award SLA Business Finance Division

• Verizon Information Research NetworkVerizon
  Communications 2/28/2008

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Verizon Information Research NetworkVerizon
Communications
Technology
Management
Service

3
Leadership

• How managers in the applicant special libraries,
  information centers or knowledge centers guide
  the organization and how the applicant addresses
  its responsibilities to its identified user group.

4
Leadership

• VIRN (Verizon Information Research Network) is a
  virtual research shop with staff located in MA,
  VA, NJ and TX
• The 6-member team provides on-demand research,
  supports enterprise contract management, and
  maintains a company-wide research portal.
• The VIRN website delivers online access to market
  research reports from 8 major vendors and other
  market research suppliers.
• The VIRN team is part of Verizons Market
  Research, Modeling Analysis group in Telecom
  Marketing
• VIRN is a member of the Market ResearchForum
  (MRF) a centralized Verizon buying group
• The MRFs 10-12 member board consolidates
  Verizon-wide market research needs to facilitate
  enterprise purchase agreements.
• Since its formation in 2004, the MRF
  hassuccessfully partnered on funding
  enterprise-wideagreements to expand Verizons
  content accesswhile driving down contract costs.

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Leadership
VIRN supports all departments across Verizons
business lines
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Strategic Planning

• How the applicant sets strategic directions and
  how it determines key action plans.

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Strategic Planning

• Since 2002 VIRN made multiple attempts to upgrade
  an online catalog of over 10,000 market research
  reports
• The urgency in automating processes for the
  online catalog was critical
• Purchased content had increased by 175 since
  2003
• All records required manual uploading
• Lagging upload time (4-8 weeks) elevated number
  of requests for newly-released content
• Lack of usage tracking by vendor or client
  hampered VIRNs ability to make fact-based
  enterprise acquisitions
• Limited internal server space for storing
  content requiredadditional server maintenance

Incoming Market Research Content 2003-2006
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Strategic Planning

• During the May 2006 Market Research Forum
  meeting, VIRN presented the plan for implementing
  a centralized market research portal utilizing
  NorthernLights integrated search engine
  SinglePoint.
• SinglePoints implementation offered many
  benefits to Verizon
• Time-savings for employee research
• Improved access to newly-released market research
  content
• Reduced maintenance across multiple departmental
  market research websites
• Eliminated manual data uploads by 90 through
  automated content delivery
• Opened visibility into content usage by vendor
  and clients
• The VIRN Team requested funding from MRF for
  SinglePoints development and maintenance fees
• The Forum members agreed
• Authorized VIRN to further investigate
  SinglePoint and other comparable products
• Upon final selection VIRN would assume ownership
  of the centralized portal
• MRF members would work with their management on
  securing funding

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Strategic Planning
VIRN team visited the 2006 SLA Expo Hall
investigating potential suppliers Site visits
to major SinglePoint clients were conducted by
VIRNs staff and MRF members SinglePoint web
demos scheduled for departmental
leaders SinglePoint was selected based on
gathered research SinglePoint funding secured
contract signed SinglePoint Launched!!!

• June 2006
• July-Aug. 2006
• Oct.-Nov. 2006
• Nov. 2006
• Dec. 2006
• March 2007

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Customer/User Focus

• How the applicant special library, information
  center or knowledge center determines
  requirements and expectations of customers and
  markets.

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Customer/User Focus

• Investigated three federated/integrated search
  tools prior to the May 2006 MRF meeting
• Interviewed existing SinglePoint customers for
  best practices and lessons learned
• Conducted SinglePoint demos from HP and Nokia for
  MRF Forum members, key employees, and management
• Evaluated existing VIRN awareness and
  satisfaction surveys for applicable client
  comments
• Initiated pre-launch web-conferences for VIRN
  clients to gather user feedback
• Integrated client feedback into system
  development planning documentation

SinglePoint Clients
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Information Analysis

• Examines the management, effective use and
  analysis of data and information to support key
  organization processes, and the success of the
  performance management system used in the
  applicant special library, information center or
  knowledge center.

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Information Analysis

• SinglePoints unique integrated search engine
  maximizes Verizon access to content while
  minimizing internal support
• Content resides on the research vendors websites
  thereby eliminating 90 of manual content uploads
• New content is indexed daily allowing immediate
  client access
• Taxonomy and metadata is administered by
  SinglePoint
• Usage reports by client and vendor are generated
  weekly, monthly, and annually
• Single Sign-On (SSO) secures site from
  unauthorized users

Available Content Expanded by 350
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SinglePoint Delivery Model
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Human Resource Focus

• How the applicant enables its employees to
  develop their full potential and how the
  workforce is aligned with the objectives of the
  applicant and its parent organization.

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Human Resource Focus

• Decreased VIRNs overall system maintenance up to
  75 by switching to SinglePoint
• Weekly staff discussions on SinglePoints
  features and functionality streamlined roll-out
  and simplified product usability
• VIRNs collective knowledge of market research
  databases was integrated into SinglePoint to
  minimize training needs for end-users and staff
• Improved overall content access relieved VIRNs
  incoming request load by 20
• SinglePoint aligned with Verizons employee work
  challenge

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Process Management

• Examines aspects of how key management, delivery
  and support processes are designed, managed and
  improved in the management and delivery of
  information for the applicant special library,
  information center or knowledge center.

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Process Management

• Leveraging SinglePoints system flexibility
  enabled the following features for VIRN clients
• ASK VIRN tab allows clients to easily email
  VIRN from within the portal for additional
  research assistance
• Pop-up window appears after a 10-minute search
  session suggesting searcher contact VIRN
• For locked report access, an email with the
  embedded URL is sent to VIRN notifying staff to
  take action
• Alerting feature facilitates client email
  notification of new content based on their saved
  search
• Single Sign-On automates login
• Ability for clients to email reports from
  SinglePoint to colleagues

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Process Management
Ask VIRN tab used torequest locked report
10-minute pop-up window
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Service Results

• Examines the performance and improvement of the
  applicant in its key service areas customer
  satisfaction, financial management, human
  resources, supplier and partner performance, and
  operational performance. The category also
  examines how the applicant performs relative to
  other service organizations which might (or
  could) provide the same services.

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Service Results

• Distributed a customer satisfaction survey to
  Verizons SinglePoint users
• 96 of survey respondents said they were
  Satisfied or Extremely Satisfied with SinglePoint
• 80 was SinglePoints Net Promoter Score within
  Verizon
• Conducted 5 web conference trainingsessions
• Hosted on-site group training at Verizon
  headquarters
• Delivered regular SinglePoint email blasts
• Product search tips
• Content additions
• Registration reminders
• Maintained high customer satisfaction levels
  despite two headcount reductions

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Service Results

• 350 increase in available content by
  centralizing contracts
• Content usage increased up to 40
• 100 of clients surveyed found SinglePoint to be
  Extremely Valuable or Valuable in helping them do
  their job
• 44 of respondents said searching SinglePoint
  saved them between 1-2 hours vs. previous search
  methods
• SinglePoints reports track usage by user,
  department, and vendor

On average, how muchtime do you think
SinglePoint saves you compared to your previous
method of searching for research reports and
information?
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Service Results

• Interviewed by Forrester Research for How To
  Select A Market Research Portal Approach,
  published Feb. 2008
• Based on 2007 usage results, Verizon Business,
  IT, and Verizon Primary Research are in
  negotiations with VIRN to upload their synthesis
  studies to SinglePoint
• Influenced vendors to include telebriefing (audio
  and PPT) files in SinglePoint feed
• Hold bi-weekly conference calls with SinglePoint
  to discuss product improvements and system
  support
• Secured all data transfers to and from the portal
  by using SSL encryption to comply with Verizons
  security policies

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Service Results

• SinglePoint usage reports provide VIRN staff
  with vital statistics needed for operational
  reviews and vendor negotiations.

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Appendix

• Site Visit Questionnaire
• SinglePoint Screen Shots
• SinglePoint Link from VIRN Website
• Search Page
• Search Results

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Site Visit Questionnaire
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Link from VIRN Website
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SinglePoint Search Page
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Search Results
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VIRN Team
Thank you for reviewing our application. Please
let us know if we can be of further
assistance. The Verizon Information Research
Network Daniel Gonzales Arlington,
VAKimberly Morgan Richmond, VAValerie Platz
Arlington, VAMarcia Schemper-Carlock Dallas,
TX Carol Sendecki Newark, NJDonna Skrzyniarz
Boston, MA