One aspect of my role as a researcher for an accounting firm is to provide industry and economic outlook write-ups as part of larger client projects. As a department, we subscribe to a number of different services that allow us access to reports and analysis, but I also look for other relevant sources for each topic. I often find reports that look like they may be relevant, but require a subscription that the department does not hold.
For the most part, the subscription-based model is understandable if annoying to someone like me. I wouldn't want to access the source if it weren't valuable, and if it is a business producing the data and/or analysis, it makes sense that they charge for it.
But the amount sometimes seems somewhat disproportionate. I recently found a Gartner market report that seemed likely to contain pertinent information. I knew we don't subscribe to them, but I was hoping to find a report that might be summarized or quoted elsewhere. I glanced down at the purchasing information out of curiosity... $1,295.00 for a 15 page report.
Hmmm. So that doesn't fit the budget.
Honestly though, the value-add of the information I could fish from that doesn't seem to match the price tag. It makes me wonder who would consider the data and analysis in those 15 pages actually worth it to pay out that much money. And it also makes me really curious about what kind of content is in the report! That has to be some excellent and astounding research, right?
At least I hope it is...
PS: If only I had figured out a way to charge $86 dollars a page during my undergraduate and graduate school experience... they I might have made a profit rather than being in six-digit debt.
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