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Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater: a case study regarding a news alerting service in the engineering industry.

Ansie Martinek, Cement & Concrete Institute 

The Information Centre of the Cement & Concrete Institute has a long history of excellent customer service and is seen as a sustainable competitive advantage over other institutions in the engineering or construction world, not only to its members, but also to the public at large. 

Thirteen years ago the Info Centre started a news alerting or clipping service, initially as a quick and easy way of keeping staff members informed of what was being published regarding cement, concrete and any subject that might have an influence on our business. The service grew from a modest alerting mechanism to a booming production which was sent to individual from all our member companies, academics in the field and in later years many strategists and statisticians. 

In a quest to improve the service to the users, and after much deliberation and careful homework, a subscription was established for an electronic commercial alerting service. This service was believed to address cost and time implications of the existing “home grown” service. 

After a 6 month trial period, the commercial service was found not to satisfy the needs of the target audience and a decision was made to resort back to the in-house service, albeit in a modern and streamlined fashion.

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