A new services industry brought about by the Information Age:
Research Assistance: A (presumably subscription based) service whereby you contact an 'information officer' (either by phone or by e-mail) and submit a request for them to find out whatever it is that you want to know. The person on the other end of the line will subsequently run a search for you... and then either relay the information back to you over the phone, or if the results are more complex... send off an organized e-mail with the desired knowledge (and perhaps additional links to more resources).
When might such a service be useful? In a word, often. Be imaginative. You could use this for something as simple as finding directions to the nearest hotel... or for something as complicated as a report on the implications of biometric technology. Granted the service will be of less worth when you're in seek of an opinion, but for fact based research the possibilities are seemingly endless.
Two companies I've found in this space so far (I'm sure there's more):
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inetnow.com
iNetNow is the shortest distance between you and the information you need. Any time of day, anywhere in the US, iNetNow members can dial 1-888-iNetNow (463-8669) and talk with a professional Web surfer who can access any information from the Internet. Directory assistance, comparison shopping, e-commerce, directions and travel assistance, traffic and weather reports, stock market updates, contact and calendar information, and any other information or service that can be found on the Internet can be accessed via a simple phone call to 1-888-iNetNow.
Most popular uses of iNetNow include: Directions from the road - and traffic reports Comprehensive directory assistance Comparison shopping and e-commerce purchases Stock reports and detailed financial news Access to personal contacts and schedule information Restaurant reviews and reservations And anything else available on the Internet
We can also find out if a flight is arriving on schedule, check weather for any city in the world, read & send emails, find show times for any movie, send instant messages, research any individual or company, get city guides for major U.S. cities, sport scores, do your homework, find pet care information, find out how to cook an artichoke, find out how tall James Bond is (any of them), discover the life cycle of a three-toed sloth, check the score of the Carolina game, figure out how old Bill Clinton is, tell you who played the Scarecrow in the "Wizard of Oz", learn when "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is playing in Peoria ... you name it. If it's on the Internet, we can get it for you - anytime, anywhere.
>>>Premium Services: Not every request is within the scope of an iNetNow Basic Call. These requests, such as extensive research and eConcierge services, fall under the category of iNetNow Premium Services. Premium Services are billed at a rate of $0.99 cents per minute (or as part of the iNetPlatinum250 plan). They do not count against your basic "calls" on a per-call plan.
---Research---
Research requests typically fall into three categories:
1. Compilation (typically 60 min.) Detailed lists, product comparisons, historic financial information, sports statistics, etc. Examples include: All the songs Bing Crosby recorded between 1949-1950 Contact phone numbers for the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list
2. In-depth research on a particular subject. (typically 45-60 min.) Examples include: War of 1812 - Background, important battles, and key people. Fuel cells - how do they work, what are they used for, who invented them?
3. Corporate Profiles (typically 60 min.) Background information on key executives, financial information, industry information, major competitors, contact info, company history, etc.
---eCONCIERGE---
Rely on iNetNow's eConcierge team to handle your time-consuming and necessary personal business requests - use them as you would your own assistant! Examples include: Making phone calls on your behalf, Securing restaurant reservations and tee times, Reading emails Calling stores to see if a product is in stock, Faxing information, Comprehensive travel assistance and reservations , On-line requests that require log-ins, usernames or passwords , Bulletin board posts , On-line form completion , Transcribing
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terralycos.com
Terra Lycos to unveil mobile information service By Reshma Kapadia, Reuters
23 April 2001 Terra Lycos SA said Web surfers looking for information while on their mobile phones will find humans rather than automation on the other end beginning on Monday with the Internet media company's new subscriptions-based wireless service.
The new service, called "Lycos 411," is the latest move by the company to diversify its revenue base as Internet media companies struggle to maintain growth in the wake of economic uncertainty and the dot-com shakeout, which have caused ad spending to dry up.
"We felt going after a diversified revenue model is an important strategy going forward so we are looking for services where people would recognize instantly that the service should be a subsciptions-based (one)," said Nick Werthessen, senior product manager for Lycos Anywhere at Terra Lycos.
Terra Lycos was created last year by the merger of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica SA's Internet arm Terra Networks and U.S.-based search engine Lycos.
Through the service, Terra Lycos users in the United States will be able to access by phone such content as news, driving directions, and yellow pages information by calling a 1-800 phone number. Subscribers can also use the service, which will be manned by 50 operators initially, to send e-mails.
Users who want deeper research can request a personal Internet assistant to call back, fax or e-mail the response and pay a per-minute charge for the task.
"We felt this was one that was obvious as a subscriptions service and added a lot of value to people who wanted information while away from their PC," Werthessen told Reuters.
Some analysts were dismissive of the service's near-term impact on the company, with one analyst calling it "a lot of noise" considering that companies like Terra Lycos still - and will for the foreseeable future - make the bulk of their revenues from advertising.
The launch of the service comes as the company is in talks to replace Mobilee, which was providing speech recognition technology for Lycos' voice portal. The company's deal with Mobilee has ended after Natural MicroSystems Corp. bought the voice portal software company, Werthessen said.
The voice portal was launched last year to let users access information from the Web through voice commands on wireless phones. Several companies have introduced voice portals in recent months as part of their "everywhere" strategies to let users access the Internet through means other than the personal computer.
"We are between periods on speech recognition. We do think it has a valuable (role) as part of the offering where a user may get basic information via speech recognition and then (go to an assistant for) things they may not be able to find in application for speech," Werthessen said.
Users can access the Lycos 411 through one of several subscription plans after a free trial period. Users can pay about $1.95 a call, or a monthly plan that starts at $4.95 a month and an unlimited call plan that is $30 a month.
Terra Lycos is also working on developing more paid services based on subscriptions for wireless devices, Werthessen said.
"You will also see us doing more and more with carriers - more in terms of working with deeper partnership where we take more of a role in powering their service," Werthessen said. "One opportunity for this service would be working with all the directory assistance programs out there and offering this level of service to their audiences."
Some analysts were skeptical about the Lycos 411 service.
"It depends on what the operator is searching for. Searching the Web with a live operator - I find it hard to believe that is a promising idea," said Seamus McAteer, analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix.
"A concierge-type service where you can book a spot at a restaurant or get driving directions may well appeal to a subset of consumers, but again it's one of those services that has to be marketed as an element of an overall package," said McAteer. "Voice portals and 'portal everywhere' strategies haven' really taken off," McAteer said. "Everyone is grasping for straws right now."
© 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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