On this day in P1atter History...

"Change is always challenging, demanding, exciting and sometimes frightening"

11/18/97

To all at Si1verp1atter

As you are all aware there have been changes in several departments in the company in the last few days affecting people in both the Norwood and Chiswick offices. I will clearly communicate with all of you about the reasons behind the changes and choices that we have made and to provide you with a continuing clear articulation of our focus and key activities. We have started and we will continue to use staff meetings and general meetings to communicate with you the extent of the changes that have happened and the focus of the company for the future.

A total of fourteen people beyond those previously announced by me will be leaving the company and will not be replaced. All those who are affected by these changes have been spoken with by this evening. A list of those affected and to whom work and queries relating to their business should be addressed will be sent out tomorrow morning from Norwood.

I would like to thank these people and acknowledge their contribution to the success of Si1verP1atter and wish them every happiness in their future lives.

The context for which these choices were made was the strategic planning for 1998 and beyond which I will summarise.

Our vision and mission remain the same and during and beyond 1988 we will be using three key strategies for success these can be summarised as one statement :

We will deliver a distinctive suite of integrative knowledge management solutions for access to full content from our range of multi-disciplinary bibliographic databases which will enhance further the research capability of knowledge managers in scientific, technical and medical environments around the world.. It will be net based, at global and local levels and will include a range of delivery mechanisms from electronic, document delivery and holdings. We will provide a flexible choice of business models.

Within this there are four main elements:
1) Full Content - Si1verLinker Solutions
2) Internet and web- based solutions - NetKnowledge solutions
3) Portfolio and Market Development.
4) SP Infranet, LifeBlood and infrastructure projects.

The major tactics for these strategies are

1) To release ERL 4.0 (previously ERL97) by the end of Q1 1998 including Si1verLinker support.

2) To design and have in general release ERL 5.0 (previously ERL98 ) by the end of 1998 including the integration of third party buildware and search engine.

3) Develop a full content strategy which serves to reinvent the business. Release of first generation Si1verLinker Companion Products by the end of July 1998.

4) Differentiate Si1verPlatters’ medical offerings by reversing the impact of the decline of Medline on the medical portfolio, including, launching Database Extender in Jan 1998, launch of Community Builder in April 1998, launch free internet site March 1998.

5) Focus on positioning total portfolios within IPR to maximise their strategic and financial return; in particular to increase margins by 2% over 1997. We notice that we have a sufficient number of bibliographic databases so that our expectation is that we will add no more than 6 databases next year beyond those new databases currently in process. We will also terminate thirty existing databases in 1998.

6) In subscription management we will improve renewal rates by a minimum of 5% company-wide by end of 1998.

7) In channel management we will streamline our global distribution network by eliminating distributors who do not meet clearly identified performance criteria, do not add value to our current business and/or will not add value to our future business as we see it changing. We currently have 252 active distributors. Ranked by revenue, the top 20 distributors account for 36% of all revenue generated by distributors. Conservative estimates of annual costs to support a distributor including staff time, fulfillment of product and materials range between $13-15k. We estimate at least a 25% reduction in the total number of distributors in 1998 and an estimated minimum cost savings of $800k-$900k with a twelve to eighteen month timeframe.

8) In Key account management we will increase the volume of business from all existing customers by increasing the average number of subscriptions per customer and average total order value per customer. For ERL customers we will increase average order value of ERL sites by 50% (from $22k to $33k).

9) We will implement a stable IPE/I3 toolset for SP and for partner publishing. We will plan for lights out production to occur in 1988.

10 ) We will re-engineer the business processes involving the CDB and our financial systems fully integrating our order processing and financial systems. This will be a first stage for LifeBlood.

11) We will shift the role of the Finance Department.Throughout the course of 1998 the Finance Department will divide its activities into two prime components, Accounting and Finance.. Accounting’s goal will be to provide timely and accurate standardized reports and other information to all areas of operations. The accounting function will eliminate all accounting practices and reporting functions that do not provide necessary and sufficient information in the operation of the business.. As an ongoing practice, the accounting function will continue to streamline and simplify financial practices of the company.

The finance arm of the department will partner with the business units to ensure wise financial investment in new business activities and to further leverage current financial opportunities. This will be accomplished through the creation of business models, development of business cases and closer relationships with the various business units.

12) We will seek ways to maximise our return and opportunities in our two end user business lines, Health and Safety in the UK and 5PED in Newton, to this end as part of our focusing of the business we have made the decision to sell 5PED and RichardW will lead the sale process together with the 5PED team.

As well as these dozen tactics we will not do certain proposed or existing activities. These are

1) Anything outside the above and specifically
2) More than 6 new bibliographic databases
3) Full text databases in-house
4) Wispers
5) Databases for non research rich environments
6) CJK This project is postponed whilst we investigate any alternative exterior ways of reaching the same objective.

Change is always challenging, demanding, exciting and sometimes frightening and our marketspace is changing fast, we are uniquely positioned to thrive in this turmoil and I look forward with great excitement to working together with you all during this period and into the future.

These strategies and tactics will enable us to lead our marketspace into the new world which is emerging and will enable us to continue to be the the focal point for librarians and their knowledge worker customers, enhancing the quality, speed and accuracy of their research.

This mission is truly important both for us and the market we serve, I continually remember that frieze on the Boston Public Library.

"The Commonwealth requires the education of the people as a safeguard of order and liberty "

During and after this period, if you have any questions about the changes outlined in this email, please feel free to discuss them with me directly by phone, e-mail or face to face. Just a reminder I will be in the Boston offices until December 2nd after which I will be in the London office until the New Year.

Thanks

Brian

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