Two new websites have launched in the last few weeks offering information resources for those interested in management thinking.
FTdynamo, part of business education provider FT Knowledge, bills itself as a 'management portal' and aims to bring together 'the latest business and management theory and practice'. ManagementFirst.com is also offering "opportunities to increase your knowledge within the field of management" by providing access to "top quality management research and theory linked with news and
current awareness in our content-rich management portal."
So, on the face of it, two sites providing a very similar service. Contributors to FTdynamo include management consultancies, Arthur Andersen, CapGemini Ernst & Young, KPMG Consulting and 3i. ManagementFirst.com relies on a database of sources it can draw on courtsey of the Anbar International Management Database, more of which anon. Both sites have a clear, if slightly wordy look to them, and are easy enough to find your way around.
On entering FTdynamo, the first thing you notice on clicking on any of the articles is that a log-in is required. FTdynamo are offering a free weekly trial for the service, which should give a fairly good feel for whether it's worth signing up properly. A key selling point is the Latest Thinking area, featuring Briefing News, offering "features and summaries from the business press" and Features and Periodical Reviews, which offer some interesting and pertinent comment on current business issues. It's worth bearing in mind though that Periodical Reviews is pulling content from a number of different web sources. There's also a Knowledge Store containing surveys and reports, a glossary of management terms, and Business Fundamentals, 'resources and advice on how to do it'. One nice feature is the function to build up your own 'briefcase' of articles that interest you. The Business Fundamentals area is sadly a little thin on the ground and focusses mainly on cultural briefings. Genius Direct, which aims to profile management movers and shakers also suffers from a lack of content - there are currently a few interviews and some profiles of top thinkers. The most interesting area of the site is probably FT Mastering, a sort of topical briefings area. One thing to note is that these three sections are a little confusing in their definitions - Features and FT Mastering appear very similar, for example, although FT Mastering goes into far more depth.
In terms of content, there's less to say about ManagementFirst.com purely because less of it is immediately accessible. There is a useful links section though, including one to yours truly! The Expert Channels do however contain a small selection of fairly lengthy articles rather than news items on a range of management topics to whet your appetite before moving on to the key database of 29,000 articles which form the Anbar International Management Database. Offered on a pay-per-view basis at £6 a go, there appear to be stacks of articles from lots of different journals here, and a synopsis of the article is offered before you buy. An article of the day is also freely accessible. One gripe about this potentially very useful (if potentially costly) resource - the article store is not immediately obvious if you want to access a breakdown of what's available - we managed to get there and then couldn't work out how to find it again!
Both of these sites offer the chance to share ideas and enter into discussions online, but the FT Ideas Exchange appears empty, although to give it its due, it's still in its early stages. ManagementFirst.com has however got its user input up-and-running, with an active discussion area with recent postings evident. The Information Exchange at ManagementFirst.com offers the chance to post information about works in progress and events, although we couldn't actually view the events listing.
So, to the costs of accessing each service. ManagementFirst.com is offering free access to a number of services on its site, and is charging £6 per item in the pay-per-view section. Access to FTdynamo is available at three different levels: $250 (about £175) buys access to the Briefings and Latest Thinking areas, $500 (around £350) buys additional access to the Knowledge Store and Ideas Exchange and the abiliy to create your own library of documents. For $750 (about £530) you will also be able to access Genius Direct and the Symposium area with planned cyberconferences, although there's nothing here at present to judge this service on.
Although both sites have only recently launched, and FTdynamo in particular has yet to become fully developed, there is potentially a lot of useful information available on both. The main question with these two services has to be whether to pay up front for an entire service, or to pay for access as you need it.
