The Network Effect

I was at a conference recently and was part of a panel that discussed how Prospect Research information was shared within the organization.

Most people responded that the information was rarely shared at all. The most common explanation was that 'researchers' knew the data inside and out, and it was too 'complicated' or 'cumbersome' for 'regular' users to comprehend.

Personally, I don't buy this argument. The value and power of any informational network system, such as the telephone, the Internet, DonorPerfect, or even your circle of friends, is increased disproportionately to the number of people that use it. That is, if you double your network size, you quadruple the value.

The same holds true for DonorPerfect- it's crystal clear that those organizations that share their data across the most users, benefit the most.

Unfortunately, some people prefer to create islands of data. I call this condition MVOT, which stands for Multiple Versions of the Truth. Not only is the information not shared, it's unlikely to be updated and may be completely inaccurate!

So in the end, it's best to share the information-as much as possible and with security controls- to achieve the true power of the network effect.