What is the role of the Information Broker? Basically, this person helps the client to gather and analyse huge amount of information and research materials. There are several terms for this type of worker. They can be called Information Retrievers, Online researcher or Information Professional.
This home-based business requires very little startup cost.
The scope of work that this person undertakes includes endeavours such as:
1. Patent and Intellectual Property Research
2. Target Market demographic research
3. Competitor information research
Of course, there are many more types of work, but these are the more common ones. Who are the clients? They are usually companies and large organisations. The reason for the demand for the information broker is because many business do not have their own in-house research capabilities. Typically, Information Professionals charge the clients by hours. The charging rates vary from individual to individual as well as differences in market rates between different countries.
There are multiple ways for the information broker to gather information. It also depends on the clients needs and specifications. One common way is to search for information online using the Internet. Another way of gathering research information is through surveying and interviewing people who fall into the intended target or market groups. Such Interviews can be via the phone or face-to-face in person. Last but not least, physical libraries is also a source of information.