Högskolan i Skövde

In order to improve business performance and competitiveness it is important for firms to use data from their external environment. More and more attention is directed towards data originating external to the organization, i.e., external data. A firm can either collect this data or cooperate with an external data provider. We address the latter case and focus syndicate data suppliers (SDSs). They are the most common sources when incorporating external data into business intelligence, DSS, and DW solutions. SDSs are specialized in collecting, compiling, refining, and selling data. We provide a detailed description regarding the business idea of syndicate data suppliers and how they conduct their business, as well as a description of the industry of syndicate data suppliers. As such, the paper increases the understanding for external data incorporation and the possibility for firms to cooperate with syndicat data suppliers.