Quantum² : InfoStars : Rick Raske

Rick Raske

Baxter International Inc.'s Rick Raske

Baxter International Inc. is a global, diversified healthcare company that applies a unique combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide. With approximately 48,000 employees in more than 100 countries, the Information Management Center (IMC) is Baxter’s global library and information center, serving all of Baxter’s businesses, functions, and regions. Richard Raske manages large-scale client projects and formerly managed the IMC’s team of information research professionals. He has been with Baxter on-and-off since 1978. Rick is confident that the team has the expertise to handle a wide range questions supporting critical business decisions that can make a positive difference in a patient’s life.

Like any good manager, Rick gives credit to the team, “It is our staff that makes the IMC successful — our whole is greater than the sum of our parts as we collaborate with each other. We are very much a matrix organization!” He goes on to describe expertise in the broad range of products and services that the team offers, as — desktop resources (databases, eJournals, eBooks, standards), a physical library, document delivery, complex information (literature and patent) research and analysis, information product evaluation, management and training, participation on project and product development teams, consulting on information resources and best practices; and much more. In addition, they contract with specialized information providers to better provide robust and timely options to the client.

They also organize, facilitate and host a virtual and real-life Community of Practice for marketing research and competitive intelligence practitioners across Baxter. Finally, Rick mentions how the IMC played a critical part in the creation of a web-based information portal for the R&D community.

Naturally, this broad reach within the organization gives rise to questions of client perception of benefits realized by working with the information center. Rick characterizes these benefits in three categories: value, expertise, and practicality. From shared group purchases and best negotiated prices, to combined search experience of more than 150 years, to the knowledge of the world of information and the organization in general, the IMC offers an enormous array of benefits well-recognized by Baxter’s employees.

Even with all this value, more and more frequently, the client, with a decent amount of search (and find!) experience of their own, has presented increasingly complex questions and projects. Despite this increased use of desktop resources, the future of the center seems secure as metrics for expert research increases year after year. Rick confidiently explains this trend, “We’ve always been a proactive service-based organization, founded on the premise that we bring value by having the expertise needed to provide precise answers effectively and efficiently. “

However, Rick is an InfoStar because he is not one to be content at maintaining the status quo. Contacted by the Baxter IT department regarding the use of technology to help break down silos thus empowering employees to collaborate and disseminate authoritative information to help advance innovation, Rick realized the synergies between that vision and the IMC mission. From those early discussions, a joint IMC and I.T. team developed a collaboration portal, populated with authoritative content brought in to the Company through the IMC.

Yet this picture of technology and information cooperating is not actually a new idea for the information center. Rick claims that rather than a traditional library full of clients doing their own information research, the IMC has been a research-based information center and an early adopter of computerized information retrieval. He further explains that this t echnology not only allowed far-flung groups to collaborate, but has helped make it possible for the end-user to search (and find!) information 24/7, and to share that information, that basis for knowledge, with others. One of the downsides to this is that clients expect to find anything, anytime, in an instant. Technology has also undoubtedly contributed to the “everything is free on the Internet” mentality. In Rick’s opinion, “no cost to you” information has costs associated with it, even if the only costs are the (often) substantial production/publication costs. He continues that while there IS quality information available at no cost to the user on the Internet, as often as not, the internet is merely the conduit that delivers or leads one to authoritative, but costly, information.

When asked about involvement outside his own organization, Rick tells us he is a member of 3 divisions within SLA — Competitive Intelligence, Leadership & Management, and Pharmaceutical & Health Technology. However, he claims that, just as importantly, he’s a member of Baxter’s information professionals and information users community. He admonishes, “Never underestimate how much you can learn from your company colleagues and customers!”

So what does Rick see as the future of the information center? “More of the same” meaning clients will continue to find a base level of information on their own, but turn to information professionals for more complex, difficult answers. There will be a continued — and possibly increased — reliance on information professionals in regulated industries like biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. He expects to continue and increase partnering with company businesses and functions, whether it’s providing expert research to support product development, M&A activity, regulatory requirements or consulting on best known practices for sharing and managing information. On a personal mission, he plans to continue to tip over those silos of information across the company, and find ways for people to share and collaborate. Also he would welcome simple tools to analyze and graphically display the results of a literature search. Since they are already available for patents, why not for literature-based information?

In discussing how he became an information professional, Rick claims he “just kind of fell into it” because of the draw of technology — at the time, the microfilm/fiche reader-printer and the Teletype machine! Today he sees the value that quality information brings to an organization. Whether it’s cultural enlightenment in a public institution, business analytics and that one crucial piece of information that illuminates an opportunity, or developing the universe of competitive patents, they all contribute to knowledge, innovation and advancement.

In speaking of the most rewarding part of his job, Rick believes in bringing value to the organization. Whether that’s by evaluating the field of information products that fulfills a need or developing a team to be the best that that they can be, it’s always about value. “If we don’t bring more value to the organization than we cost, why should we be here?”