The IIAR> Analyst of the Year 2010

This year the IIAR> conducted the largest survey yet to identify who AR pro’s believe are the best firms and analysts in the market. These awards, summarising the votes of over 150 participants, reflect a significant change from previous winners and demonstrate that in a year of monetary uncertainty more focus has been spent geared towards the large international houses as oppose to the regional boutiques.

The survey asked respondents several questions:

• For eight different segment areas who are the best firms and analysts
• Which is the firm of the year
• Who is the analyst of the year
• Why do AR pros work with analysts
• What are the most important aspects of an AR job

Winner – IIAR> Analyst of the Year 2010

The winner of the analyst of the year was nominated for the following reasons:

• Fresh opinion, unafraid, great perspective, uses social media to do excellent research of users
• Sphere and impact of influence without the massive infrastructure enjoyed by larger firms
• Changing the landscape in a very positive way

Our congratulations go to Phil Fersht from HfS for winning this prestigious honour. Commenting on this Phil explained:

“I am personally honoured to receive this award – it’s been a very busy year as we’ve launched a new analyst brand from our social media platform, but this is proof to the industry that the new analyst model is working and our hard work is paying off.  On behalf of the HfS research team, I’m delighted to be recognized by the IIAR, and am excited with what 2011 will bring to the analyst industry.”

Winner – IIAR> Analyst Firm of the Year 2010

Complementing this honour, is the analyst firm of the year. The winner of this category was associated with the following reasons:

• Very knowledgeable
• Influential with customers and the media
• Consulting ability

Our congratulations go to Gartner for taking first place for firm of the year. Peter Sondergaard talking about this win said:

“On behalf of all my colleagues at Gartner, we’re delighted to be named ‘analyst firm of the year’ by the IIAR.“

Winners – IIAR> Segment Awards for Analysts and Firms 2010

The final set of awards is focussed on identifying who the best firm and analyst is for specific segment areas. The winners in each of these areas are:

What is immediately obvious is that aside from a few specialist firms, the recognised global tier 1’s have had phenomenal success in this years awards. As to why these firms were selected over others I will leave to another post.

The final two questions that the AR pros provided answers to was how and why they work with analysts. Whereas many people previously assumed that the main reasons why people worked with analysts was to validate a decision already made, it is interesting to note that the key factors of message testing and market/competitive understanding has risen to the forefront.

Our congratulations once again go to Phil Fersht and Gartner for their tremendous success and we look forward to working with you and all the analyst community in 2011.

Recap of the IIAR Analyst of the year 2010 winners:

• IIAR Analyst of year 2010: Phil Fersht (@pfersht, blog) / Horses for Sources
• IIAR Firm of the year 2010: Gartner
• IIAR Hardware analyst of theof the year 2010: Phil Dawson / Gartner
• IIAR Software analyst of the year 2010: John Rymer (@johnrrymer, blog) / Forrester
• IIAR Services analysts of the year 2010: Liz Herbert (@lizherbert, blog) / Forrester and Dane Anderson / Gartner
• IIAR Outsourcing analyst of the year 2010: Phil Fersht (@pfersht, blog) / Horses for Sources
• IIAR Telecoms analyst of the year 2010: Chris Barnard (@cembarnard ?)/ IDC
• IIAR Developper analyst of the year 2010: Thomas Murphy (blog) / Gartner
• IIAR Green IT analyst of the year 2010: Chris Mines (@chrismines, blog) / Forrester and David Metcalfe / Verdantix
• IIAR Social Media analyst of the year 2010: Charlene Li (@charleneli, blog) / Altimeter Group

Links to last year’s IIAR> Analyst of the year 2009:

• Analyst of the year 2009 (part 1)
• Analyst of the year (Part 2)