Introducing constellation research

• Ray Wang leaves Altimeter Group to form syndicated research house
• Starts business with incredible global analysts and advisors including Vinnie Mirchandani, Phil Fersht, Dennis Howlett, Paul Papadimitriou and Brian Solis
• 70% of customers will be buy-side

When Ray Wang explains the thinking behind the newest analyst firm on the market, a few words are frequently used:

Disruption –  Experience – Research

These areas are at the crux of what Constellation Research is about and are probably the reasons why I believe that they will automatically be listed as a Tier One firm – something that is critical if they are to survive.

Disruption

Ray clearly states that they will partner with their clients to:

Guide buyers through a dizzying array of disruptive business models and technologies

The words that jump out at me here are ‘buyers’ and ‘disruption’.  This firm has a focus on end users – this is nirvana for vendors and something that many peers in the industry aspire to have in their client base. The objective is to have 70% buy-side business which considering they are starting day 0 with this number at 60% makes me believe that this isn’t wishful thinking.

The focus on disruptive technologies is prudent – whereas there are hundreds of analysts covering every aspect of technology, Ray has pragmatically realised that there is a need to bring order to chaos and advise people on trends, buyers’ POV and  technology in an independent and objective fashion.

Their disruptive and innovation coverage will be:

Cloud	Mobile	Analytics and game theory	Unified communications and video
Next Generation Government	Internet of things	Legacy optimization

Experience

The team that Constellation Research brings to the table are nothing short of magnificent. Each player in their own right can stand out amongst the crowd as a leader in their field with a decade or more of experience who are not afraid to make tough calls.

It’s the collection of individuals brands that are important to Constellation as people will instinctively ask for advice from those analysts they trust. The issue of ‘contributing analyst’ is something that plays heavily on my mind – does a customer that goes to Phil Fersht get Horses for Sources or Constellation? It seems that this is all worked out via ethics and integrity policy which sounds good but I’ll be interested to see how easy this will be for clients to navigate.

I look forward to seeing how this group of analysts will push the edges on the research agenda.

Research

Ray left Altimeter on good terms and cited the main reason for his departure was a drive to focus on syndicated research. In an environment where I have traditionally seen more focus lean towards free research, it is interesting to see a firm who are going back to the traditional focus on paid content.

Constellation states that they will engage via open and syndicated research models:

The planned coverage areas are:

• Big data and semantic web
• Clean tech
• Cloud security
• Digital marketing transformation
• Mobile development
• Strategic HCM
• Industry verticals
• BFSI
• Energy
• Retail
• Technology
• Interactive ad networks

No doubt more areas will follow as disruptive influences take their course but at least for now their agenda seems smart.

Opinion

Without doubt, Ray’s departure from the superstar analyst firm to setup one that focuses on syndicated research brings its own disruptive forces to an increasingly shrinking analyst market. Fundamentally a research house, Constellation has brought together leaders in the field who like to write and advise buyers.

This firm will not be include bright young graduates, box counters or be a replica of the Enterprise Irregulars. Instead it sets out to be what made Giga, all those years ago, a unique and special firm.

Good look to Constellation Research.

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