Around Ricarda Rodatus from Oracle, IIAR> AR Team of the Year 2019 in 10 questions

Ricarda Rodatus (@rodatusr, LinkedIn) is the VP of Analyst Relations at Oracle, leading the analyst relations team recognised  last Thursday night as the IIAR> AR Team Of The Year 2019 discloses which analyst she misses the most and reveals a French secret.

1. What’s been your career path to becoming an AR pro?
   After a diverse career mostly in  product marketing and communication – locally & globally, hardware & software – I honed my AR skills over the past 5 years as global AR lead at Oracle. Throughout my path in the workplace I tried to always keep true to my passions of being a culturally-aware relationship all-rounder, enthusiastic about products, creating awareness & demand, focused on building world-class teams, processes, and structures to serve an ever so demanding stakeholder community. I would still define myself as a marketing generalist, having customer needs and audience desires at the heart of my every day focus.
   
2. What are your opinions of the IT Analyst Marketplace and where do you see it going?
   The analyst market place is definitely changing and transforming looking at the firm landscape, the vendor environment, and the customers transformation. Customers are definitely more educated today and more informed than ever before. Customers these days have much more choice to obtain vendor performance evaluations based on peer reviews, crowd sourcing, and online consulting. There is a big and broad community out there needing and providing services. New communication channels are created every day to serve customers with information and supporting them for their decision taking needs. Analysts are still very important, yet need to adjust and adapt to a new set of customers, new buying behavior, and new competing forces.
   
3. What’s your typical day like?
   There is no such thing as a typical day. Of course I have a regular cadence with my team, our executive stakeholders and the analysts, managing more or less regular events, and regular reports. Yet every day is different, needs creative adjustment, agile answers to newly rising questions. Of course I work hard, yet I’m also finding time to play – walking, hiking, and running with my dog, which gives me creative ideas for the job at hand, lightbulb moments for previously seemingly unsolvable past issues, and forward-looking ideas for innovative strategy adjustments.
   
4. Now, c’mon, tell me an Analyst horror story (no names mentioned)?
   I guess I was really lucky throughout my AR career to not encounter anything that would qualify as a horror story. Not even remotely. Yes there is pressure from many different sides, there are difficult situations, and we face tough conversations within Oracle and with our analysts, yet I feel we are always able to work out hardships and in the end time and dedicated hard work will always heal all wounds.
   
5. How does your company structure its AR team?
   We are very logically and simply structured around our product portfolio & solutions, industries and regions. We have a technical focus on product development- and management on the one side and a go-to-market focus on marketing and demand gen on the other side. We have a very flat hierarchy. And we try to give our AR Managers at least 2 coverage pillars to focus on, and cross-functional responsibilities for everyone to be able to support our team success. 
   
6. Tell us about one good experience you have had with an analyst or analyst firm?
   I specifically enjoy working with one fairly big analyst firm where I feel we have a similar value system, we speak the same language, we often use the same words looking at the same strategic challenges. They are like us very customer-focused, trying to deliver creative customer assets. They are always keen to show up at our events, while we are also making a good showing at their events. It feels like a partnership, where we value their enthusiastic engagement, and value their fair judgement.
   
7. Which analyst firm do you miss that’s been acquired or analyst that’s left the industry?
   Vernon Turner, Ex-IDC. I liked his calm and composed demeanor, his broad view and detailed analysis. I enjoyed the conversations with him, and valued him as an experienced analyst, and interesting human being. 
   
8. What’s your favorite niche analyst firm and why?
   G2. They started as a Peer Review firm, added research based on the customer voice, and just recently customer consulting to their charter. As a newcomer they hired capable talent, acquired great financial funding, and constantly adjust their model in an agile way.
   
9. Any hobbies or favourite restaurant / food that you’d like to share?
   I like a little casual place called “Chouquet’s” on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. It’s close to our home, I can take our dog there, my business partners enjoy the laid-back atmosphere, it gets the sun almost all day (if the sun is out and about), and it’s French J.
   
10. What is your biggest challenges for the upcoming 6 months? And for the next 30 mn?
    How to amplify our valuable assets even more inside and outside the company – with our employees, sales force, with customers and prospects. We need to use our current assets, find more assets, and get them through the appropriate channels to the right audience, looking at the digital experience of our customers and analysts.

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