Around Nick McQuire from CCS Insight in 10 questions

Today’s IIAR> Around in 10 Question interview is with IIAR> Analyst Of The Year 2019 runner-up Nick McQuire / Vice President, Enterprise Research, CCS Insight (LinkedIn, @nickmcquire).

1. What are your coverage areas?
   Because I oversee all of our enterprise research and team of analysts, I have a broad remit! But our research distils down into five key domains: digital workplace, which itself looks at the intersecting trends of device platforms and end user computing; cloud productivity and collaboration; business applications and security and management. We also look at trends in cloud computing, enterprise AI and machine learning, Industrial IoT and with the arrival of Bola Rotibi and team this year DevOps. I personally look at AI quite a bit now but we pride ourselves in understanding the big picture across these increasingly intersecting areas.
2. What are your opinions of the IT Analysis Marketplace and where do you see it going?
   I think there a real mix of the good, bad and ugly in our marketplace. There is also a real blend of big and boutique firm as well as those who are the lead generators versus those who are the strategic advisors. Because of this, it’s hard to predict where we will end up in 5 years. What I would say is that I do think a new generation of AR pros will emerge and that more AR functions will shift from primarily a communications function to more of a strategy and product development function. [NOTE: we agree, members should register to the IIAR> Webinar on the future of AR for a discussion on this] Both trends will bring important changes in the future to how strategically AR handled by the enlightened versus those living in the past. From the analyst perspective, I would also add that the requirement for analysts (by both enterprises and vendors) to be excellent presenters and storytellers is another big change over the past few years.
3. What’s your typical day like?
   Sadly there isn’t one, which make the job so great! They can range from working from home writing and handling enquiry calls to spending time in the office in London with the team to days with clients on site. I also travel quite a bit (roughly 8-10 times a years) for the majority of our clients who are state side as well as to attend the major tech events.   
4. Now, c’mon, tell me an AR horror story?
   The vast majority of AR pros I work with are superb. I would say there have been occasions where a relationship wasn’t in place and the contact had no idea who we were. This can happen when you are in a smaller firm and I have found during my years that some companies really don’t care about diversity in opinion or voice in their organisation. There was one episode several years ago along these lines where in a briefing that I managed to beg to set up, the exec was clearly poorly briefed and called me Dave, confidently I might add, throughout the meeting #Awkward. I didn’t have the heart to tell him.
5. Any favourite AR professional you’d like to mention? Any why?
   There are so many great teams out there. I think Clare Henry and the team at Microsoft are excellent as are Regina Hoshimi, Stephanie Look and the crew at Google Cloud.
6. Tell us about one good AR practice you’ve experienced or one good AR event you’ve attended.
   Appreciate I can be a tough one to cater for at events as I cover a number of areas. But I always appreciate the thought that goes into crafting my diary and 1-1s at the big cloud events such as Microsoft Ignite, Google Cloud Next or reinvent by the teams there. It is not easy but they always manage to give me right balance and above all the big picture from left to right across their organisations.
7. What are your offerings and key deliverables? 
   I oversee a number of subscription and project-based research programs that help our clients succeed in the market. We split the deliverables into two areas: a core set of published research and advisory services. We spend most of our time on the advisory end, offering a host of capabilities including advisory boards, message testing, executive workshops, sales battle-clinics etc which bottom line, translate into being an ongoing trusted advisor and market coach for our clients. Our primary and qualitative research informs this process heavily.
8. Any hobbies or favourite restaurant / food that you’d like to share?
   As a father of a 7 and 9 year old, being a parent with my lovely wife Penny is the main thing! But I coach rugby, play a bit as well and am an avid runner. I am also a type 1 diabetic so keeping active is essential. My dog and partner in crime Mike, is also a big part of my life and help with this as well!!
9. What is your biggest challenges for the upcoming 6 months? And for the next 30 mn?
   Keeping up with the pace of change in our industry is a massive challenge but so is ensuring our clients are consistently getting value in our relationship. Keeping our customers happy is really what drives everything we do.
10. Is there another analyst whose work  you rate highly?
    Ok maybe a bit biased here but Angela Ashenden and Bola Rotibi in our team are superb in their respective fields of cloud productivity and collaboration and developer trends. Would love to see a 10 questions on them in the future

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