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IIAR> Best Practice Call: AR Measurement

By on Wednesday 17th June 2020 in AR, AR Best practices, AR debates, Destrier AR, IIAR Forum, IIAR Webinar, Resonance, Upcoming 0

The next Best Practice paper in the IIAR>’s new series on best practice will focus on a topic that should be close to the heart of every AR professional: AR Measurement.

Often thought to be the Holy Grail of AR, how can a vendor (cost-) effectively track the true RoI of engagement with industry analysts? Is it about recommendations and proving influence over deals? Perhaps you are tracking touchpoints, endorsements, the number of Magic Quadrants in which a vendor is included, or even the number of times your favorite analyst tweets about your brand. Or perhaps you focus on softer factors such as analyst sentiment?

We’ll take a deep dive into this evergreen topic in an interactive IIAR> session co-hosted by Nadia Nizar (@nadianizar, LinkedIn), at Resonance and IIAR> Board member Simon Jones (@SimonDestrier, LinkedIn). This is the first step in the production of a new IIAR> white paper on successful measurement strategies.

We invite you to join us and share your views: We are gathering opinions on effective AR measurement from IIAR> members, so make sure your views are heard! We want to listen to different voices and encourage a healthy debate. Also – join us and chime in if you’re interested in learning more about AR measurement – we’d like to understand your priorities.

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IIAR> Forum: Have your say on Gartner’s Initiatives for AR pros

By on Friday 12th June 2020 in AR, AR debates, Destrier AR, Gartner, IIAR Forum, IIAR Webinar, IT Analysis Firms, KCG, Spotlight AR, Upcoming 0

Hard on the heels of Gartner’s presentation to IIAR> members on its new initiatives for AR professionals, we’re opening up the conversation to our member in an open forum session.

Join us for a no holds barred debrief – to be held under the Chatham House Rule – where we’ll drill into the thought-provoking insights shared by Gartner’s Matt Goldman and Lindsay McKinney. Register now for the moderated open forum discussion to be held on Thursday June 18th at 0800 PDT / 1100 EDT / 1600 BST.

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IIAR> Webinar: Future Shock: The Coming State of Analyst Relations

By on Thursday 24th October 2019 in AR, AR Best practices, AR debates, Oracle 0
Gerry van Zandt and Ludovic Leforestier - IIAR

The IIAR> will soon release a new and long-awaited white paper that provides fresh insights and information into how the field of Analyst Relations will evolve and change over the coming 5-10 years.  To mark the debut of this white paper, IIAR will host a webinar on the 5th December2019 at 0800 PST / 1000 EST / 1600 GMT to outline some of its key findings, and to discuss important considerations that will be relevant to everyone working in the Analyst Relations field.

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[GUEST POST] Looking Back at Three Analyst Firms by Barry Rabkin / Market Insight Group

By on Tuesday 5th February 2019 in AR debates, Guest Posts, Guest posts – Analysts, IDC, IDC Financial Insights, Ovum 0

By Barry Rabkin (LinkedIn, @Impactoftech), President & Principal Analyst, Market Insight Group, Ltd.

 

Barry Rabkin / Market Insights GroupI was fortunate to become an insurance industry analyst in 1997.

Before that time, I had worked in the business side of the insurance industry for 17 years (primarily in marketing and/or market research across all major lines of business) and then due to, what was to prove a very lucky event in hindsight, being caught up in a purge from John Hancock, becoming a management consultant. After eight years as a management consultant, I got and grabbed the opportunity to become an insurance industry analyst. I definitely found my true professional love being a part of the analyst community. [One difference between a management consultant and an analyst? Analysts don’t have to be nice!]

My insurance industry analyst experience included leading or launching and leading insurance strategic advisory services in the US and the UK. Looking back at those experiences at META Group, Financial Insights (IDC), and Ovum, these highlights standout to me. BTW Before going into my highlights I want to state that I respected all three firms for not being just vertical (i.e. industry) analyst firms but instead were homes for analysts from a large variety of IT and Telco disciplines as well as having vertical analysts. Continue Reading →

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IIAR Discussion Group on “The Future of Analyst Relations” on January 30th

By on Thursday 24th January 2019 in AR debates, IIAR, IIAR Discussion Group, IIAR Webinar 1

Gerry van Zandt and Ludovic Leforestier - IIARWhat is the future of Analyst Relations looking like?  How is our field evolving?

Have you recently thought about:

  • Whether AR is evolving into “Influencer Relations”?
  • How AR is changing to meet the evolving IT industry analyst firm landscape?
  • How AR can adapt to — and adopt — new ways of measuring AR productivity and effectiveness?
  • What the “next chapter” in the AR field will be?

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Peter Sondergaard leaves Gartner

By on Friday 24th August 2018 in AR debates, ethics, Gartner, Gartner Symposium, People on the move 0

Peter Sondergaard at the Gartner IT Symposium (IIAR blog)Several pieces have already been published on the  unceremonious departure of Peter Sondergaard, Gartner EVP of Research (LinkedIn, @petersonderg)already (ZD Net, Research Live, Kea), none adding any facts above and beyond the SEC filing.

We ran a quick poll yesterday and results weren’t conclusive: some will miss Peter who has been one of Gartner’s stars and highest earners over the years, masterminding the Gartner Symposium keynotes and presiding over the research agenda. Others welcome the change.

He is replaced by Mike Harris, formerly head of IT research (GITL). He was himself succeeded by Yvonne Genovese who moved from heading Gartner for Marketing Leaders (GML) where she drove high growth from a small base to a sizeable business.

AR pros should monitor closely research direction, quality and methodologies following this leadership change.

We wish good luck to Mike in his new role and send a heartfelt appreciation to Peter, also wishing him the best for his next steps.

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[GUEST POST] Hsu: AR must bet bigger on fewer analysts

By on Thursday 19th July 2018 in AR, AR Agencies, AR Best practices, AR debates, Guest posts – AR pros, Kea 0

Andrew Hsu‘s (LinkedIn) views on AR prioritization are handy. In a recent presentation, he stressed the role of prioritisation in helping us to think about AR, be more refined than our instincts can allow and to help us justify the choices we made when we allocated limited Analyst Relations resources.
Andrew’s starting point is the need to make smart, big bets. Rather than randomly allocating effort without focussing on influence, we want to focus our energy on a smaller number of analysts and, I think it’s implied, to boost the impact of the analysts we prioritize.
The common-sense of AR is problematic. We focus on the people we know, the ones who are cynical about our brand and the ones with whom we do the most business. Instead, Andrew says that we need to focus on both our business goals and the attributes of the analysts. He hits the nail on the head when he says that AR people are often ‘doing God’s work’ – merely serving the analysts. Instead, we need to focus on the timely needs of the business. Continue Reading →

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[GUEST POST] How not to be an analyst? By Jon Collins

By on Tuesday 29th May 2018 in AR debates, GigaOM, Guest posts – Analysts, IIAR Webinar, IT Analysis Firms 0

Today’s guest post is a long(wish) read by Jon Collins from GigaOm (LinkedIn, @jonno) following our IIAR Webinar on “How not to be an industry analyst?“

If you enjoy this, why not check his “How not to write an autobiography?“

 

Jon Collins: How not to be an industry analyst (IIAR website)Introduction – a glass of wine…

For a start, a bit of background. I never meant to be an industry analyst, not as such: indeed, having done my time as a programmer, then IT manager and various forms of consultant, I hadn’t a clue what one was. Back in 1998, I was responsible for training and other informational services at a mid-sized consulting firm when a report from a company called “Butler Group” came across my desk. That was my first connection with the world of analysts.

A year or so later, I was looking for something new (a cyclic habit in my career); I was also drinking a rather fine glass or two of red, when I stumbled across an advert from Bloor Research. With my inhibitive defences down, I banged off an email straight away.  I barely had time to regret it, as the following Monday I went for an interview… and the rest is an 18-year career.

These were exciting times. At the turn of the millennium the dot-com was still bubbling up: we launched a couple of web sites and face to face forums at the time (IT-Director and IT-Analysis) and set to making the most of the complexity and uncertainty, charging for clarity and simplicity. I remain proud of my 2001 report about the inevitable move towards universal service provision. We call it the cloud these days.

I paraphrase history, but by and large, analyst firms emerged in the mid-1990’s, as attention moved from bespoke ‘turnkey’ solutions and towards custom-built software. From there, they made sure to cover the space like any good ecosystem. So, has anything changed, over the past two decades?

I have worked for a variety of smaller firms and I have done a short stint at a bigger one —IDC. I’ve spent an awful lot of time hanging out with analysts, AR professionals and the firms they represent. I’ve also spent some time not being analyst, working behind the scenes to help some of the largest vendors tell their stories. And this, to an extent, is mine.

I don’t know if you are familiar with the C.S.Lewis classic, The Screwtape Letters — written from an old devil to a little demon? In a similar vein, I thought I’d capture some of the things I might tell my younger self. As they say, getting it wrong is the best form of experience, and it is good to share.

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Le CXP Group moves to consulting – CEO Yannick Carriou interviewed

By on Friday 25th May 2018 in AR, AR debates, BARC, Berlecon, CXP, IT Analysis Firms, PAC 1

CXP Group logo (IIAR website)Le CXP is one of the oldest IT analysis firms around. It was created in 1973, six years before Gartner, under the auspices of the French Ministry of Industry by some of the largest French companies at the time: Air France, Anotec, Bred, BSN (now Danone), EDF, RATP and the Société Générale. Its remit was to provide expertise on packaged software -hence the name in French, the deliciously quaint Centre d’Expertise des Progiciels. It’s been doing just this plus some consulting for IT users, gently and in French (Americans would call this in “local language”) until it bought PAC, a rival but vendor-focussed French firm, in 2014. At last I should say, and after PAC’s founder, Pierre Audoin, passed away.

Before this, Le CXP bought German BI specialist BARC in 2011 and PAC snapped German firm Berlecon on the same year. As a result, we’ve got a Paris based firm doing more business in Germany than France. They must like it there.

Are you still following me?

On May 15th, its new CEO, Yannick Carriou (LinkedIn, @YCarriou, ex. Ipsos and TNS) announced Le CXP was buying Ardour, a business consulting firm. Here’s his exclusive interview. Continue Reading →

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Common Misconceptions and 4 Key Areas Tech Start-ups Can Benefit from Industry Analyst Relations

By on Monday 30th April 2018 in AR, AR Best practices, AR debates 1

Photo: business man writing business strategy concept by Phenom Apps

Photo: business man writing business strategy concept by Phenom Apps

Industry Analyst Relations is often characterized as a “Pay to Play” endeavor with little opportunity for the bootstrapped tech venture; this is not the case. I would argue that there are opportunities for a dedicated Tech Startup to benefit from pursuing Industry Analyst Relations (IAR) even without a large budget to spend. Keep in mind Industry Analysts are knowledge focused experts and there can be equitable and beneficial exchanges of information for those who have put forth the effort to develop their Analyst Relations program and build the necessary relationships in the community. For those new to Industry Analyst Relations and who are considering the reasons to perform IAR, below are some common misconceptions, followed by four compelling reasons to develop an Industry Analyst Relations mission early in a Tech Startup. Continue Reading →

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IIAR Discussion Group: negotiating with Forrester. Are you getting the best value from your contract?

By on Wednesday 4th April 2018 in AR, AR Best practices, AR debates, Forrester, IIAR Analyst Of The Year, IIAR Tragic Quadrant, IIAR UK, IIAR Webinar 1

Feeling the pinch in your negotiation with Forrester on your subscription contract?Do you feel comfortable in buying the multiple seats being pushed your way? Is Forrester covering the technology and business areas that are important for you?  You’re not alone – many of your peers and IIAR members have commented (see the IIAR Tragic Quadrant 2017)

IIAR negotiating with forrester. aniruddho Mukherjee, ludovic leforestier

Forrester seems to force sell multiple seats, TEIs etc during renewals. Forrester analysts may be amongst the top IIAR Analyst of the Year 2017 but is Forrester seeing an exodus of top talent? As per the IIAR Analyst Firm of the Year 2017 survey, AR professionals mentioned that they felt a flip flop in Forrester’s focus on various key topics and verticals. Also the research subscription costs seem to be increasing at 10-20% yoy. They also felt that while Forrester had some great visualisation of data BUT insights were focused on niche topics like Customer Experience, Business Technology, Software and Marketing. Many Wave’s have not been renewed while others are renewed in an irregular cycle. Continue Reading →

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Wrap-up: IIAR Germany 2018 kick-off

By on Monday 12th February 2018 in AR Agencies, AR Best practices, AR briefing tips, AR debates, Destrier AR, Events, Gartner, IIAR, IIAR Germany, IIAR Networking Event, IIAR News 0

IIAR German Chapter meeting at Restaurant Ella, MunichA few inches of snow in the deep midwinter in Munich didn’t stop the 2018 IIAR German chapter kick-off from going ahead, with six intrepid AR professionals getting together to exchange news, views and the occasional snippet of gossip – under Chatham House rules, of course.

Hosted by IIAR Germany chapter leads Yvonne Kaupp (@YveKaupp, LinkedIn) and Simon Jones (@simondestrier, LinkedIn), the networking event was focused on the topic of “how to run an effective inquiry”, with IIAR members and guests (our “prospective members”) sharing best practice and experiences. One point which came through loud and clear is that everyone is nervous about running their first analyst inquiry calls – usually related to having enough questions to ask in a 30-minute call. Continue Reading →

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[GUEST POST] Moving AR into IR…..

By on Thursday 8th February 2018 in AR, AR debates, Guest Posts, Guest posts – AR pros, Kea 6
Duncan Chapple / Kea - For the IIAR blogInvestor relations just took over Analyst Relations at Tata Consultancy Services, an IT Services giant. Is IR about to eat AR for lunch? TCS has decided on the reorganisation after a year that included significant leadership changes in the firm’s analyst relations team.
In most tech organizations, AR sits within corporate marketing. This has been a natural home for AR though, as we know, not always appreciated but seen as a necessary function that is needed as part of a wider marketing organization. Most sensible senior executives know how important the analysts are in the overall ecosystem.

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IIAR Roundtable Findings: How similar are the Sourcing Advisor Relations and Analyst Relations roles in the US? . . .

By on Friday 26th January 2018 in AR debates, IIAR, IIAR SAR, IIAR Virtual Chapter, IIAR Webinar, ISG 0

IIAR Sourcing Advisory GroupA few years ago, I transitioned from an AR Practitioner to an Analyst & Advisor Practitioner and have met a few others like me.  I have also met  Analyst Relations professionals who have been thinking about transitioning to Sourcing Advisor Relations (SAR).  To discuss the SAR role in more detail, Ed Gyurko (LinkedIn, @edgyurko) and I created the IIAR SAR Workgroup. I hosted a roundtable webinar and this blog is a summation of that webinar.

A new breed of (Sourcing Advisor Relations) SAR is emerging, whose job resembles that of a solutions broker. To succeed, a new skill-set is needed. For analyst relations professionals, the gap is widening and it’s becoming harder simply to move over into Advisor Relations.

As we’ve heard from many sources, the big deal is dead. Buyers have been buying for some time and have become mature, relying less on advisors to assist them with the “big deals”. Continue Reading →

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IIAR Webinar: Crisp Research outlines European expansion

By on Wednesday 21st June 2017 in AR, AR debates, Crisp Research, Destrier AR, IIAR Germany, IIAR Webinar 0

This spring, Crisp Research announced the appointment of well-known industry analyst Stefan Ried to head up a new practice area focused on the Internet of Things. For @Crisp_Research, his arrival was a big step – signaling aspirations beyond its core DACH market (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) to grow and cover all of Europe. And for @StefanRied, it was a return to the analyst industry after spending the last two years with a vendor.
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BREAKING: Gartner gobbles brand benchmarking agency L2

By on Monday 6th March 2017 in AR, AR debates, Gartner, IT Analysis Firms 0

2017 is definitely a a tectonic year for influencer relations: after expanding to other functions with the CEB purchase, Gartner Gartner purchases L2Inc. (NYSE:IT) announced it bought L2, a brand benchmarking agency cum research company founded by Scott Galloway.

This further reinforces its capabilities in marketing and digital, a segment coveted by rival Forrester (NASDAQ:FORR).

As IT expenditure moves to business lines and to the marketing fiction of customer experience, this is a path also trodden by consultancies: the big four (Deloitte, EY, PwC, KPMG), IT players such as IBM and Accenture and the TWICH (Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, HCL) as well as regional players such as BearingPoint have all been buying digital agencies. This potentially brings Gartner’s mainstream RAS (Research Advisory Services) in competition with those service companies as well as specialists such as Sapient Nitro (Gartner consulting sometimes already competes with some of those players. Continue Reading →

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2017, a tectonic year for influencer relations? A world post Gartner + CEB and IDC sold

By on Friday 20th January 2017 in AMR, AR, AR debates, CEB, Gartner, IDC, IT Analysis Firms 1

This January feels like our IIAR April Fool posts came early. After Gartner gobbling the largest peer-to-peer advisory firm CEB (Corporate Advisory Firm) for a cool USD 3.3 billions (2.6b in cash and stock plus 700m debt), the long awaited and many times postponed sellout of IDG, the parent company of IDC, happened yesterday.

Gartner acquisitions: META, AMR, Burton, Ideas, Software Advice, Captera, SCM WorldThose two deals are nothing less than tectonic shifts in the tech influencers space.

Firstly, the acquisition of CEB by Gartner is notable for three reasons:

1. It’s large. 3 billion dollars gorilla like.
If there was no overlap and divestures (CEB also sells some software which Gartner will have to offload to prevent conflicts of interests), the combined turnover Gartner and CEB turnover would be over USD3.3 billions (2.4b+951m) we’re seeing a 40% increase in revenues and the combined entity is on course towards 2,000 analysts. The next players, IDC and Forrester are around USD 300m in revenues, give or take. The last estimates I saw (a while back mind you) were that Gartner has anywhere between 40 to 60% market share. Having such a dominant player means higher prices (some say higher margins were the driver behind Gartner’s acquisition of META Group) and less bargaining power for buyers. It’s also obviously hard to ignore Gartner, so a little advice to vendors is maybe not to pick fights with them -such is their share of mind with technology buyers.
According to Outsell, Information, Media and Technology was around USD 1.6 trillion in 2016.
IT research was USD 4.4 billions, and according to Statista, Gartner was USD 2.4 billion and 54% market share -effectively a near monopoly (after the CEB takeover, they are grossing 3.3 billion in 2017 still according to Statista).
However, just like in the old PCM days, Gartner knows to leave scraps to second fiddles and it leaves space to disruptors -in particular on the sell-side. The IIAR Analyst Firm of the Year constantly showed that 451, Constellation, HfS and other players are definitely more than just worth looking at. And as Crawford Del Prete argues it, a second opinion can be invaluable.
2. Is Gartner plateau’ing?
With the CEB acquisition, Gartner gets access to new C-suite roles. Surely, I’d bet most CEB CIO customers also buy Gartner services and so there might be a bit of customer set duplication however CEB also serves HR, Sales, Finance and Legal functions. In fact Gartner claims it will become the leading global research and advisory company for all major functions in the entreprise.
So this is not a META Group style margins-led competitive take-out (2005) but more an expansion into new markets just like in 2009 as Gartner bought AMR, SCM World and Burton to address techies and supply chain roles.
One could infer that after years of tinkering with metrics to get more leverage, the Gartner executive team saw territory expansion as an EPS growth lever. In other words, this might signal that Gartner’s core business in IT research is plateauing? Nevertheless, with Gartner’s excellent track record in execution (IIAR members can read some tips on contract negotiation here) and international reach, expanding to other functions certainly has legs. It has already ventured in marketing and claim good growth, however Forrester still has a much better hold with this fickle audience.
The good news here for AR and influencer relations folks is the ability to leverage existing relations with Gartner to look at other audiences.
 
3. Does the age of algorithm prediction also apply to Gartner?
Personally, I believe the most significant impact of this acquisition is cultural. After buying and developing no less than three peer reviews offerings Gartner is moving further in the peer to peer advisory world with CEB. This is important not only because buyers value the advice from their peers more than anyone else’s but also because all of a sudden, the mighty technology priest, the feared predicator, the revered oracle becomes is demoted from his/her ivory tower. Truth ceases to be a caste monopoly and becomes the product of algorithm. Gartner famously predicted in the 2015 Symposia the age of the algorithm economy, where those become valuable IP that needs cherishing and runs the world.
As Gartner grapples with the difficult challenge of embedding more bottom-up logic in its research and offerings, it will be interesting to watch what this does to the role of the analyst: will they merely curate and socialise the result of increasingly automated insights? Looking at the profitability of Gartner’s EXP services, this might well be a wet dreams for its execs.

Where does that leave IDC and the others?

Since the disparition of founder Pat McGovern and his philanthropic wish to progress research on the human brain, the media group IDG he founded -and parent of analyst firm IDC– was up for sale for two years with several cliffhangers. We know little of Chain Oceanwide, however my bet would be for a divestiture of IDC at some point.
Whilst IDC predominantly addresses tech vendors, it also enjoys a great brand recognition and probably has the best geographical reach of all firms but none. Yet, its attempts to crack the end-user (buy-side) research and advisory services (RAS) business petered out, I suppose due to poor execution and a lack of investment in sales and go-to-market.
We’ve asked IDC to come and update the IIAR members -stay tuned!

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Constellation and the curse of the (not so) magic quadrant

By on Friday 14th October 2016 in AR Client References, AR debates, Constellation, Forrester, Forrester Wave, G2 Crowd, Gartner, Gartner Magic Quadrant, Ovum, PAC, Peer Review Sites 0

At the beginning, the intent was pure.Gartner Real Quadrant

Industry analysts, more specifically the buy-side “prescribers” exist to help technology buyers (often referred to as end-users) select the best vendors and providers. They gather insights through public and private sources such as (semi-)private vendor briefings and conversations (inquiries) with their end-user subscribers. Some analysts take hundreds of briefings and inquiries in a year, allowing them to gather unique insights on the market segments they cover. This accumulated knowledge allow them to monetise this information asymmetry as reports, consulting sessions, speaking engagements, etc.

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IIAR London Forum: Creating AR impact – are agencies an asset or a threat

By on Wednesday 7th September 2016 in AR, AR Agencies, AR Best practices, AR debates, Events, Heavy Reading, IIAR, IIAR Forum, IIAR UK 0

To kickstart Q3 and the forthcoming events season, the U.K. Chapter of the IIAR  has organised an evening of healthy debate, intelligent content and responsible drinking.

The topic for our panel discussion is an evergreen one: should vendors keep AR in-house or could they benefit from external support? panel discussion2

Agenda – Wednesday 14th September 2016 – London

  • 1800: Welcome drinks
  • 1815: Welcome note & update by the IIAR Board
  • 1830: Tutorial: Case studies in Effective External AR support, Dominic Pannell /Buzz Method (LinkedIn, @buzzmethod)
  • 1900: Panel discussion – Creating AR impact – are agencies an asset or a threat?
    Chaired by Ludovic Leforestier /Bearing Point and IIAR Board (@lludovic, LinkedIn) with

  • 2000: Analyst firm spotlight with Aditya Kishore / Heavy Reading (an Informa company)
  • 2045: Drinking Class on Gin presented by Paulina Michelak, By The Bottle
  • 2115: networking sponsored by Tenderlake and By The Bottle – Networking Through Responsible Drinking

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Don’t tell my mother I work in AR, she believes I’m a pianist…

By on Thursday 21st July 2016 in AR, AR debates 0

DonttellmymotheriaminarWhilst public relations and marketing are mainstream in commercial companies, most analyst relations (AR) professionals are often at pain to describe their role.

AR is a relatively new discipline, tracing its origins in the last 15-20 years when a handful of very large ICT firms institutionalised a function to handle consultants and analysts relation. Nowadays all major technology vendors and services players have established sizeable analyst relations (AR) departments –50 to hundred strong for mega-vendors such as IBM or HP. Its raison d’être is to liaise with industry analysts, providing them a single point of contact and managing the relationship between them and the suppliers. Continue Reading →

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