Gelbart Kahana Global Marketing» Gartner

The Future of the Advisory Model for Analyst Groups: A Discussion

Nancy Shapira — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:03:13 +0000

Gideon Gartner starts a great dialogue about the future of the Advisory model. Lots of analysts joined in–funny, I didnt see anyone from Gartner commenting on this. But I think it is time they get in the conversation.

“Some day the Advisory Industry may look different than today, and an example of what’s possible may be the manner in which vendor and user clients compensate their Advisory providers. It seems worthwhile for segments of our industry to study this alternative compensation model, as it has been implemented successfully in the Wall Street Research space over many decades, being both useful and arguably more performance-based than what we’re used to in the Advisory space.”

A wonderful conversation which will take a while to digest;however, as we discussed in Tel Aviv a few weeks ago Gideon, the movement towards open content and sharing is pretty unstoppable and will impact the big analyst firms sooner rather than later. However, most of my clients (B2B Tech vendors) are not interested in the reports/content–they are interested in the influence that Gartner, Forrester and a few others have over the buying process. The Magic Quadrant still has a magic power over endusers in many industries who doubt the value of a vendor if they are not in the Magic Quadrant. This is Gartner’s power over vendors, although as you told me, it was not the original intention of the MQ but rather an internal exercise among the analysts to create a discussion about the vendors. When endusers stop asking Gartner or Forrester or other influencers in the Analyst market which vendors to use–that is when they will have to start really evaluating their model.

http://gideongartner.com/2010/05/04/advisory-industry-a-future-redesign-the-“payment”-model/comment-page-1/#comment-330

A Conversation with Gideon Gartner

Nancy Shapira — Sat, 01 May 2010 08:37:29 +0000

I recently posted a comment on Gideon Gartner’s new blog and ended it with an invitation to let me know if he is ever in Tel Aviv to meet up. The next day I got an email from Gideon that he was in Tel Aviv and would I like to meet him for coffee. Whereas some people would get excited at meeting a rock star–for me–an AR Consultant and pioneer in Israel–Gideon Gartner is my rock star. I met him and his lovely wife Sarah in Tel Aviv and we had an extended chat that included his questions about how I stated my AR business in Israel, the origin of the Magic Quadrant as an internal not an external document and logistics of getting to the local TedEx event. I expressed my opinion that the Gartner model has huge brand value but the real threat to that model will be the new,open models like RedMonk and others and not a competitor like Forrester. Only time will tell and I wait eagerly for Gideon’s book to hear more gossip and tidbits on the creation of one of the best brands in history.

Inside Gartner-Your own webpage

Nancy Shapira — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:35:08 +0000

Did you know that you could create your own personalized webpage in Gartner? Whether you are a member or not? As an Analyst Relations Consultant I have my own personalized webpage at www.insidegartner.com which gives me free content, webinars and reports. I recommend you set your own up especially if you are just starting out. It will help you get in the mind of the Gartner gorilla or elephant in the room as they call themselves.

Are Analysts Becoming More Pay for Play?

Nancy Shapira — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:52:43 +0000

I have heard twice in the last week from clients and potential clients that they believe that analysts will only write about you, put you in the Magic Quadrant, Wave, etc. if you are a member. Although I have many examples of clients that were not members of analyst groups and still got great coverage–this opinion still exists out there…What is your opnion on this? Has the economic situation pushed the analysts towards a more agressive selling position?

A Threat to Analyst Groups?

Nancy Shapira — Sun, 31 May 2009 07:51:00 +0000

Tech Crunch has moved into the Analyst/Research Group space with their new venture: Tech Crunch Research offering either single reports at $149 or an annual subscription at $450..
RedMonk was the first opensource analyst firm and their tagline is : Analysis for the people,by the people. They offer their research for free and sell their consulting hours based on the company size, use of research and ability to pay.
I see this as the business model of the future for the big guys also-Forrester and Gartner. The subscription model has a limited lifetime as a business model since everything else in the IT and Marketing world is moving towards transparency. I am guessing that Forrester will be the first to move and Gartner the last–but it will happen.

Globalization of AR

Nancy Shapira — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:10:00 +0000

I just got back from the Gartner IT Expo in Orlando. The day before I attended the KCG AR Forum with AR professionals from Microsoft, Siemens, HP, CA, EMC and others. I spoke as one of KCG’s Global Partners on the Globalization of AR together with partners from India and Australia. The message was that some things are the same but some markets are very different. The rankings and influence of different analyst groups are very different from the U.S. market; for instance, Frost and Sullivan is highly regarded in some EMEA and APAC markets as is IDC whose on the ground precense is very strong.
Gartner still rules in many parts of the world but we all got in a little Gartner bashing and let out our frustrations about some of the bureaucray and out of touch policies at Gartner. Emily Green, the CEO of Yankee Group gave us a presentation on her vision of the Anywhere world of Yankee and also tried to convince us that firing a significant number of analysts was just an efficiency move.
I was a bit jealous and in awe of my AR counterparts in the U.S. who talked about their AR budgets and teams while in EMEA and Israel we usually have to make do with 10-20% of the Marketing or Marcom Managers time. There are no real AR positions in Israel and even the marketing positions will probably be in danger because of the current financial crisis. I have already heard news of one NASDAQ traded Israeli company who is downsizing their Marketing Team. In the U.S. companies fire R&D in bad times; in Israel they let the Marketing people go because some companies still dont know that it is all about perception (marketing) and not the great technology.
Will blog later this week my thoughts on the Gartner conference…
Highly recommend the KCG AR Forum for any AR professionals that want to network with the best in the profession, learn, and whine a bit about our frustrations with both the analyst companies and our own management….

Gartner joins the Blogging Party

Nancy Shapira — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:44:00 +0000

Gartner has finally decided to encourage their analysts to get into the Blogsphere and to create a framework for it. http://blogs.gartner.com/
There are 45 analysts listed and 17 of them have not yet blogged. Most certainly this list will be much shorter in a few months.

One of the interesting blogs is not an analyst but rather a promotion for the Gartner book on Hypecycles: MASTERING THE HYPE CYCLE : How to Choose the Right Innovation at the Right Time discussing the use of Hype Cycles.

One interesting use of the blog is Mark Driver who used the blog to encourage participation in one of his upcoming sessions at the Web Innovation Conference:

“Do you have questions related to the sessions I’m hosting at the Web Innovation Conference this week? Put them in the comments here and I will try to address them during the Q&A portion of the session or as a followup blog post after the session.”

Carter held a very interesting email interview with Andrew Spender, Gartner’s VP of Corporate Communications which reveals the current official answers to your questions about how this is going to work….

Great Explanation of the Gartner Hype Cycle

Nancy Shapira — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:31:00 +0000

Understanding the Gartner Hype Cycle

Only the biggest and best-run companies actually survive the Trough and get to enjoy the Slope. More often, new vendors emerge to ride the fun part of the Hype Curve while the originators curse them from the sidelines. If you’re a new player, hopping on board during the Slope, congratulations, you’ve mastered the other critical asset: timing (sometimes called luck). Your challenge is to make up for your lack of customers and case stories with a crystal clear vision that matches the accelerating market.

The Hype Cycle can be a new way to think about the marketing challenges you face right now and can throw new light on your priorities. The important thing to take away is that your company does not have to be the victim of Hype Cycle forces. You can do things to control your destiny by getting the right stories to the market at the right times.

One of the tools they suggest is improving your SEO efforts and give some great advice on how to do so: How to be a Google Guru in 30 minutes-How to Improve your SEO

What do the Results of the IIAR Survey for Analyst of the Year Mean?

Nancy Shapira — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:43:00 +0000

First of all I apologize for being away for so long–I am busy growing my AR consultancy in Israel and starting the Israeli chapter of the IIAR in Israel.

The results of the IIAR Survey foreshadows several things about the future of the Big Analyst Groups:

Being the most important/influential analyst group is not always as important as being relevant.
The little guys (SMBs) are tired of being ignored or priced out of the market with the current subscriber model of the big analyst firms. Red Monk and their analysts are high on the lists probably because they follow their credo: “If you’re used to dealing with analyst firms that nickel and dime you, or ask you to pay for every insight, RedMonk will be a pleasant surprise. We share our learning freely, making our content available at no cost. We give back to variety of communities with both time and money, and always have time to help the little guy. When we say we’re different, we’re not kidding.” Another company with the same principles: “One of the founding principles of Macehiter Ward-Dutton was that in order to reach our goal of being a leading advisory company in our space, we needed to be able to reach as many people as possible with our ideas and findings – and that meant finding ways to make our work as “open” as possible. Consequently we decided that all our core research reports should be made available, free-of-charge, to anyone who subscribes to our site.

I believe that this is the future of Analyst Groups and I think that the big guys need to start paying attention….

Your comments are welcome.

Are Industry Analysts Objective?

Nancy Shapira — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:35:00 +0000

Many vendors think that Industry Analysts can be bought.
According to Bill Hopkins from KCG-the Knowledge Capital Group who are an Analyst Relations Consultancy Firm, “While there is truth to the view that you can buy the opinions of many sell-side analysts (and maybe some Point Players on the buy-side), it’s absolutely not true when it comes to Deal Makers and Breakers (Forrester and Gartner).”

What do you think?