Category: 3. Engage – AR implementation

Engage is the implementation stage of the IDEAL model. It primarily means planning and conducting tactics that support the strategy that drives the program. It also means collecting some of the data needed for evaluation.

Avoid emotion when building the analyst list for emerging tech markets [Startup Saturday]

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rocket-for-startups.jpgJust as with larger firms, emerging technology companies need to rank and tier their analyst lists.  Ranking establishes the relative importance of the analysts and sets a priority, while tiering is the process of allocating resources.  Based on the available time, money, staff, executive support, and so forth you need to group the analysts into top level analysts who get full attention and lower significance analysts who get email responses only.  SageCircle has detailed information on this process for traditional vendors.

So often the problem in creating these analyst lists is that emotion and the squeaky wheel syndrome play a larger role in […]

IDC’s Henry Morris on three things AR teams should be doing to be more effective

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photo-idc-henry-morris-final.jpgSageCircle’s Dave Eckert and Carter Lusher recently spoke with IDC’s Henry Morris, SVP, in charge of Integration, Development & Applications Strategies (IDeAS) Solutions Research and Services Research. The occasion was last Wednesday’s IDC “Software Predictions 2008 – Beyond Consolidation” breakfast briefing in Burlingame, California. Of course we had to ask Henry a question about how vendor AR teams can be more effective. Dr. Morris did not disappoint with three good suggestions:

#1 – With all the consolidation happening in the software market there are more […]

AR teams should ask their analysts about their uses of social media

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icon-social-media-blue.jpgIn Why social media scares the analyst firms and vendor AR teams, we pointed out that social media was here to stay and that analysts and AR can’t hope for it fade away as a fad. In fact, AR teams that have yet to start experimenting with social media (e.g., blogs, social networks, microblogging, et cetera) might be surprised to find that some of their analysts are much more into these forms of communications than expected.

 For example, I launched my company AR blog and promoted the blog heavily to the analysts. What was interesting was the feedback I was getting from older, long-time analysts that found the blog useful. So my assumption that only younger, junior analysts would read it went out the window.

SageCircle Technique:  My suggestion to AR teams is that you […]

You need a strong ARM to help you lift your AR program

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icon-tools.jpgManaging relationships with your IT Industry Analysts is not unlike salespeople managing their customer relationships. Therefore it is surprising that so many AR teams do not employ a CRM-style system tailored to analysts. An Analyst Relationship Manager (ARM) system can greatly improve group collaboration and efficiency while maintaining a corporate history of analyst interactions. A survey of AR teams can turn up processes that use spreadsheets, small databases, paper files, or modified sales contact systems. Record keeping and group collaboration may take the form of shared file spaces and extended email threads. These piecemeal attempts generally do not […]

Tekrati – a go-to source for news and information about the analysts

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logo-tekrati.gifLast week Dave Eckert and I sat down with Barbara French for lunch at Buck’s, the renowned hangout of VCs and digerati. It’s always a pleasure to chat with someone knowledgeable and opinionated about the IT analyst industry and analyst relations. The conversation ranged from industry gossip to AR best practices to the small but dynamic AR services market and ideas how to get a more active on-line community going.
 
Barbara is the founder and executive editor of Tekrati: The Industry Analyst Reporter, the leading analyst industry news site. Tekrati is an incredibly rich source of information about the analysts including: […]

To boost credibility vendors should use candor about the risks with their products / services / markets

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Candor is an important tool for vendors to use when talking with industry analysts because it builds credibility and relationships. On the other hand, vendors that only talk about happy topics and put a rosy glow on everything can do significant damage to their credibility. I am not suggesting that vendors air their dirty laundry with the analysts. Rather, vendors should discuss real and known risks with products or markets and how to manage those risks. Frankly, the analysts are probably hearing all the downsides related to your […]

Newbie’s Guide to Twitter

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Tip o’ hat to Forrester analyst and prolific blogger Jeremiah Owyang for the tip about The Newbie’s Guide to Twitter. Of course, he tweeted it and because I follow him I saw it.   If you have not checked into microblogging yet, playing with Twitter is not a bad idea.  I’m starting to use it as a research[…]

A nifty free utility for capturing bits and pieces of content from the web

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graphic-hp-smart-web-print-utility.jpgThe free HP utility Smart Web Print gets a thumbs up from The Mossberg Solution by way of the Wall Street Journal. From the article:  
 
“Some people try to organize Web research by opening Microsoft Word documents alongside their browsers. They copy and paste data from sites into the documents, but this is usually a messy process that traps users into wasting time fixing formats and deleting ads. Others press Print whenever a helpful site appears, resulting in wasted paper and ink. Savvier users create folders within their Web browsers that hold multiple URLs about a research topic, but these data can’t easily be shared or printed for use away from the PC.
 
There’s a better way… […]