Category: 1. Identify – AR research

Identify is the research stage of the IDEAL process model. It’s the stage where we situate the different analyst firms in our market, understand what our goals are, make an inventory of our past interactions with analysts and prioritize the analysts.

Best practices for client inquiry execution

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icon-phone-headset.jpgWhether IT managers at corporate/government organizations or product managers at IT vendors, many analyst clients do not maximize the value of client inquiry because they do not approach using inquiries systematically. The best practice below does not require a lot of time, only a few minutes to write up the background e-mail, but can result in a much more valuable interaction because the client and the analyst come to the call more focused.
 
SageCircle Technique: […]

Using analyst inquiry… Find out what’s heating up and what’s cooling off

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icon-phone-headset.jpgOne of the assets that well-connected analysts have is their many anecdotal data points gleamed from day-to-day conversations.  While not statistically valid, doing pattern analysis on these questions can reveal some interesting insights into emerging trends and issues falling off the radar screen. The problem from a research consumer point-of-view is that these data points are locked inside the head of the analysts* and are rarely the focus of a research note. To get to that information, clients need to use inquiry.
 
SageCircle Technique:
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Analyst myths revisited – “Analysts know everything” still #1 for IT managers and vendors

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There are several lists of myths about the IT analysts.  These include Tekrati’s Analyze This: 5 Myths About Analyst Briefings; KCG’s Under the Influence: Myths About International AR; and Valley View Ventures’ IT Industry Analysis Myths. There are probably other lists that I don’t know about, but suffice to say that are plenty of myths to go around.
 
SageCircle first published its list in early 2001 and tweaked it later that year. I’ve used that list ever since, including when I was the Director of Corporate AR at HP. While I have been tempted to add or delete myths, this is still a pretty good list.
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BusinessWeek on cloud computing – over 4,000 words with only one analyst quote

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BusinessWeek cover on Google’s cloud computing effortsBusinessWeek cover on Google’s cloud computing effortsBusinessWeek cover on Google’s cloud computing effortsThe BusinessWeek cover story Google and the Wisdom of Clouds weighs in at over 4,100 words over eight prime pages and there is a grand total of one industry analyst quoted: IDC’s Frank Gens with a 19 word tid-bit. Geez. And this lack of analyst quotes is not uncommon in the business press. 
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Using analyst inquiry… Dig into press reports

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icon-phone-headset.jpgThere have been a number of reprints of the Associated Press story Growth of global technology spending is expected to slow in 2008 that report that the “Big 3” analyst firms (i.e., Forrester, Gartner and IDC) are forecasting reduced spending on information technology. This is potentially useful data for both IT departments and tech vendors, but frankly macroeconomic numbers like these are useless because they are too high level and generic. Today is a perfect time to use your analyst client inquiry privileges to get insights into how these data can be applied to your company’s or division’s situation and generate actionable advice. Some example inquiries by community sector:
 

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Gartner’s Cool Vendor annual research note set [Startup Saturday]

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Often startups with interesting new technologies feel like there are no IT analysts that want to cover them. For example, they are usually excluded from signature deliverables like Forrester Waves and Gartner Magic Quadrants since they often don’t fit neatly into an existing market. Rather than give up, startups should consider targeting Gartner’s annual “Cool[…]