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.
By Ian Scott Now in its 20th year, the Analyst Value Survey (AVS) run by the Analyst Observatory is the only survey asking industry professionals about analysts and advisory consultants. While we waited for the closure of this year’s survey, we decided to review the most recent results to see if there were any significant[…]
Robin Schaffer guides AR and influencer relations teams in strategy, execution and value creation. She has led transformative analyst relations and marketing leadership for three decades, most recently with Kea Company, Alteryx, Glassbox, and the Analyst Observatory. Her prior experience in the technology industry includes Collibra, Unit4, NICE Systems, and AT&T.
Ian Scott is one of the rare market research leaders with deep business consultancy experience. He has played a significant design and analysis role at both the Analyst Observatory and Loudhouse Research for the AR community’s two longitudinal studies: the Analyst Advocacy Study and Analyst Value Survey.
He graduated with a Masters in Social Research Methods at the University of Surrey, a pre-doctoral training program supported by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council.
Sarah Shamouelian joined SageCircle in January 2021 from the Analyst Observatory, where she led the Analyst Advocacy Study. She has developed significant partnerships with clients, investors and resellers at Informa, Oxford Economics and Bombora. Sarah has worked on transforming numerous start-ups and mature businesses, providing services in information technology, media, data, sales and marketing.
She has an MBA with Merit from the Alliance Business School at the University of Manchester.
On March 3rd 2014, Kea Company announced its purchase of SageCircle. It’s great news for the analyst relations profession. We are excited that Dave Eckert will be joining our advisory board, and look forward to Kea’s role in developing SageCircle’s contribution. The press release explains that SageCircle has developed an immense reputation: “The integration of[…]
Focusing on the IT analyst business, its beginnings and weaknesses in the original model bringing technology and business together over the course of the last 20 years. Panelists: Jonathan Yarmis with Gideon Gartner and Carter Lusher Click here or on the graphic to play the video SageCircle Since 2000, SageCircle has helped analyst relations teams[…]
Software vendor ZL Technologies has sued Gartner, Inc. about the impact of the firm’s research on its business (see the court documents on its website). Needless to say, this has gotten the attention of twits and bloggers. Here are two example blog posts
There are legitimate criticisms about any particular firm’s research methodology, whether a standalone piece of research or a recurring research deliverable like IDC’s market share models or Aberdeen Axis. SageCircle, vendors, and others have certainly given Gartner suggestions for improving the Magic Quadrant in private meetings, on blog posts, and in public forums like the Gartner Quarterly AR Call. And to be fair, Gartner has tweaked its methodology a little for the Magic Quadrant over the years, but probably more in response to the Forrester Wave than what they hear from the vendors.
There is also the issue that many technology buyers who use the Magic Quadrant as an input to decision making do not know how to […]
Since 2000, SageCircle has helped analyst relations teams to focus on business value by encouraging innovative thinking that leverages insights and drives revenue.
One of the continuing myths in the IT industry is that Gartner demands payment from vendors for placement on its research. This even came up in a comment – anonymously posted of course – on a blog post written by Gartner VP and Distinguished Analyst Tom Bittman (bio, blog, Twitter) called A Rant – My Integrity as an Analyst.
SageCircle knows this is not the case from personal experience, but also because we get collaborating evidence from our clients. Just last week we were on an inquiry with a client, a small software company, who was included on a Magic Quadrant in the Visionary square months before they even considered signing up for a Gartner contract. The reason for the inquiry with SageCircle? In the draft update of the Magic Quadrant their dot had moved to the left. Yikes. However, the reason for the less favorable position had nothing to do with their client status or the size of their contract. Rather it was because they had not noticed that the lead author on the Magic Quadrant had changed. Once we figured this out, they understood that their problem was that they had never briefed the new analyst.
We also know of large vendors who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with Gartner year in and year out only never to get onto a Magic Quadrant on which they wanted to be included.
However, in the past it has also been true that some unscrupulous Gartner sales representatives have played the research placement card when they desperately needed to […]
Since 2000, SageCircle has helped analyst relations teams to focus on business value by encouraging innovative thinking that leverages insights and drives revenue.