Caveat Software
March 22, 2011
“Time to Rethink the Analyst Firm?” puts it to IT analysts and their clients, straight-up: Firms need to make changes in how they do business, and their clients should hold them accountable.
Author Dennis Howlett cites and expounds upon five recommendations from Zia Yusof :
Get industry-specific. Instead of developing horizontal software for the masses, analysts should develop more individualized solutions for specific industries. Yet few analysts have the courage to champion the smaller, lesser-known vendors that are filling these niches.
Rate the analysts/firms. A mechanism should be developed by which software buyers rate analysts and firms and share these ratings with other potential software buyers within a given industry.
Keep it transparent. Analysts should be upfront about how they make money, and disclose the vendors they are doing business with. If they don’t the client should ask.
Ditch the IT lingo. Analysts and vendors need to make information clear and understandable.
Go Indy. Some of the smaller, independent analyst firms are doing things the big guys can’t (or won’t). Some mentioned in the article were Constellation Research, Panorama, Computer Economics and Redmonk.
For software buyers, here are the important take-aways:
There was some useful advice tool The write up emphasizes that everyone should be aware that analysts work for vendors first and you second. What you’re hearing from the analyst may be PR from the vendor rather than objective information. We recommend that you ask questions and expect full transparency. Not everyone has an About page that explains what’s what.
We have one other tip as well: Verify whatever information you get from your analyst.
Robin Broyles, March 22, 2011
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