Analyst Equity: Why analysts matter - some hard facts

Some new facts have emerged about the influence that industry analysts have on the buying decision.

Thanks to Duncan Chapple at Lighthouse for sharing these on his blog.

They come from a survey which focused on CIOs and telecoms managers in businesses with over 1,000 employees.

- 72% use analysts' opinions when shortlisting products
- 56% have cited analyst research when preparing their business case
- 45% have added in a vendor because of an analyst's recommendation, while
- 42% have removed a vendor on analyst advice.

"The patterns of influence differ between country, industry and with the size of the business: most buyers in finance say that analysts influence a majority of their purchasing, compared to a quarter of those in manufacturing."

Lighthouse's research also suggests:
- One third of enterprise technology buyers have consulted analysts directly each year (by email, phone or face-to-face)
- Two fifths of enterprise buyers have ongoing subscriptions to analyst firms
- Two thirds of firms are guided by one-off analyst reports found online or given to them by vendors or analyst houses
- Over three quarters of buyers are using analysts when deciding on purchases.

"Lighthouse's annual surveys of technology buyers show that industry analysts are the top organizational advisor to buyers, used on a par with buyers' personal network."

Interesting stuff. And bound to prompt some interesting responses from those who believe analyst influence on end-users is on the wane. I shall be watching Duncan's comments with interest!

The last couple of re-posts are because of dodgy links

Sorry about that. All fixed now.

Thanks to ARonaut for pointing it out.

Focus. Focus. Focus

Good AR is about knowing your analysts.

As Louis Columbus says: "Trying to be all things to all analysts is going to be tougher than ever in 2006; it's better to be the most relevant vendor in your market with the analysts that really count."

From his post, Analyst Relations Resolutions for 2006.

What a "numbers analyst" does

James Governor at Redmonk has got a guest post from Dale Vile of Freeform Dynamics.

Dale provides an insight into the work that some 'numbers analysts' do and the value they bring.

It's on James blog here.

The truth about analyst predictions

I had to link to this.

James Governor is quoting Richard Holway on the wisdom of analyst predictions:

"During my 40 years in this business I’ve been pretty good at spotting trends. However, I’ve been pretty p**s poor at getting the timing right."

Fabulously honest.

(The quote is originally featured here on Dennis Howlett's site. Thanks for sharing it!).

Qualities of an industry analyst

James Governor has started up a series on "How to become an industry analyst" which makes for interesting reading.

The first two posts are here and here.

Update: And here is part three.

IBM - why it's number one

Analysts rate IBM's AR very highly.

Why? Well, John Simonds from its AR team has posted some analyst comments over on his blog which provide an insight. They come from a recent survey of analysts in which IBM was ranked number one in AR in Asia-Pacific.

Congratulations guys.

James Governor on "how to brief analysts"

It sounds like James had a bad experience last week with a briefing.

But this isn't just a moan. James has taken time to provide some tips on how to brief him. Now, I have a policy. If an analyst gives me advice on how to deal with them, I try to take it.

Thanks to Armadgeddon for pointing out that James has provided other tips in the past.

(I don't do a great deal with James but I always learn something interesting and useful from my briefings with him. My clients tell me the same thing. Unlike so many analysts at the larger firms, James is great at turning a briefing into a discussion. It makes meetings so much more interesting for everyone).

This is the best blonde joke in the world, ever...

....without doubt

Nothing to do with analysts but so funny I had to share it

All change in security

Before Christmas we saw Ian Williams move from Datamonitor to RSA. The new year has seen more changes.

At the start of the month, Thomas Raschke moved from IDC to Forrester, where he is covering the European IT security market.

And at IDC, Anita Liess has changed research focus from supply chain to IT security.