Wednesday, June 21, 2006

An insight into Oracle's analyst relations

Buried away in the comments section of a post at ARmadgeddon is an interesting post about Oracle's AR. It's the fifth one in and from an anonymous poster.

Aside from the comments themselves, there's reference to this presentation titled "Interacting with Industry Analysts" by Oracle's Jane Joyce Boland (who was then Senior Director Analyst Relations & Competitive Intelligence) at a UK Product Marketing Forum (UKPMF) event in June 2004.

Although a couple of years old now, it gives some insight in to how Oracle viewed the analysts and how it approached its interactions with them at the time.

(The presentation can also be downloaded from the UKPMF Files page).

This is how to make analyst briefings effective

Jason Corsello, an analyst with Yankee Group, has just posted some suggestions "in an effort to make vendor briefings more productive and useful for both parties."

I recommend you read the full post but here's a summary of what he has to say:

1) When it comes to the presentation...less is more.
2) Know your audience.
3) KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).
4) Tell me why you are different.
5) Talk about what makes your customers different.
6) Tell me where you are going to be in 3 years.
7) Passion can not be faked.

If you want your analyst briefings to be effective, following Jason's advice is a good place to start.