Analyst Relations & Sales & Social Media

I was delighted to host the IIAR (Institute of Industry Analyst Relations) forum yesterday in a very sunny and hot London.

It is always great to see how many AR professionals are willing to come along and meet old friends, make new contacts, learn about best practice and share their own experiences.

Fionnula Fitzsimons gave an absolutely excellent presentation on AR and sales. It was interesting, insightful and practical. Anyone in AR who needs to get their sales teams on board and demonstrate the value that AR can add to the sales cycle should make sure they get a copy of her presentation (downloadable by IIAR members from Huddle).

And then, we had an excellent panel debate on how analysts use social media with Richard Edwards (Ovum), Dale Vile (Freeform Dynamics) and Dean Bubley (Disruptive Analysis). Robert De Souza of IPsoft chaired a lively discussion.

This was a social media discussion focused on how these analysts actually use it and why. It was interesting to hear about real-life behaviour and practical benefits rather than tools, processes and best practice.

Hopefully, someone at the IIAR is doing a write-up of what was discussed.

And I mustn’t forget a plug for IIAR accreditation. If you’re a member, it’s free to take. It’s a tough quiz but if you have got a couple of years of AR experience and know what you’re doing, then passing the exam should be pretty straightforward.

I’ve passed - and while it’s nice being in an exclusive club, I’d rather be joined by hundreds of other people! The IIAR has even promised to provide us with a badge and our own Linkedin group.

What next for Ovum?

I seem to be one of the few people who mourns the Ovum / Datamonitor divorce. Making the combined offer work was always going to take time as it required huge cultural change.  You were effectively bringing together three different organisations (Ovum, Butler Group and Datamonitor) and trying to create something new.  That takes much longer than most people realise. 

I had a glimpse of how powerful the Collaborative Intelligence approach could be when working with the combined energy/utilities team.  The combination of vertical business and technology expertise allowed Ovum to shine brightly, eclipsing its competitors.  It will be a great loss to the IT industry if the re-organisation means that type of collaboration isn't nutured and encouraged.



The IT world needs Ovum.  Or more accurately, it needs another company that is capable of being a global competitor to Gartner.  IDC does this successfully in its chosen market segment.  Forrester is still pushing hard, with its role-based model and its recent expansion into Asia-Pacific.  Ovum had a chance to be a player at that table.  I wonder if it can still make it.