Ex Celent chief joins Novarica to cover UK and Europe insurance tech

Congratulations to Catherine Stagg-Macey who has just been appointed as associate research director for UK and European insurance at Novarica, a research and advisory firm focused on insurance technology strategy.

She tells me she will be focused initially on the London market covering trends and vendors in that space. 

Alongside her role as analyst, Catherine continues to works to build her own business in executive and leadership coaching in the tech sector. She founded Belgrave Street in 2013 which focuses on developing leadership capabilities through coaching and bespoke team workshops.

If you're interested in this side of her work, you should take a look at Catherine's blog. It makes for interesting reading.

Catherine's probably best known for her role at Celent where she established herself as one of Europe's foremost analysts covering insurance technology.

The Great Telco Debate is coming to London

In June, London is going to see a great gathering of well-known and highly-respected independent telecoms experts.

They are coming together for The Great Telco Debate, which is bringing together a unique mixture of industry analysts, financial analysts, consultants, trade associations and bloggers.

The debate is the brainchild of Chris Lewis from Lewis Insight and Graham Wilde of BWCS.

Chris explained: "We think the Great Telco Debate is unique in two respects. The primary idea behind it is to give senior level people in the industry a chance to participate in a forum with respected independent analysts. Obviously, Gartner and IDC have annual events, but this idea was borne out of the realisation that there's no forum where you can hear from independent thinkers in the industry. So we're not trying to pedal a universal view of the world, because each one of our analysts has their own opinion. And as a group, we're also not tied down with conflicts of interest - we're not evaluating our customers' technology, for example, or dealing in our customers' shares.

"The second unique element is the format. We thought let's make this a traditional debate - you know, this House believes the telco is dead and buried, or not, as the case may be. The great thing about the debate format is that everyone who attends gets to have their say, and ultimately vote. A debate is a great vehicle for boiling things down to some critical issues and examining the evidence on both sides of the argument, and also for getting some incisive insight from the floor.

"And this is an important area for telecoms. I heard someone the other day describe telecoms as a 'sunset industry'. The implications of that are quite scary, but is it really true? What are telcos supposed to make of things like WhatsApp, or Salesforce.com or GoToMeeting? Are they supposed to just shut up and carry the bits? There's no consensus but the Great Telco Debate will certainly provide senior execs with more insight and analysis on both sides of the argument."

Priming the debate is an intriguing and entertaining list of speakers. As well as Chris and Graham, this includes Richard Kramer (Arete Research), Keith Willetts (TM Forum), Dean Bubley (Disruptive Analysis), Richard Windsor (ex Normua and now blogging at Radio Free Mobile), Benoit Felten (Diffraction Analysis), Caroline Gabriel (Maravedis-Rethink), and Pim Bilderbeek (ex IDC and now with The METISfiles).

They will be discussing all the hot topics in the industry including:

The view of telecoms and the telcos from the end user perspective. Do CIOs or any users care about connectivity any more apart from when it doesn't work? What will drive consumer margins - sport? What about WiFi? How about convergence? 

Can telcos transform their organisations, networks and operations to reflect the end user demand of the future? Or are the global OTT players, apps and content providers going to be the kings of the digital future? What is the telcos' core business anyway? And what will it be tomorrow? 

Do suppliers really have the first clue about the telco business? Who is best placed to help the telcos succeed in the future - the traditional on-network equipment players, the IT crowd, or a new-breed of vendors who are free from legacy thinking and business models? Prepare to be inspired. Or dismayed. Or both. 

What do telco finances really look like today - warts and all. How might they look tomorrow? Feast or famine? 

The Great Telco Debate is taking place on 26th June 2014 in central London. Visit the website for more information on the agenda, the speakers and how to get a ticket.

Alternatively, watch Chris and Graham go 'head to head' (the Alas Smith & Jones of the telco industry?) in a series of videos on YouTube.

Mobile expert Pete Cunningham leaves Canalys

One of the most familiar faces in the mobile device analyst world is moving on.

Pete Cunningham, who was principal analyst for mobile devices at Canalys, has got himself a new gig.

He's returning to his roots and becoming a senior product manager for the Bullitt Group.

The company designs, manufactures, markets and sells mobile phones and consumer electronics products in partnership with global brands. Its customers include Caterpillar, Ted Baker and JCB.

Public sector guru Joe Dignan leaves Ovum

Joe Dignan, chief public sector analyst with Ovum, has decided it’s time to move on.

He’s now working for himself, focusing on smart cities, and is open for business.

That’s good news. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thinking that Joe's departure left a big gap in the UK public sector analyst space.

IDC hires Philip Carnelley to cover Big Data and Enterprise Mobility

One of the best known and most well liked software analysts in Europe has got himself a new role.

Philip Carnelley has joined IDC as research director in its European Software Group. He will be covering enterprise mobility software platforms and applications, Big Data platforms, and middleware.

The company says he is "also tasked with writing and presenting on broader enterprise software trends and the impact of emerging technology areas as they relate to the European region."

That's got Philip covering two pretty hot areas and with a very broad forward looking brief. Still, his background suggests he won't let himself get carried away with the hype.

Philip has been in the enterprise software space now, first with Oracle and then as an analyst, for over 25 years. Until December, he was with PAC in the UK, responsible for software and application services. He's also worked with TechMarketView, Ovum and Gartner.

When I asked Philip why he'd joined IDC, he said: "I felt that leveraging IDC's global resources could take my work to a higher level. Also, it has a great European software and services team, many of whom I've worked with before. ‎For a 50-year old company, it's amazing how much it's changing. It's a very energising place to work right now." 

Philip continues as an associate with Knowledge Peers, the business networking and knowledge sharing organisation run by Chris Dines, ex CEO of Ovum.

Analyst moves: CCS Insight moves Geoff Blaber to lead growth in US

Telecoms and media analyst firm CCS Insight looks to have once again set its eyes on expanding into the US market.

Geoff Blaber, who started with the company in 2007, has been promoted to vice-president, Americas and re-located to San Francisco.

According to the company, “Geoff is there to set up the US office and support our client base in North America."

CCS Insight obviously sees gold in them thar West Coast hills. This level of commitment doesn’t come cheap.

It follows the appointment two and a half years ago of Jon Rockeman as business development director. Based in San Diego, his hiring seems to have been a success. Although the company doesn't provide any details, there are apparently a growing number of clients there.

When this is coupled with the ever increasing importance of Internet players in the world of mobile and the nature of CCS Insight’s business, it’s not hard to see why the company thinks it can benefit from having some full-time analyst feet on the ground rather than just flying the UK team in and out.

Shaun Collins, CEO said: "Having Geoff leading our efforts in North America builds on the strong traction we’ve already established in the region. We are already seeing the first positive signs of Geoff’s hard work on the west coast. This signals the start of the next phase in CCS Insight global expansion.”

By the way, if you rated Geoff as an analyst, don’t despair. The company promises that he will continue in this role.

Geoff said: "Actually, being on the ground in the US now means I'll be covering a broader range of topics, not just mobile software platforms and semiconductors, to reflect our increasingly diverse client and prospect base out here.”

Analyst Moves: Frost & Sullivan hires Sheridan Nye to cover European enterprise comms

Sheridan Nye has joined Frost & Sullivan as a senior analyst covering the Enterprise market. She was previously a senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media where she covered enterprise verticals.  

At Frost & Sullivan, Sheridan will be looking more broadly at the European enterprise ICT market including enterprise mobility, M2M and the Internet of Things.

When we asked about why she'd decided to join the company, Sheridan said: "Frost & Sullivan has hundreds of analysts specialised in vertical industries. My role is to combine this depth with our ICT expertise in Europe to produce quality insight for clients. I'm looking forward to contributing to Frost's growing presence in the enterprise field."

You can find her on LinkedIn and read her Frost & Sullivan blog here. 

Analyst moves: ABI hires Malik Saadi to lead semiconductor innovation practice

ABI has hired Malik Saadi from Informa to become practice director for semiconductor innovation.

Malik will be covering hot topics in the semiconductor industry and related applications including telecoms and consumer electronics.

Before joining ABI, Malik had been with Informa Telecoms & Media for 12 years, most recently as principal analyst covering mobile innovation. During his time with Informa, he covered a wide range of areas including devices, networks & infrastructure, and multimedia services.

Commenting on Malik's appointment, ABI's chief research officer Stuart Carlaw said: "Malik brings significant industry presence and huge amounts of relevant experience to our expanding best-of-breed research team. His skills will allow us to deepen our semiconductor coverage and also expand into new markets that are at the forefront of the future connected world.”

Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research find new owners, new investment

Without seeming to attract a great deal of attention, two analyst firms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, have recently got new owners.  

Both companies - which are telecoms specialists - had been owned by UBM.

Heavy Reading is the analyst arm of Light Reading which has been bought back by Stephen Saunders, one of Light Reading's original founders. UBM will retain a significant minority stake in the business. Neither the sale price nor the size of the retained shareholding were disclosed. UBM had owned Light Reading since 2005 when it bought the company for $27m 

Read this piece from Light Reading to find out more about Stephen’s plans, which include adding new analysts.  If you take a look at the full story, you will also find an explanation from Paul Miller, CEO of UBM Tech, about why the company is retaining a share.

Also worth checking out is an article in Folio magazine which explains that UBM sold Light Reading because "it did not offer big enough opportunities going forward."  The author, Bill Mickey, includes more information he got from UBM as well as Stephen Saunders.

Meanwhile, Pyramid Research has been acquired by Progressive Digital Media for $3.3 million in cash. 

  

Simon Pyper, chief executive of Progressive, said: "Pyramid has a well regarded brand name, a portfolio of high quality data assets and moreover, an expanding presence in some of the world’s fastest growing markets.”

UBM bought Pyramid Research in 2008 for $8 million..  

Pyramid is the second established IT analyst firm that Progressive has bought in recent years.  In 2012, it bought Kable, the UK public sector ICT specialist.

451 hires ex Ovum, Gartner chief to lead global research

It was good to hear from Brett Azuma last week. He got in touch to let me know he’s just been appointed to lead the 60-strong analyst team at 451 Research. 

If you don’t know him already, Brett’s an experienced and well-respected leader.  He’s previously held senior positions at Ovum, where he was managing director, and Gartner, where he was group vice president/chief analyst. 

At 451, (where his official title is senior vice president, research), Brett will be providing leadership, direction and operational management to the company’s analyst team. This includes responsibility for the research agenda and analyst process as he is tasked with ensuring that 451 Research “continues to be insightful, with a focus on innovation; to be objective, reliably thorough and accurate; and most importantly to ensure that 451 delivers value to our clients.”

Brett’s very clear that as far as he's concerned, his team is already doing a great job. Brett’s focus will be on helping guide the team successfully into the future, getting it ready for the next wave of growth. He sees opportunities for 451 Research to bring together resources to provide new and differentiated services to customers, for example by coupling 451 Research’s qualitative research and analysis services with the quantitative data resources owned by other divisions of The 451 Group.

We can also expect to see more research being written by Brett himself.  He acknowledges that he's looking forward to getting out in the field again as an analyst. While it’s early days, he’s also got some new and interesting angles around the impact, opportunities and challenges that the Internet of Things may have on enterprise IT infrastructure.  

So, congratulations to Brett on the new role and to 451 for a good hire.  Over the past few years, 451 has grown steadily in size and influence through organic growth and acquisition. What does the future hold?  Well, we’re looking forward to learning more as Brett gets his feet under the table.