AR: Analysts Don’t List Themselves on Social Media

March 30, 2010 by 18 Comments

Several AR professionals have recently asked me how to find industry analyst blogs or Twitter addresses. The immediate answer was to send them to Sage Circle, where a pair of excellent directories are maintained. But the fact of the questions made me revisit the issue with a simple test: if I looked up biographies, would the “official sites” list those links for analysts? Astonishingly, the answer was no. Read more of this post

Filed under Analyst Relations, Research Industry Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

40,000 Hits – Thanks for A Great First Year of Blog Success

February 26, 2010 by 6 Comments

I posted my first entry here on March 7, 2009. At the time, I was newly independent after 13 years in the big research firm analyst business. I was optimistic about my prospects, but certainly nervous. I had a few firm convictions about the importance of collaboration, some great mentors and some ideas I wanted to float into the blogosphere.

A year and 130-some posts later, I can hardly believe what a ride it’s been. A steady build with a few amazing days – the best was one 650 hits. By midday I was looking at the stats every hour; I just couldn’t believe it. I’ve had comment traffic and dialogue I could only hope for. Great connections with interesting people. And learning – every day, the blog is a source of new ideas as I deal with the traffic, the tips and tricks of the WordPress world, and more. Read more of this post

Filed under Analyst Relations, Research Industry, The Computing Life

PDF X-Change – Still The One

February 25, 2010 by Leave a comment

Nearly a year ago, I mentioned a wonderful product called PDF X-Change, from Tracker Software,  in a post. It allows me to annotate PDF files, which many vendors maddeningly insist on using for briefings. Why “maddeningly”? Because for me at least, the best place for my notes is in the presentation – it provides the context and I don’t need another window open. In PowerPoint I just use the notes at the bottom of the window. PDF X-Change is a free download, and takes care of the rest of the pitches I see. Read more of this post

Filed under Analyst Relations, The Computing Life, Software infrastructure, Vendor image and communications, Research Industry Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Anonymity Is A Coward’s Cloak

February 24, 2010 by 4 Comments

Some people choose not to identify themselves when they leave blog comments. I recently had a twitter conversation after finding myself dismayed at some particularly inappropriate statements from people with “cute” screen names discussing a vendor who has recently undergone some business transitions. Assertions about the company and alleged co-workers were made that would be fighting words had they occurred in the open. Chris Bird, enterprise architect and blogger, made the comment: “anonymity is a coward’s cloak.” (Chris’ blog, by the way, is well worth reading if you care about software architectures. Follow the link. ) He’s spot on. And he’s made me think about how I manage comments on my blog. Read more of this post

Filed under Research Industry, The Computing Life Tagged with , , ,

IT Marketers: Oversold Announcements Weaken Your Story

January 13, 2010 by 2 Comments

Microsoft and HP’s recent announcement highlighted some of the ways in which poor announcements strain credulity and make it harder to get attention when you do have something worthwhile to talk about. Some errors crop up repeatedly in IT marketing communications, and this one suffered from several of them. Read more of this post

Filed under Analyst Relations, Data Management, Software infrastructure, Vendor image and communications, Research Industry Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

A Tale Of Three Cities, and Oracle, Teradata and IBM Databases

October 29, 2009 by 5 Comments

It was the best of times; it was (sometimes) the worst of times. The month of October has for years been data management analysts’ busy season. Oracle, Teradata and IBM hold major conferences, and for customers, prospects, partners, journalists as well as analysts, the recent past, near future and plans for the long term are on display. How vendors use this opportunity to position themselves has always been instructive, and 2009 was no exception. In brief: Oracle took shots at IBM; Teradata put its successful customers on display; and IBM proposed ways to change the world for the better. Read more of this post

Filed under Analyst Relations, Data Management, Data Warehousing, Software infrastructure, Vendor image and communications, Research Industry Tagged with , , , , ,

Tech Marketers Need Friends With Benefits. No, Not That Kind

October 15, 2009 by 13 Comments

Every software product developer, and product manager, and sales rep, needs friends in marketing. And they need to be friends with benefits – benefit statements. Clear. Explicit. Specific for a particular stakeholder. Sound obvious? Based on the last month of briefings I have taken, it’s clearly not. Read more of this post

Filed under Analyst Relations, Vendor image and communications, Research Industry Tagged with , , , , , ,

The Return of Spectra

October 6, 2009 by Leave a comment

Years ago, I spent some time covering the middleware market closely. One of the resources I found enormously valuable was a publication called Middleware Spectra. Its founder and editor, Charles Brett, is one of the most insightful, and  often provocative, people I know. Over the years we became acquainted, and today I count him among the friends I rely on to help me understand deep issues in areas like complex event processing and similar topics.

Charles and I briefly worked together at Forrester, but we’ve both moved on, and he’s now revived Spectra, with a revised charter. Under the new name Insight Spectra, it aims to be “a focal point for applying common sense to using technology intelligently.” Radical thought indeed. As before, Charles will accept contributions from a number of industry participants (myself included) and I recommend his work highly. To get on his list and receive it electronically, go to www.insight-spectra.com and register yourself via a form at the foot of this page, or email Charles directly at insight-spectra@insight-spectra.com to ask for a copy.

Filed under Event Processing, Research Industry, Software infrastructure, The Computing Life

Lively LinkedIn TDWI Discussions Exemplify Community IP Values

September 4, 2009 by 2 Comments

I’m not normally a fan of blog posts that do little more than talk about information available elsewhere. But I’m going to make an exception, because what TDWI has been able to do of late on LinkedIn has generated a good deal of conversation, information sharing and intriguing conclusions. Kudos to Wayne Eckerson for his efforts at getting this going as well as evangelizing it. Read more of this post

Filed under Data Management, Data Warehousing, On Business Intelligence, Research Industry, The Computing Life Tagged with , , , ,

AR: Continuity of Contact Makes A Difference

August 19, 2009 by 10 Comments

I’ve been an independent analyst for a few months now, and it’s been an eye-opening experience in many ways. One has been the way some organizations I dealt with for a decade forgot my name the next day. This is not intended to embarrass anyone; I will name no names. It’s about best practices for AR. In the practice I started for Forrester on AR, and in any commentary from authorities like Sage Circle, Knowledge Capital Group, and Lighthouse Analyst Relations, you’ll hear it again and again: “it’s the relationship. stupid.” Perhaps not in those exact words, but you get the idea.   Read more of this post

Filed under Analyst Relations, Vendor image and communications, Research Industry Tagged with , , , , ,

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