Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Open source analyst business model?
Awhile back, the folks over at ARmadgeddon discuss the notion of Open source analyst business model but didn't talk about it from a user/enterprise perspective. I figured I would share my two cents...
Many analyst firms who will go down the path of embracing open source analyst business models will rightfully conclude that research papers are being commoditized. Likewise, they may conclude that they should focus on higher value elements such as having open dialogs with folks. In the spirit of agility, it is almost always wise to prefer a face-to-face conversation or at least over the phone over simply pushing paper. The problem though is that this will lead the analyst firm away from another form of value that isn't discussed.
ARmaggedon rightfully acknowledged that us users/enterprises are starting to slow down our purchases of analyst services and that the model is increasingly being funded by vendors. This tells me that there are an aweful lot of vendors out their simply wasting their monies on industry analyst firms without some guarantee of ROI.
Consider if you are of the belief that the vast majority of users still prefer well-written thoughtful research papers yet analyst firms aren't providing them, are you getting your monies worth? Wouldn't it make a better investment if you spend your dollars with an analyst firm that you could honestly tell has interactions with folks from large enterprises over the ones that don't?
Maybe vendors in this space can draw the conclusion that users/enterprises aren't consuming analyst research as much because of lack of depth. If you scan the blogosphere you will see lots of us that are disgusted with the continued monotone cliche COMMON SENSE is UNCOMMON and therefore I have to state the obvious millions of times without actually providing insight into the problem I really need you for.
Maybe us enterprisey folks aren't consuming analyst research as much because we are sick and tired of the soundbites and need more substance. The brief is well, too brief and blogging is making this problem even worse. Sometimes the ability to gain insight requires more than just a one-page blog entry. Sometimes it requires analyst firms to write detailed thoughtful 20+ pages of research on a given topic regardless of whether it is commotitized or not...
| | View blog reactionsMany analyst firms who will go down the path of embracing open source analyst business models will rightfully conclude that research papers are being commoditized. Likewise, they may conclude that they should focus on higher value elements such as having open dialogs with folks. In the spirit of agility, it is almost always wise to prefer a face-to-face conversation or at least over the phone over simply pushing paper. The problem though is that this will lead the analyst firm away from another form of value that isn't discussed.
ARmaggedon rightfully acknowledged that us users/enterprises are starting to slow down our purchases of analyst services and that the model is increasingly being funded by vendors. This tells me that there are an aweful lot of vendors out their simply wasting their monies on industry analyst firms without some guarantee of ROI.
Consider if you are of the belief that the vast majority of users still prefer well-written thoughtful research papers yet analyst firms aren't providing them, are you getting your monies worth? Wouldn't it make a better investment if you spend your dollars with an analyst firm that you could honestly tell has interactions with folks from large enterprises over the ones that don't?
Maybe vendors in this space can draw the conclusion that users/enterprises aren't consuming analyst research as much because of lack of depth. If you scan the blogosphere you will see lots of us that are disgusted with the continued monotone cliche COMMON SENSE is UNCOMMON and therefore I have to state the obvious millions of times without actually providing insight into the problem I really need you for.
Maybe us enterprisey folks aren't consuming analyst research as much because we are sick and tired of the soundbites and need more substance. The brief is well, too brief and blogging is making this problem even worse. Sometimes the ability to gain insight requires more than just a one-page blog entry. Sometimes it requires analyst firms to write detailed thoughtful 20+ pages of research on a given topic regardless of whether it is commotitized or not...
