Monday, November 07, 2005

 

More Thoughts on Industry Analysts

Andy Lark noted a prior blog entry that I started but didn't complete on my favorite topic: lack of integrity in the industry analyst space. Time for part two...



The summary of the prior blog went something like:

Industry analysts have been very slow to adopt blogs. What is even sadder is that the ones who cover blogging software companies don't even blog themselves. Blogs present a fundamental cultural change for the analyst business. Analyst business processes assume analysts have control of interactions with clients and research subjects. Blogs are diametrically opposed to this notion. The ones that do blog are deathly afraid of turning on trackback because people may find viable fault in their research.


The problem is actually bigger than it appears on the surface. I can say that not all bloggers are afraid of trackback. You may have noticed that James Governor and Stephen O'Grady of RedMonk have theirs turned on. The folks over at the Burton Group also don't seem to be afraid. Check out Mike Gotta's blog.




Some industry analysts that have integrity also have a blogroll which demonstrates who else they read for insight in the blogosphere. By having a blogroll, their research becomes even more transparent. Some folks may argue that linking to other bloggers in effect will result in taking away folks their own blog.

The truth is actually yes! By blogrolling, you will be sending readers to other blogs. The key thing to remember is that this is a good thing! Think of it as part of the service you provide to your readers. You’re not just blathering on about something, but showing them examples, or linking them to resources or more information that they might find useful. You’re saying in words and actions that the needs of the customer are paramount...



Maybe the thoughts of us customers don't really matter. Analysts are infamous for doing things that are counterintuitive. Guy Creese in his blog points out a very specific example of a counterintuitive action taken by one firm.

Much of this will soon be fixed by initiatives within the community, to further force transparency on the analyst space. One thing I have been following is the Business Readiness Rating which is a proposed open standard to facilitate assessment and adoption of open source software. I suspect that many industry analyst firms will "borrow" from this work but not contribute...

Anyway, I ran across two bloggers: Dan Mahoney and Erica Rugullies. If you click on their links, tell me what opinion I should form?


Also visited the blog of Nancy Erskine and Larry Perstein. Any opinions on this one?

Could someone tell me if blogrolls should only link to folks you work with or should they be more open? Check out these bloggers and tell me your thoughts:


Anyway, other bloggers are also chiming in to the problems in this space. Check out:


Others in the community are starting to uncover this problem space. Now the only thing that needs to happen is for customers to start talking about the problems amongst themselves...







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