James Governor has every right to puff out his company’s chest following the results of the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations poll which saw his firm Redmonk take honours across a range of market slices.
Regardless of how you define the term ‘industry analyst’ it is interesting to see such a tiny firm – there are only three of them, or four if you count Tom Raftery now with Greenmonk – making the grade against far larger and arguably more powerful rivals. I’ve known James for many years and whien it comes to making plays, he’s one of the smartest operators in the business. He’s also an incredibly gifted writer whose prose is almost always compelling.
Unlike my friend Vinnie, I’m not surprised that AMR’s Bruce Richardson doesn’t appear on the roster of those honoured by these awards. During the late 1990′s you couldn’t move for seeing Bruce speaking at one event or another. But it seems that in recent years, he has faded from the public eye, even though he remains one of the best connected people in the software industry and has the traditional honour of asking the first question at major SAP press and analyst events. Perhaps he no longer needs the cred that goes with these awards? Whatever your view, Bruce remains one of the first people I like to meet when we’re attending the same event and someone to whom I’d always recommend that professionals seek guidance.
Which begs the question: Just how relevant are the Gartner’s and IDC’s in the software buyer decision making process? Do their big ticket subscription prices justify their existence? For many buyers, a Gartner recommendation is an important ‘tick in the box’ when it comes to product selection. Even though analysts represent only one of many points of influence in the buying decision chain. We can all point to clients who have made buying decisions made on our say so but as a single point of decision making, they are in truth few and far between and likely to be tactical rather than strategic buys.
I see at first hand the way analysts are constantly in sales mode and sometimes it borders on the comical. Why is it necessary for them to always have the begging cup out? I guess if you derive the bulk of your revenue from the software industry which, as we know, is awash with cash, then it is hardly surprising that you’ll see the analyst sales people all over the vendor community.
Given that perspective, it will be interesting to see how the analyst industry shapes up over the coming years. The fact that Redmonk and MWD together with some of their people have done so well in this poll gives us a glimpse of that future.
