{"id":1105,"date":"2014-09-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/the-research-biz-dying_092314\/"},"modified":"2014-09-23T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T08:00:00","slug":"the-research-biz-dying_092314","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/the-research-biz-dying_092314\/","title":{"rendered":"Have most analysts completely given up doing “research”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authors: Phil Fersht and Ray Wang: \u00a0Industry Analysts who still give a sh*t<\/em><\/p>\n

(This is a collaboration and represents our individual points of view and not necessarily our employers. Oh wait, that\u2019s us\u2026. moving on\u2026)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Is the analyst business stuck in its own trough of disillusionment?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We called it three years\u2019 ago<\/a> and we can now officially proclaim that the industry once known as “research” is close to meeting its maker.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, the reality is it\u2019s rare these days for analysts to comb for obscure facts, ask the hard questions, reach out to customers, dig deep with the system integrators, and circumvent corporate communication teams by going direct to employees for the inside scoop.<\/p>\n

In fact, the alarming observation of analysts, especially in the large firms, is that most of them are spending all their time on evaluation matrices (e.g. MQs, Waves, Marketscapes, etc.). \u00a0There seems to be precious little (or any) research coming out of these places anymore. \u00a0Where are the big ideas? Where\u2019s the insight? Where\u2019s the thought leadership? What do these people stand for anymore?<\/p>\n

When we sat down to talk to our client base, our analysts, and our clients, we determined that there were eight common reasons, namely:<\/p>\n

1. Legacy business models are built on scare-to-play.<\/strong> \u00a0The only way the legacy firms are making money is through selling reprints of vendor positionings. Sales folks tell vendors that if they don\u2019t pay for briefing hours and advisory time, analysts will ignore them.<\/p>\n

2. Tele analyst approach reinforces an ivory tower image.<\/strong> \u00a0Today\u2019s legacy analysts have no other means of getting data. \u00a0Sadly, most rarely ever talk to buyers of services \u00a0or users of technology. \u00a0The situation is so bad, that many vendors are forced to provide 15 to 50 customer references because the analyst has no means to reach out to real customers.<\/p>\n

3. Stone soup research model reflects the laziness of analyst firm methodologies.<\/strong> \u00a0They are essentially having the vendors do their \u201cresearch\u201d for them. \u00a0Another way to look at this, legacy analyst firms are strong-arming vendors into providing references as their primary method of reaching out to customers. \u00a0Some analysts today are demanding three hour briefings with vendors to educate them – they are essentially making vendors pay to give them the knowledge they need to appear smart.<\/p>\n

4. Egotistical narcissism drives power trips in evaluations. \u00a0<\/strong>Legacy analysts love the attention of vendors pandering to their demands. \u00a0In one case, a legacy analyst asked for 35 client references for a scatterplot chart. \u00a0Vendors humored him just to play along.<\/p>\n

5. Information often confused as insight.<\/strong> \u00a0Many legacy analysts have precious little fresh insight of their own. \u00a0Often legacy analysts operate on limited data and base \u201cfacts\u201d from old surveys run at the corporate level. \u00a0The result – dated insight not grounded with the reality of the buyer\u2019s point of view. In fact, many have become so \u00a0enslaved to the vendor evaluation model and have forgotten that they really are an analyst who\u2019s supposed to provide insight to the world – not simply regurgitate vendor-fed marketing hype.<\/p>\n

6. Limited practical experience hampered by siloed\u2019 coverage areas.<\/strong> \u00a0The legacy analysts firms create specialists blinded by the big picture and intensely focused on the hyper specific. Clients often express frustration in having to schedule conversations with multiple analysts who often can not match experience with context.<\/p>\n

7. Lowered expectations reinforce lowered standards. <\/strong>Let\u2019s face it, the legacy analyst firms have lost touch with their clients when it comes to research. Clients aren\u2019t expecting insight anymore, and most the analysts just aren\u2019t producing it.<\/p>\n

8. Failure of research firms to bring in visionary leaders.<\/strong> \u00a0Most of the traditional analyst firms prefer to have 20 year veterans as their lead visionaries to the market, many of whom have never worked in the real world and refrain from hiring dynamic analysts who can outshine them. \u00a0Many refrain from talking to clients, speaking at conferences as they have lost touch with their customers – and are not incentivized to inspire – simply keep their money machine cranking along. They have become slaves to their internal politics and P&Ls, as opposed to shaping new ideas and insights to delight their markets.<\/p>\n

The Digital Chasm Among Analyst Firms Is Growing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Buyers must seriously ask if legacy analyst firms are still analyst firms or are they merely advertising agencies for vendors smart enough to play their game? \u00a0With the dearth of enterprise journalists and media, has the analyst become the new media for the enterprise market?<\/p>\n

Gartner\u2019s model is smart. It continues to create more categories to include more vendors with the goal of monopolizing a vendor\u2019s resources and time. \u00a0Many vendors now have multiple FTE\u2019s dedicated to just Gartner\u2019s evaluations. \u00a0This model crowds out other independent voices and puts pressure on the other legacy analyst firms. \u00a0Those dedicated to the analyst relations function have little time to see a different point of view.<\/p>\n

We believe that should this continue, there may not be a research industry left in 2 years\u2019 time. \u00a0We believe that this model of racking and stacking vendors will no longer be sustainable.<\/p>\n

The Bottom line: The only way to resurrect research is to bring back talent – and motivate it<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Rebels<\/p>\n

Rebels without causes? Two fresh-faced analysts from back in the day…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We can talk about new business models for hours, but the one missing ingredient in today\u2019s fading research business is the lack of passionate people who want to know everything about their area, who are talking to the people who buy and sell technology and services\u2026 who care about what they represent and articulating what they think and do.<\/p>\n

Where are those people? \u00a0Are they hiding, did they retire, or did they just give up? \u00a0Or did they just figure out how to check the boxes as analysts and give up caring about their careers?<\/p>\n

Without passionate talent, we\u2019re doomed and research can – and will soon – be put to bed as a distant memory that once was. \u00a0Maybe a couple of smart individuals will save this industry, but it needs some serious saving\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,78,88,831],"tags":[303],"ppma_author":[19],"yoast_head":"\nHave most analysts completely given up doing "research"? - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/the-research-biz-dying_092314\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Have most analysts completely given up doing "research"? 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