InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
November 15, 1999
Behind The Numbers:Analyze This! Rating IT Research
The catch is that the more data points you gather, the more information you must parse. That's where the IT market-analysis firms make a good living. The problem is, how can you tell which IT market-research firm is best not only for you personally but for your entire company?
What are the key evaluative criteria by which other IT managers determine which firms they will use? How much do businesses typically spend on analyst reports? How many do they buy? These were the ideas driving InformationWeek Research's Analyzing the Analysts study, released this week.
In this study, the top IT market- research firms-as determined by InformationWeek readers-are each evaluated by 50 IT managers who use their services. Altogether, the telephone study, conducted in late September and early October, yielded 271 interviews (respondents could rate as many as three firms).
Why do so many IT shops purchase IT market research and consulting expertise from the leading IT market-research firms? The key motivation is to validate their companies' own IT strategies. Second, they want to learn best practices. Understanding E-commerce and E-business also rates very highly-just above IT management trends.
When respondents were asked to name the single most important criterion for selecting a market-research firm, no attribute garnered more than one-fifth of the responses. It's noteworthy that attributes such as accuracy, reliability, and analyst experience aren't pervasive.
Which IT market-research firms do you find most valuable and why? Let us know at the address below.
Rusty Weston
etting strategic advice is rarely simple. There's no help desk you can call when you're trying to figure out which E-commerce package to buy or how to transform a business process from manual to digital. Yet there's also no lack of options: You can read a case study, talk to your peers, benchmark yourself against your competitors, or consult an expert.
Senior Managing Editor/Research
rweston@cmp.com
This week in Behind The Numbers:
| What's the Big Picture? | Recycling Y2K Research | Scaling Down Demand | Large Firms Need Touching |
What's the Big Picture?
It's more than gratifying to hear from a third party that your management plan is in step with industry practices-or perhaps even on the leading edge. Why? Because IT managers often use such data points to support funding requests. Also, a well-drafted report can raise consciousness about issues such as total cost of ownership or standards. Understanding IT management trends also drives interest in IT market-research reports. Nearly every IT executive has a peer or competitor they keep an eye on. But it's much harder to see the big picture either in a vertical industry or across industries. Another key reason to use reports is keeping track of new vendors in a niche market.
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Recycling Y2K Research
When it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of the Y2K remediation advice your company has received, it's easy to say "only time will tell." But it's not too soon to form an opinion about that advice. After all, many large companies spent tens of thousands of dollars for advice about which remediation or testing tools to use and which best practices to try. Clearly, a majority of the IT managers surveyed about market-research firms were only somewhat satisfied. Perhaps they'll feel differently on Jan. 3. But if not, they can always recycle the Y2K reports or use them as kindling.
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Scaling Down Demand
Is demand for IT market research dropping? Demand for reports has decreased by 10% in the past two years, according to the InformationWeek study, and demand for consulting services has also been flat. Yet, we think that, if anything, the demand for IT market research is only increasing. What's far more likely is that IT managers are taking advantage of an amazing amount of data that is available for free in print and on the Web. And the fact remains that cost-sensitive (if copyright insensitive) IT organizations are doing a better job of circulating research reports electronically. One thing is clear: They're not getting their research off cable TV.
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Large Firms Need Touching
The InformationWeek Research study segmented IT managers into two sizes of IT organizations: those at large companies, with $500 million or more in annual revenue; and those at emerging companies, with $6 million to less than $500 million in annual revenue. Not surprisingly, large IT shops tend to purchase more reports and services from IT market-research firms than do IT managers at emerging companies. In particular, large companies favor package deals for reports and conferences. By a 62% to 47% margin, larger companies also favor more personalized contact with IT market-research firms, such as consulting in person, than do emerging companies. By a 46% to 38% margin, larger companies are more likely to obtain IT consulting by phone. |
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