Analyst Insight

Analyst Relations & Sales & Social Media

2011-09-30T10:07:00.000+01:00

I was delighted to host the IIAR (Institute of Industry Analyst Relations) forum yesterday in a very sunny and hot London.

It is always great to see how many AR professionals are willing to come along and meet old friends, make new contacts, learn about best practice and share their own experiences.

Fionnula Fitzsimons gave an absolutely excellent presentation on AR and sales. It was interesting, insightful and practical. Anyone in AR who needs to get their sales teams on board and demonstrate the value that AR can add to the sales cycle should make sure they get a copy of her presentation (downloadable by IIAR members from Huddle).

And then, we had an excellent panel debate on how analysts use social media with Richard Edwards (Ovum), Dale Vile (Freeform Dynamics) and Dean Bubley (Disruptive Analysis). Robert De Souza of IPsoft chaired a lively discussion.

This was a social media discussion focused on how these analysts actually use it and why. It was interesting to hear about real-life behaviour and practical benefits rather than tools, processes and best practice.

Hopefully, someone at the IIAR is doing a write-up of what was discussed.

And I mustn’t forget a plug for IIAR accreditation. If you’re a member, it’s free to take. It’s a tough quiz but if you have got a couple of years of AR experience and know what you’re doing, then passing the exam should be pretty straightforward.

I’ve passed - and while it’s nice being in an exclusive club, I’d rather be joined by hundreds of other people! The IIAR has even promised to provide us with a badge and our own Linkedin group.

What next for Ovum?

2011-05-28T11:07:00.005+01:00

I seem to be one of the few people who mourns the Ovum / Datamonitor divorce. Making the combined offer work was always going to take time as it required huge cultural change. You were effectively bringing together three different organisations (Ovum, Butler Group and Datamonitor) and trying to create something new. That takes much longer than most people realise.

I had a glimpse of how powerful the Collaborative Intelligence approach could be when working with the combined energy/utilities team. The combination of vertical business and technology expertise allowed Ovum to shine brightly, eclipsing its competitors. It will be a great loss to the IT industry if the re-organisation means that type of collaboration isn't nutured and encouraged.

The IT world needs Ovum. Or more accurately, it needs another company that is capable of being a global competitor to Gartner. IDC does this successfully in its chosen market segment. Forrester is still pushing hard, with its role-based model and its recent expansion into Asia-Pacific. Ovum had a chance to be a player at that table. I wonder if it can still make it.

Andy Buss joins Freeform Dynamics

2010-04-07T09:39:00.007+01:00

Andy Buss has joined Freeform Dynamics as a service director, covering end-user client computing and access and infrastructure communications technologies. According to the Freeform website, his current areas of focus are client, datacenter (I note the US spelling), convergence, unification and networking.

Andy joins from Canalys where he looked at notebooks, desktops & tablets, smartphones, PDAs & navigation (Presumably this means GPS) as well as server & datacenter, IP routing, switching & wireless, and security.

Thoughts on Gartner buying Burton

2010-01-12T14:25:00.002Z

For those who follow me on Twitter, this post will be very familiar as it is a write-up of the thoughts I posted there last week (slightly expanded and tidied up).

Thought 1
Gartner’s acquisition of Burton cements Gartner as THE company to go to if you want an analyst firm that is being paid by end user buyers for tech advice.

With AMR and Burton gone, there were now two less firms selling to end users – and there were few enough before. There are others out there but they’re mainly specialists and not of the same scale as Gartner.

Thought 2
I wonder what Forrester is doing nowadays as it's missed out on AMR and Burton. It seems to be losing out in the end user market.

Thought 3
This might lead to a bigger opportunity for Ovum to become the main alternative to Gartner in the end user space. If it gets things right...

Thought 4
Gartner's acquisitions seem focused on North America. Who would it try to buy in Europe? Thinking about this, I’m not sure there's anyone obvious over here. Perhaps that's why.

Thought 5
How do boutique firms scale to provide a real alternative to the establishment? There is a real challenge there for the smaller organisations.

Quality of work is important but volume of paid work does count too. It’s not just about creating noise (by which I mean work mainly undertaken to raise profile).

I am hoping that the likes of Ovum and the smaller boutiques (e.g. Quocirca) are going to work hard and keep the big boys honest and on their toes.

Final Thought
If you have a few minutes spare, then listen to the IIAR panel discussion that took place last week. It was interesting. You can find it on the IIAR blog.

Ovum and Datamonitor: The Rise of A New Industry Force?

2009-12-15T12:23:00.000Z

There's been lots of talk over recent months about the changes happening at Datamonitor, Ovum and Butler Group.

Well, the plans are now complete and the good news is there's enormous potential in what the new look Datamonitor group is trying to accomplish.

Moving forward, the plan is for Ovum to be the single brand selling technology and telecoms research and analysis services. (Datamonitor Tech has already gone and we’re told Butler Group is to be phased out over the coming months).

In the meantime, Datamonitor has established a single technology analyst team under the Ovum banner. This team is split into two groups: one covering IT and the other covering telecoms. All the analysts at Butler Group and Datamonitor Tech have transferred across to Ovum.

And the new Ovum teams are looking to expand out of their traditional vendor home base and start providing research and analysis services that will appeal to the technology buyer.

Now this is where it starts to get really interesting. Because Datamonitor has a huge business outside of IT and telecoms. There are another 350 analysts who are not technology related. They are business specialists covering industries such as Healthcare, Energy and Consumer (FMCG, Retail and Financial Services).

Most of this work is done under the Datamonitor brand (the exception is retail where Datamonitor operates under the name Verdict Research). And Datamonitor argues it is the “powerhouse brand” in many of these industry segments.

For example, it says it has more analysts covering healthcare and retail than any other company in the world. Verdict Research's position in retail has been endorsed by no less than Sir Stuart Rose.

That depth of resource out strips anything that the other tech analyst firms can offer. Those technology analyst firms that have built up teams to look at vertical markets have done so on a smaller scale. Quite naturally, they have also concentrated on the use of technology rather than providing broader business insight.

Until now, technology has never seemed to fit easily in the Datamonitor group. It's both vertical (with analysts advising vendors on how to run their business) and horizontal (with technology being used by every type of company out there).

Too often, the opportunities offered by the latter have been neglected. Not any more.

CEO Mark Meek has spent the past two years putting together a strategy that he believes will allow Ovum to compete at the highest levels when selling to IT and telecoms vendors. More importantly, he hopes it will enable Ovum to move in to the buy side market in a significant way.

Ovum will now work with all the other Datamonitor analyst teams (including Verdict) under the “Collaborative Intelligence” model. Technology analysts can call on the insight and expertise of their industry colleagues to help them in their work. Similarly, the industry analysts can turn to Ovum when their clients need advice on technology and telecoms.

This is obviously a huge culture change – and Mark's introduced processes and structures to try and ensure it works in real life as well as on paper. He is determined that analysts in Ovum and Datamonitor start working together. For example, cross industry teams must now meet every month and every quarter to discuss research agendas. There is also a common model across the whole group - gather data, apply meaningful insight and make recommendations.

Like all cultural change, it is taking time and it's been painful – but things are apparently coming together slowly but surely..

For Ovum, the advantages are clearly defined.

Its analysts can now help IT departments talk the language of their specific industry (not the generic language of business). If I am a CIO and I want outside IT advice from an industry analyst, I can now turn to Ovum. I will get the advice I need – but that advice won't be generic. It will be based on a detailed understanding of the industry in which I work.

That's only possible because the Ovum team can call on the resources of all their colleagues who specialise in healthcare or retail or energy or FS or consumer goods. These people are actually experts in that industry, not in technology. All of a sudden, as a CIO, I have industry experts and technology experts being brought together to answer my questions and give me the advice I need. That's powerful.

Ovum will do the same for technology suppliers, helping them understand their clients' industry – and not just from a technology perspective. As a vendor, my product, marketing and sales teams now have a new source of industry insight and expertise that they can use to make sure they know what's happening in their clients and prospects. They are no longer talking in generic, cliched horizontal technology terms but addressing real, specific business issues in a detailed way.

It's hard to get across the real potential of the model in words – but at a recent Ovum event, two great examples of how this might work were given (one for pharma and one for retail). Videos of both are available on the Ovum website (you can also access them via the IIAR blog).

According to the Datamonitor and Ovum leadership teams, feedback from CIOs has been very positive. On the other hand, vendors have been underwhelmed. They don't appear to have yet grasped the concept or the benefits it could bring.

It's exciting to hear Mark and his senior colleagues speak. They are doing something different and there is the opportunity here for Ovum to become a powerhouse technology and telecoms industry analyst firm, in both the buy-side and sell-side sectors.

Of course, there is the chance that it will all fail. While the vision is compelling, the challenge of making it real is huge. Some steps have been taken but there is plenty more that needs to happen before anyone can declare the new Datamonitor/Ovum a success.

One thing is clear. We now have three sizeable, clearly differentiated competitors to Gartner. One is focused on market sizing (IDC), one on roles (Forrester) and one on industry insight (Ovum).

Buyers – both buy-side and sell-side - should be delighted to have real choice in the market.

Gideon Gartner on the future of the industry analyst

2009-12-04T19:39:00.004Z

I have been told I mustn't be shy. I should make sure you all know to go see Gideon Gartner, Jonathan Yarmis and me discuss the future of the industy analyst.

Thanks to Ovum for inviting me to take part in its recent event launching "Collaborative Intelligence".

You can access the video via the IIAR website.

Gartner buys AMR

2009-12-01T13:54:00.007Z

So, another analyst firm is to disappear. This time it's that leader in ERP and supply chain, AMR Research. It's being bought by Gartner for $64 million.

AMR seems to have got a fair price - 1.6 x sales is roughly the same ratio as Jupiter Research got from Forrester ($23 million paid on sales of $14 million) and more than Gartner paid for Meta ($162 million, 1.35 x sales of $122 million).

I'm not as upbeat as some other industry commentators are. AMR was a well respected firm with a good team of analysts. In its niche, AMR was a strong rival to Gartner.

Vendors and buyers looking for a second opinion on supply chain are now going to struggle to find a viable alternative in the short-term (although watch out for Datamonitor/Ovum, there's some really interesting stuff going on there - a compelling vision if it can be delivered on).

Given Forrester's focus on role-based research, you might have thought it would have taken a fancy to AMR. It'd be interesting to know if it got outbid by Gartner.

Because once word got out that AMR was up for sale, it's hard to see Gartner letting anyone else buy it. It's just too good a deal - revenue, clients, people and opportunities for growth.

Bruce Richardson, chief research officer at AMR, is eloquent in explaining why this also makes sense for AMR, over and above the hard cash that Gartner offered.

If you're interesting in reading more on this, it's worth checking out the IIAR blog post on the acquisition. There's some interesting and valuable insights there.

Top mobile enterprise analyst leaves IDC

2009-12-01T10:53:00.007Z

Lars Vestergaard is leaving IDC.

In January, he takes up a new role at Mobilethink as MD for a new business area, Mobilethink Analytics. Based in Denmark, Lars will be selling analytics solutions to mobile operators around the globe.

It’s an exciting challenge for the man who, in his decade with IDC, has built up a reputation for being one of the top analysts covering enterprise mobility in Europe. As Lars himself says: “After more than 11 years, it is time to try something new.”

While his appointment is a great result for Mobilethink, Lars' departure is a loss to the European analyst community.

We’re interested to find out more about how IDC will replace him. In the past, the company has proven adept at attracting and retaining experienced, knowledgeable analysts (think Chris Lewis, Eric Owen, John Delaney, Chris Barnard…)

In the meantime, Lars' responsibilities will be covered by colleagues Dan Bieler and Rosie Seechi.

AR and Analyst Drinks - London - Thursday 3rd December

2009-11-30T15:08:00.003Z

If any AR folk or industry analysts want to get together for some informal Christmas drinks this week, why not come along to the IIAR's Christmas Cafe on Thursday (3rd December)?

It's at a bar near Farringdon station (around the corner from the old Ovum offices), starting at around 6.00pm.

Hannah Kirkman has all the details -
drop her a line

Come on industry analysts, sharpen up your game

2009-02-04T10:36:00.005Z

Ben Evetts, a former colleague of mine, pointed me to this article a few days ago. It is an interesting and rather damning critique of industry analyst firms.

Here's just a few extracts from the blog by James Gardner (but do read the whole piece, there's plenty more good stuff in it):

“And here is my problem with analysts: if we are taking strategic advice from such firms, then they'd better have better people than us. Experts, not graduates who have worked their way up the analyst ranks without much experience doing whatever-it-is for real.”

This is one of my bugbears. Like many of my colleagues working in analyst relations, I spend a large portion of my life educating people about the value of the industry analysts.

Then you set up a meeting – either a briefing or an inquiry call – and in strolls someone who knows less about the market than I do (never mind my CEO, CMO, product manager or technology guru). It is happening more and more frequently. It's almost as if the industry analyst firms have a death wish.

Get wise guys. People pay a lot of money for your insight. You're important because of your influence. You're valuable because you're the experts. And you need to keep proving it continually.

Thankfully, it's not all bad news from James:

“I'll accept that there is some value in analyst research, and that the reports written by the superstars have a value that counteracts the journalistic reporting that is mainly what's provided.”

What's most concerning is that these type of complaints aren't just coming from James. I hear similar comments every week.

There are some really strong analysts out there in the market but there are also a lot of people who use the title when they're really just market researchers, marketing consultants, journalists or industry commentators.

Even some of the more reputable analyst firms are doing themselves a disservice by increasingly trying to trade off a global brand while in Europe, the calibre (and / or size) of their analyst teams simply isn't there to support the promise.

If you call yourself an 'industry analyst', people have certain expectations of your knowledge, your insight, your abilities, your expertise. Nowadays, these are often not met.

Catching up with Bathwick

2009-01-16T14:07:00.000Z

Bathwick is not a firm that I have come across very often in recent years, so it was good to catch up with Katy Ring a little while ago and find out more about it.

Her decision last year to join Bathwick after leaving NelsonHall came as a surprise to many of us in the analyst relations community who watch the IT services and outsourcing analysts.

With her experience and reputation in the market (before NelsonHall, Katy headed up Ovum's European IT outsourcing practice), we expected that she'd turn up at a big firm. Her move to a small company with no reputation in the services market came as a real surprise.

Set up in 1997 by Jonathan Steel, Bathwick says it “researches how businesses actually buy and apply IT to their business, how they innovate using technology, and how IT is supporting changes in market and organizational models.”

The company splits the world into four main domains - green, open, smart (including CRM and business intelligence) and dynamic (including services). These are all attributes that Bathwick says users need to achieve in today's world, and therefore vendors must be able to address.

Rather than provide traditional research subscriptions, Bathwick instead offers research-based consulting and co-branded research-led whitepapers (which - although vendor-funded and branded - are independent, according to Katy). To facilitate its primary research, Bathwick has established a partnership with CNET and surveys the IT professionals that regularly use its websites. Bathwick is also involved in benchmarking and publishing.

The company's biggest client is rumoured to be IBM. While Katy doesn't deny this, she is adamant that Bathwick is not just an IBM shop and works with plenty of other vendors as well.

According to the website, over the past three years, clients have included Accenture, BT, Cisco, Ernst & Young, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Orange, Sun Microsystems, TCS and Unisys.

What's also interesting – but not mentioned as much – is the high regard in which Jonathan is held by many of his peers. His ability to attract both Katy and her former Ovum colleague Gary Barnett adds further testament to his standing in the analysis and research world.

Going back to Katy's story, she joined Bathwick to set up the IT services group. A quick hire was Kate Hanaghan from Ovum. Together the two are now busy building up the business. The most public of their efforts is the quarterly Bathwick Services Index (BSI) which surveys the 20 leading IT services vendors that together shape the IT services market in Western Europe. The first Index (on Industrialisation) came out in November.

We're going to watch progress with interest. Katy and Kate are both very good but let's not fool ourselves. The market will be tough this year and there is a lot of established competition out there.

However, we are firm believers that a small group of well respected individuals can do very well, provided they are able to deliver the right type of high-quality service at a reasonable price (think Freeform Dynamics and CCS Insight for example).

And, let's be honest, some of Bathwick's rivals are not so great and do seem to be living off their reputation as much as the value they provide.

Interesting and exciting times...

Redundancies made by big analyst firms

2009-01-09T17:56:00.006Z

SageCircle has posted on its blog that Gartner and AMR are laying off staff.

Via Twitter, Carter also comments on the situation at IDC (a small round of layoffs in December) and Forrester (nothing there).

Ovum reborn in IT services?

2009-01-08T10:54:00.003Z

It's been interesting and encouraging to watch the revival of Ovum's IT services practice over recent months. Under the leadership of Eamonn Kennedy, the company is slowly but surely re-establishing its reputation as a tier one player in the market.

The IT services team looks stronger than it has done for the past few years. Luring Eamonn back from NelsonHall was a real coup for Ovum. He's a world-class analyst.

With David Mitchell's support and encouragement, Eamonn has been busy since his return, building out the team, strengthening the skill base and expanding its geographic coverage.

Hiring Alexander Simkin from Clarendon was an inspired choice, given that his previous experience as an analyst was in software rather than services. He is already impressing with his thorough, research-driven approach to analysis.

Alexander's recruitment should help Ovum sharpen the intellectual rigour of its research, something that Eamonn is keen to do. In a world where some analyst firms are blurring the lines between analysis and journalism, Eamonn recognises that high quality analysis will help Ovum stand out in the future and add real value to its clients.

Eamonn also has global ambitions. As well as the five analysts in Europe (Ian Brown, Samad Masood and John O’Brien are the others), his team now includes John Madden who has responsibility for North America while Jens Butler was hired back in November specifically to look after Asia-Pacific.

Starting to position Ovum as a worldwide IT services analyst firm makes sense. If the old cliché of 'get big, get niche or get out' holds true for the analyst market, then this is the only route available to the company.

Datamonitor, which owns Ovum, is ambitious. It won’t be content for Ovum to remain a niche UK and EMEA specialist. There is a much bigger IT services market out there and Eamonn wants his team to reflect this.

It doesn’t mean that Ovum will stop covering the UK market - but we expect growth outside of the UK to remain a priority for Eamonn.

Then there's Orbys. Purchased by Ovum several years ago, this advisory firm works with firms looking to procure IT outsourcing services. It could give Ovum a real competitive edge over most of its rivals. Apart from Gartner, how many analyst firms are there covering the IT services market that can bring together qualitative research (Ovum), quantitative research (Datamonitor) and the first hand experience of working with buyers (Orbys)? The resulting research and analysis could really sing.

We think that David and Eamonn have made a good start to re-establishing Ovum as a tier 1 player in the IT services market. High quality, fact-based research and analysis are sometimes hard to find in this sector (which is surprising given the number of players out there). It looks like this is what Ovum wants to deliver so we wish Eamonn well in his efforts.

Hopefully, John Leigh – the newly appointed research and analysis director – will support Eamonn as he continues on the journey. Great progress has been made so far - but Eamonn is the first to say that there's plenty of work still to be done.

A tale of two analyst firms

2008-09-26T19:47:00.002+01:00

I was delighted to hear the other day that CCS Insight continues to expand. It's launching a new consulting division, headed up by Thomas Reuner; hiring two new researchers in the core research business; and opening up a new office in Slough.

CCS Insight's decision to bring in Thomas to run the consulting business is consistent with the way the company has grown over the past two years. Bring in experienced individuals with good reputations who can hit the ground running and deliver value from day one. Thomas certainly fits that mould, as a former strategic consulting partner with IDC as well as stints with Gartner, NelsonHall and KPMG Consulting.

The Yankee Group layoffs were made the same week that Ben and I spoke. It's an interesting contrast. Both firms play in the same market, yet one is experiencing tremendous growth while the other is having to cut back costs drastically.

I've always wondered about Yankee's 'Anywhere' model. It struck me as another example of an analyst firm looking to create a differentiator and then trying to force its views on to the market.

I’m sure Yankee has also suffered from the increased competition in the analyst market. CCS Insight is just one of the smaller firms that have popped up in recent years. Staffed by senior-level, experienced analysts, these boutiques are hungry. They are able to provide a high-quality of service at a competitive price. The boutiques may not be able to provide the same breadth of coverage as Gartner or IDC but they can often compete very effectively in a particular niche or market sector.

Mind, the boutiques aren't having it all their own way. Some of the mid-sized firms are hitting back. Yankee might be shrinking but look at Analysys Mason. Since bringing in Tony Lavender from Ovum a couple of years ago, the company has transformed itself and is now reinforcing its position as a major player in the telecoms market.

No-one knows how the market will play out in the next few months or years. There will certainly be more victims as the economy continues its downward trend and some big, well-established names are likely to disappear. At the same time, we can hope that the boutiques will thrive – at least the good ones which are delivering what customers want.

Gartner and happy folk

2008-07-18T08:30:00.003+01:00

I'm starting my day with a smile.

Sometimes I just read a blog post and go "yeah, I know how that feels!"

Read what Jesse Freund of Sun had to say about Gartner:
http://blogs.sun.com/analyzethis/entry/gartner_vendor_rating_and_software

I'm nothing to do with Sun (never have been) but I know how it feels when it all comes together.

It feels great!

Matt Hatton joins Analysys Mason

2008-07-11T16:39:00.000+01:00

Matt Hatton has joined Analysys Mason as a principal analyst covering the wireless and mobile area.

Matt is probably best known for his work at Yankee Group, where he covered the consumer wireless/mobile market. He left there last summer to join 3UK in a market intelligence role.

Nice to have you back Matt. And a good hire by Tony Lavender, who runs Analysys Mason's research business.

Rob Enderle: Gartner Goofs on Server Numbers

2008-07-11T10:26:00.004+01:00

Just read an interesting article by Rob Enderle that starts off telling how Gartner has had to restate some market share numbers before moving on to a closer look at the whole 'numbers' process.

Hat tip to Ludovic for pointing this out (via Twitter - yes, I'm starting to see the point...)

Updated / IDC can take over 24 hours to moderate comments on blog

2008-07-01T13:44:00.006+01:00

I just noticed the comments policy on IDC's blog, 'eXchange'.

"Submitted comments are moderated; some comments may not appear. Posting may take longer than 24 hours. Please check back."

Longer than 24 hours? Wow, they must have a lot of comments to go through.

So, I checked. Nope. There's been a handful this year - and most are trackbacks.

Credit to Frank Gens though. When someone has left a question, he's answered it.

-----------
Update: Read the comments on this post - IDC has changed its policy and its process (and to be fair, it was already in progress and not as a result of this post!)

New analyst covering 'sustainability' at Quocirca

2008-06-30T18:00:00.000+01:00

Quocirca has taken on an analyst covering the 'Sustainability' market.

Simon Perry, who started earlier this month as a principal associate analyst, will be covering green issues.

In addition, Clive Longbottom, an owner of the company and service director for Business Processes Facilitation, explained that Simon will also be looking at "more advanced matters around the impact of sustainability on businesses - whether looking at cost-effective sustainability (for example, saving electricity through consolidation and virtualisation), investment sustainability (longer-term pay back that may not be seen on the bottom line for an extended period of time), mandated sustainability (as in Australia and India, where the governments have passed laws to force organisations to be more sustainable), or ethical sustainability (where it is purely a choice by the organisation involved)."

You can find out more about Simon by reading his biog.

IIAR 'Analyst of the Year' - Results Announced

2008-06-02T10:56:00.001+01:00

And there are some surprises...It's an interesting mix of big and small.

By now you might be wondering who the winner was. Well, you can find the full results over at the IIAR blog.

New telecoms specialist at Freeform Dynamics

2008-05-09T15:35:00.001+01:00

Dale Vile's just confirmed that Freeform Dynamics has appointed an analyst to take responsibility for the telecoms service provider market.

Josie Sephton, who starts on 2 June, is a principal analyst. She will cover telecoms solutions and services in the enterprise and SMB sectors.

Until recently Josie was a consultant with Ovum. She spent 12 years there before leaving in January 2008.

Dale will work alongside Josie on enterprise mobility while Jon Collins and Tony Lock will work with her when the service provider domain meets enterprise networking. Dale says: "The lines will be deliberately fuzzy, though, as they are in the industry in general."

You can read what else Dale has to say on Josie on the Freeform Dynamics' blog.

Ovum telecoms chief to leave

2008-04-23T13:23:00.002+01:00

It’s all change at the top of Ovum’s telecoms team.

Earlier this week, Chris Lewis, senior vice president (SVP) of telecoms research, announced that he was leaving the company.

He joins a number of other senior analysts who have moved on recently or will be leaving shortly.

Martin Garner, head of wireless and mobile research, is setting up his own firm but will continue to work for Ovum on a freelance basis.

Mike Cansfield, head of fixed telecoms research, is joining Forrester Research.

Other departures from the telecoms team include Marta Muñoz Méndez-Villamil, Annelise Berendt, John Delaney and Jonathan Arbor.

In an email exchange last week (about an earlier draft of this post), Rosemary Masterson, Ovum’s operations director, was able to provide some thoughts from Mark Meek, the new Datamonitor CEO and managing director of Ovum.

“Ovum provides a high quality syndicated offering which is based on highly collaborative teams, not just individuals. We are continuing to recruit for people in both research and consulting who want to be part of a dynamic commercially focused team.”

The company has decided to promote internally to replace Chris, Martin and Mike.

Brett Azuma is replacing Chris as SVP. He will also maintain his current role as head of the carrier networks & technology practice.

Based in the US, Brett doesn’t have a very high profile in Europe. However, he has over 20 years industry experience and was previously chief analyst for telecommunications at Gartner.

Reporting to Brett will be four practice heads:

Jeremy Green takes over mobile strategy while Jan Dawson picks up fixed telecom strategy.

Richard Mahony and Michael Philpott continue to run the enterprise and consumer teams respectively.

Ovum is also hiring externally. Jonathan Doran is joining the consumer team. He’s currently a senior analyst at Yankee Group where he covers broadband access and service strategies for the consumer market. There are more “senior” hires in the pipeline.

As you’d expect, Mark is bullish about Ovum’s future prospects: “Last week, I set out my vision for a business whose commercial success will be driven by its people and the best-in-class content they produce for its clients. This message applies not just across Ovum but the entire Datamonitor Group.

“Post Datamonitor's acquisition of the Ovum business, there were many challenges as to be expected with the integration of two public organisations. The major elements of these have now been addressed, including putting the underlying financials of the business on track and Ovum profits and sales growth are currently tracking at historic highs.

“Moving forwards I will be focusing the attention of the management team on people retention and morale. We've had some staff turnover but there are many good people still here who want to see the Ovum business succeed.

“Datamonitor continues to invest in Ovum, rolling out its interactive content delivery platform, the Knowledge Center, which is now live with our clients, and are resolute in maintaining the respect the Ovum brand commands in the marketplace.”

Given the volume of change in such a short space of time, Ovum’s great reputation in the world of telecoms research has undoubtedly taken a hit. Many of the departing analysts are held in high regard in the market.

However, there remains a lot of good will towards Ovum and there are many who hope these changes are just a short-term blip.

It’ll be interesting to see how Brett and his team now respond. There are plenty of folk out there watching to see what happens next.

Have you entered the "Analyst of the Year" awards yet?

2008-04-03T11:14:00.000+01:00

The Institute for Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) is currently running the inaugural "Analyst of the Year" awards.

As an AR professional, this is your chance to choose both an 'analyst of the year' and an 'analyst firm of the year'.

There's more information - and details on how to enter - on our blog.

Top mobile analyst leaves Ovum for IDC

2008-04-02T09:40:00.001+01:00

John Delaney, a top mobile analyst at Ovum, has resigned and will be joining IDC at the end of April.

It's a real coup for IDC. John is highly regarded and enjoys a great reputation in the mobile market.

With John heading up IDC's work in the consumer mobility market, it allows enterprise mobility guru Lars Vestergaard to focus all his energies on that market.

After all the changes in the past year or so, IDC now seems firmly set on re-asserting its position as a market leader in the mobile sector. John is joining, Jonathan Arber is already on board and we expect more appointments to be announced in the next few months. A device specialist is high on the priority list.

It also begs the question: what's happening at Ovum? Two of its consumer mobile people have now jumped ship to IDC while other telecoms analysts have moved to join vendors and operators. We hear that there's more people heading for the door.

It'll be interesting to hear what Chris Lewis, SVP for telecoms research, has to say at the IIAR meeting on Thursday this week (3 April 2008). If you'd like to come along, please get in touch with Hannah Kirkman.

Gartner has a "queue manager" for vendor briefings requests

2008-04-01T09:59:00.000+01:00

I just spotted that Gartner has a "queue manger" in the North America and EMEA vendor briefings team.

It made me chuckle.