1 – Audit the state of the AR program

Review your success for last year and do an audit of the AR activities to ensure you did a good mix of activities balancing inbound and outbound interactions.  What is the executive perception and support?  What is the analyst relationship status?

2 – Gather key information

What is the state of the analyst contracts?  Do you have your AR calendar up to date with this year’s conferences and events, company functions, major announcements?

3 – Update your analyst lists

Review your rank and tier process and be sure you are interacting with the most significant analysts.

4 – Update your service level framework

Define the activities that you can provide for each tier.  One-on-one, one-to-many, and none-to-many interactions should match to your tier levels.

5 – Align AR goals with corporate goals

Has anything changed in the company that would impact the AR charter and objectives?  Do you have well defined strategic and tactical goals?

6 – Revise your AR plan

Is it time to do a zero-based planning?  How have your resources changed? What is needed for a good metrics program to demonstrate success?

7 – Review Interaction Calendar

Based on the data from number two above how do you refresh your interaction plans?  What long-term projects such as MQs will require a series of interactions?  Balance your service level framework and AR plans with available resources and adjust accordingly.

8 – Review your Tools

What are you using to track analyst interactions and plans? Have you considered ARchitect? How do you distribute analyst information with the team or the company?  What process are you using to collect and analyst metrics?  Are you using social media tools?

9 – Update the AR budget

In addition to dollars how are you budgeting time?  Both your time and your spokespeople and executive times need to be part of the budget.  Are you spending dollars wisely?  Reserve some funds for conferences, travel, and training.

10 – Thank the Analysts

Take time to say Thank You to your analysts.  Top tier should get a phone call as well as an email.  Ask them how you can better support their upcoming needs. Lower tier analysts should get a “personal” email.

Need help with any of these steps?  Check out the Online SageContent Library or use SageCircle advisory to improve your AR program this year.

SageCircle was interested in why technology vendors would be interested in this program and how AR programs might leverage an investment of time in getting their customers to participate.  We spoke with Ray Wang at Constellation about how he saw the award being able to position AR as a more strategic asset to the company and use customers as better case studies in sales opportunities.

We know that all AR teams struggle with budget, headcount, and resource allocation issues, so bringing on additional tasks may appear to be beyond their ability.  The key is to focus on those tasks that have the greatest impact and shed some of the past work that is less strategic.

For a full explanation of the award program and how AR managers might benefit you can listen to our interview here.  It runs about nine minutes.

Springboard has been a significant provider of analyst research and advisory in the AsiaPac region for years.  Their 36 analysts are well known in the region and should signal a much greater Forrester influence going forward.

What does this mean to vendor AR teams?

If your company has, or wants to have, customers in the Asia Pacific region you may need to review your analyst lists.  Are you currently working with Springboard analysts?  Will the Forrester brand increase their influence and relevance?  How will this impact your Strategic and Tactical plan?

While the dynamic nature of the analyst community demands constant attention events like this should signal a review of your analyst lists and service level framework.

If you would like to discuss how to best incorporate this news into your plan contact us to set up an advisory time.

SageCircle has always maintained that early planning and subtle influence on the key analysts presenting at Symposium can be very beneficial.  Remember that many non-Gartner clients attend and can be highly influenced by what they see and hear.

Planning is underway inside Gartner with analysts and research managers jockeying to have their ideas for the theme, tracks, and presentations incorporated into the event.  With topics and tracks in the planning stages NOW is the time for vendor AR teams to work on their symposium plans.  Savvy vendors can contribute their ideas to the mix of ideas for Symposium as well.  This is like a game of musical chairs where not everybody will have a seat when the music stops.   However, time is running out so it is important to get started immediately.

Last April we had a Coffee Talk on Influencing Gartner’s Fall Symposium and have posted a replay here ( free registration is required ).  This will give you an overview of some of the tasks you should consider.

If you would like to discuss your plans with SageCircle contact us about setting up an advisory time.

Topics to be discussed include:

• What can be done to promote AR as a career?
• What skills are required and how is this changing?
• What is needed to reach the top in AR?
• What does the future hold for AR?

This is based on a recent blog posted by Marc Duke entitled, ‘So Where AR You Going’ which can be found here.

While this is intended for IIAR members you can request to join by sending an email to Henrietta [at] analystrelations [dot] org and asking for a trial session.

Vendor AR

RightNow -  AR position on the Influencer Relations team Preference based in the San Mateo office, or offices in Boulder, CO, Bozeman, MT, Maidenhead, UK, New York, NY, or Reston, VA. RightNow holds leadership positions in three Forrester Wave reports and three Gartner MQs.

Analyst Firm

Ovum – Senior Analyst – Enterprise Applications Based in the UK this position seeks an expert in enterprise applications, including CRM and ERP, as well as other related enterprise applications subjects.

In recent months Ovum, a global analyst firm that covers the IT and telecommunications industries, has had a lot of changes.  They have just announced the first in a regular series of AR Community Calls. It will be held Thursday, May 19, 2011, at 9 am US PDT

The first call will be focused on updates about Ovum, its two research divisions, and upcoming events. Future calls will discuss research agendas, methodologies, procedures, and the new Ombudsman function.

For those AR program who currently work with Ovum, and especially those who might just be considering them this represents an efficient way to learn about the firm.  A big goal of these calls is not only to answer questions about Ovum, but also to hear suggestions for how they can work more effective with you.

To receive the conference call info and presentation contact   carter.lusher [at] ovum [dot] com

Proposed agenda for Ovum’s inaugural AR Community Call

• Welcome & introduction – Carter Lusher (5 minutes)
• Ovum business update – Brett Azuma (10)
• Ovum Telecoms update – Richard Mahon (10)
• Ovum Technology update – Ian Charlesworth (10)
• Ovum Industry Congress update – Tim Jennings (5)
• Vendor Bill of Rights – Carter Lusher (5)
• Q&A – all, Carter Lusher moderate (15)

SageCircle Technique:

• Take advantage of efficient ways to learn about analysts and analyst firms
• Be aware of potential needs of these analysts for their research and judge your need to participate
• Aggressively work to understand the changing influence of analysts on your market space so that you can modify your analyst lists accordingly.

Bottom Line: The analyst eco-system is always in flux.  Knowing about the current and future plans of analysts and firms is an important activity for all AR teams.

Question: AR – How do you determine the impact of analysts on your revenues?  Are you using any tools to allocate your resources to the proper people?

Attending analyst firm theme conferences offer you a chance for one-on-one meetings with analysts, but these are great for relationship building, but not suited to a briefing.

Ovum has just announced a briefing day in London.  With most of their analysts attending a company meeting it offers the opportunity for vendors to do in-person briefings with analysts that are typically scattered all over the globe.  They are planning a full day to schedule one-hour vendor briefings all in one location.

Advantages to Vendors

• Opportunity to meet analysts in person rather than over the phone or email
• Efficiency of a single briefing with multiple analysts instead of conducting multiple briefings because the analysts are normally scattered across many time zones
• Face-to-face briefings offer different interaction dynamics that many vendors feel are better than teleconferences
• Feedback from multiple analysts about the topics being discussed

Advantages to Firm

• Opportunity to meet vendor clients in person rather than over the phone or email
• Briefings scheduled efficiently with less interruption of the analyst’s time
• Opportunity to meet both clients and non-clients to gather research data

Ovum is planning this for Wednesday, May 18^th, in London. The briefings will start at 08.30 GMT and run through 4 pm GMT with each slot being 60 minutes. Time slots will be assigned to vendors on a first come, first serve basis. However, before a vendor is assigned a slot they will need to get at least one analyst to agree to attend the briefing.  To request a briefing slot or if you have questions about this special event you can contact Carter Lusher at carter.lusher [at] ovum.com

We will be interested in how this is received.  If it proves successful it might be something for AR teams to request of other firms.  It might make a great draw for vendor participation at various theme events if the analysts were available the day before or after the conference.

Editor’s Note: This blog post provides an overview of the announcement.  Clients and subscribers to the Online SageContent Library receive a SageFlash^SM that includes detailed analysis, insights gathered from the earnings call and other sources, and actionable recommendations.

AR-relevant Details of the Announcement

Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) reported its Q4 and Full year 2010 earnings on February 10, 2011.  You can get more information in the press release (link to press release)

Unlike Gartner, Forrester has always been less than forthcoming and even opaque when it comes to the financial and especially operational performance metrics.  While key financial numbers appear in the press release, the more illuminating numbers show up in the SEC 10Q filing, which quietly appears a couple of weeks after the quarterly conference call.  At first glance the most significant thing we see is that the growth numbers are not nearly as aggressive as Gartner – indicating that the gap in size and influence between the two firms is getting larger.

YoY = year over year, change between Q4 2010 and Q4 2009 or total 2010 and 2009

• Q4  revenues: $ 67.1m, up 9% YoY
• 2010 revenues  $ 250.7, up 7 % YoY

• Net income $20.5 m, up 8% YoY

• 2011 Projection of total revenues of approximately $282 million to $288 million

Key Take Aways:

• Forrester had a relatively good Q4 helped by a soft 2009 compare
• Forrester is focusing on somewhat conservative future growth

Analysis and Impressions: The 2010 earnings announcement can be summed up as acceptable, but hardly the aggressive growth of Gartner.  CEO George F. Colony, said “We continued to successfully execute our role-based strategy and achieved all-time highs in our client and dollar retention rates during 2010.”  Much of the press release and comments are focused on looking ahead to 2011, but they are indicating growth of about 13%

Bottom Line: Unlike the past recession, Forrester did not severely cut its sales headcount in 2009. As a consequence, one would have expected more sales growth in 2010. This sales softness might signal an opportunity for clients renewing to drive better deals for both renewals and new contracts.

We encourage you schedule an inquiry to discuss how to apply this analysis to your specific situation.

Editor’s Note: This blog post provides an overview of the announcement.  Clients and subscribers to the Online SageContent Library receive a SageFlash^SM that includes detailed analysis, insights gathered from the earnings call and other sources, and actionable recommendations.

AR-relevant Details of the Announcement and Conference Call: Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) announced its Q4 and full year 2010 earnings on February 7 (press release link).  This was followed by their earnings call on the morning of Feb 8^th.

CV = research contract value
F/X = foreign exchange impact
QoQ = quarter over quarter, or change between Q1 2010 and Q4 2009
YoY = year over year, change between Q1 2010 and Q1 2009

Unless otherwise noted, all revenues or contract value percentages are F/X neutral. These numbers are a few percentage points lower than reported numbers and provide a more consistent comparison with prior time periods.

• Overall revenues: $382.3m, up 17% YoY
• Research revenue: $230.6m, up 19% YoY
• Events revenue: $62.4m, up 21% YoY
• Consulting revenue: $89.3m, up 11%

• Research contract value $977.7m, up 25% YoY – record contract value
• Client retention – organizations, 83%, up YoY,
• Client retention – wallet, 98%, up YoY
• Client organizations – 701 new client enterprises added in Q4
• Client organizations – 11,601

• Sales headcount is estimated at 1,045, however analyst headcount remains at about 775

• Cash generated: $79.1

For full year 2010, total revenue was $1,288.5 million, up 13%

Analysis and Impressions: Of course, year-over-year comparisons are not particularly useful because Q4 2009 was early in Gartner’s recovery from the recession and before the December acquisitions of Burton Group and AMR Research. This year-over-year comparison is especially true of Events and its improvement. That is because the events business last year was restricted by lack of sponsorship and travel restrictions.

What is usually a more relevant number is looking at research contract value (CV), a key indicator of influence. The base number for CV was reset on January 1 to include the existing Gartner services plus AMR and Burton. However, the record 25% CV growth YoY indicates the ability of the sales staff to effectively sell the AMR and Burton services. During the earnings call the ability of the sales team to begin to extend Burton and ARM sales globally was mentioned as a strong positive.

Key Take Aways:

• Gartner has not only returned to normal strong growth, but is setting new record highs
• Gartner continues to add hundreds of enterprise client organizations per quarter, increasing its influence
• Research contract value (CV) is at a record high, with new business up 25%
• Gartner’s influence on vendor sales deals will increase in many markets

SageCircle has additional information about how these results impact AR programs.  Contact us if you would like to speak about this in detail.