The industry analyst conundrum…
Let me state up front (and this IS important) that 98% of industry analysts I deal with and meet are highly knowedgable and professional individuals who have a very valuable insight into technology trends and market movement.
But what about the 2%? One of PR’s perennial problems was that all you traditionally needed to call yourself a PR consultant was a phone and a fax (now it’s a phone and a computer). Increasingly there are small boutique analyst firms opening up, and some of these firms are bringing the industry analyst market into disrepute.
Last week an ‘analyst’ from one of these firms told me “we don’t take vendor briefings unless the vendor is a subscriber”. Whoa! Hold on there. How can an “analyst” have a view of the market, more importantly how can they judge trends or proffer advice if they only talk with their clients?
It seems to me these tiny firms’ business plan reads something like: “Our goal is to write nice things about company’s who pay us money and to ignore, diss and bad-mouth their competitiors (unless they pay us money too)”
Is it time to blow the whistle on these people? [Comments ]
Murphy's Law 