Most PR people do, have done or will do some analyst relations. It's part of the influencer mix. Gartner is on a buying spree. In the past five years, Meta, AMR, Burton and Giga have been swallowed up, to name a few. Clearly, Gartner remains at the top of the must influence list. But how do you tier out firms now? Will consolidation make analyst relations easier, because there is only one firm to brief? Will consolidation weaken the influence of the analyst community?
How can you trust the independence of Gartner when the biggest clients influence the research agenda?
On thing is true, Gartner has certainly made it easier to purchase analyst research. Of course, moving all of that information under one roof means that companies really do need a Gartner analyst seat.
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As a former employee of Forrester and AMR (now Gartner), I resemble that remark! Quick point of clarification: Forrester bought Giga Group, not Gartner.
Curious - why do you take the position that Gartner's M&A activity makes it easier to purchase research and consulting?
@Barbara
I think for most companies that engage only one analyst firm Gartner's acquisitions will put more information under one roof. The trick will lie in negotiating the Gartner contract.
It is certainly going to get more difficult for PR agencies to charge 4K to manage relationships with such a small universe of analysts.
Although Gartner/AMR/Butler is a must have for many IT companies--there is still a lot of differentiation out there. Forrester is moving away from the mature industries and postioning themselves as the innovative industries analyst group. Celent still has a better coverage of Financial Services than Gartner although they lack the influence. IDC has a bigger geographical spread than Gartner especially in Asia and Emerging Markets. RedMonk has the developers ear...There is still room to play for the other groups--they just need to work harder at differentiating themselves from Gartner and proving their value
I understand the need for the smaller firms to carve out niches and do it quickly. But what happens when Gartner decides to go after those markets? Will the smaller firms be able to fight back?
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