Салалық талдаушылар: зерттеулер, трендтер және фирмалар тарихы

Performs primary and secondary market research within an industry
An industry analyst performs primary and secondary market research within an industry such as information technology, consulting or insurance. Analysts assess sector trends, create segment taxonomies, size markets, prepare forecasts, and develop industry models. Industry analysts usually work for research and advisory services firms, and some analysts also perform advisory (consulting) services. Typically, analysts specialize in a single segment or sub segment, researching the broad development of the market rather than focusing on specific publicly traded companies, equities, investments, or associated financial opportunities as a financial analyst might.

There are three industry analyst firms that have been in continuous operation since 1970 or earlier. Computer Review is the oldest analyst firm that has been in continuous operation since its inception in 1959, as Adams Associates. International Data Corp has been providing industry analyst and publishing services since 1964, and continues to be operated as a private company by its founder, Patrick Joseph McGovern. The last of the three, the Yankee Group, was founded by Howard Anderson in 1970. Anderson ran the firm until 1999. Many industry analyst firms and analysts trace their roots to one of these three firms, particularly IDC, Gartner and the Yankee Group. George Colony, for example, was an analyst at the Yankee Group before founding Forrester Research. Dale Kutnick was also a Yankee Group analyst and equity holder before joining Gartner and later founding the Meta Group, which was subsequently purchased by Gartner. Yankee Group was ultimately acquired by 451 Research in 2013. Jim Lundy and Mike Anderson were analysts at Gartner before they founded Aragon Research.

A community of more than 740 analyst firms spans the world. Research and advisory staffs at these companies range from one person to more than 1,000. Well known analyst firms using "traditional" business models include 451 Research, Gartner, IBISWorld, International Data Corporation, Informa Telecoms & Media, SNL Kagan, Ovum Ltd, Yankee Group, Digital Clarity Group and Aragon Research. The "traditional" business model, based on continuous information services (CIS, aka subscriptions) where analysts author reports that are then sold to many clients is under pressure. Several firms are designing new analyst business models based on contemporary technologies, open source licensing concepts, emerging markets, loosely federated analysts, and/or a more radical and visible emphasis on offshoring. Notable examples of analyst firms developing models based on social media such as Canada's ConneKted Minds and "open research and analysis" include RedMonk,
MWD Advisors, Quocirca, ResearchFarm, Freeform Dynamics, Omnisperience and Cambashi, all based in or having offices in the United Kingdom, and US based Wikibon, an open source project. Singapore based Springboard Research (now owned by Forrester) exemplifies progressive use of offshoring research and Experton and Experture exemplify loose federations of independent analysts. capioIT exemplifies firms which focus on emerging geographic and technology markets.

Companies participating in the industry analyst profession have not adopted universal standards for employee education, skills, or professional conduct. Some firms adhere to standards set by competitive intelligence, market research or other professional associations. Overall, this situation results in competitive differentiation among analyst firms. Most analyst firms require above average written and oral communication skills.

Analyst objectivity and accuracy is an issue that is frequently debated. Much of the criticism appears to focus on the business relationships between analysts and the technology providers that are the subjects of their research. In short, analyst firms often rely heavily on revenues from the technology providers they cover (e. g., Darwin magazine, March 2001). This source of revenue is a significant component of the business models of most analyst firms. Individual analysts and teams conduct research on industry segments where a vendor may provide products or services, and that same individual or group may provide research deliverables or advisory services to a vendor serving that segment. The analyst is then expected to provide independent objective advice to buyers of those products and services. This matrix of relationships presents opportunities where conflicts can arise. This is exacerbated by the training many vendor analyst relations professionals receive, where they are advised to focus spending on analysts that have the most ability to influence purchases of goods and services by clients, and to bypass controls analyst firms may have in place to preserve that objectivity by limiting direct access to certain analysts for non research purposes. There is also the issue of analyst firms signing boilerplate confidentiality agreements with vendor firms. This occurs when licensing research or performing advisory work, or when conducting detailed briefings in advance of announcements. The language in those agreements often limits the disclosure of certain information that may be disclosed to analysts in the normal course of their research, limiting their ability to fully disclose research findings to buyers of any research deliverable. Some research organizations now refuse to sign confidentiality agreements with vendors or service providers. But there may be a legacy of agreements in place that perpetually limit disclosure for some large vendor clients, so some of the smaller firms have limited work with vendors. Burton Research, for example, enforces a cap of 20% of revenues to be derived from product vendors or service providers. Burton is now owned by Gartner, and continues to limit its vendor expenditures. Real Story Group is a small boutique firm that performs research on products and publishes evaluations. It works solely for buyers and refuses to accept business from vendors that are subjects of its evaluations. Despite a few exceptions, buy side industry analysts represent a small minority of analyst firms today. Even research firms whose services are tailored specifically to the interests of product and service buyers often derive some proportion of their revenues from vendors and service providers, since that information is important to them as well. Another side to this debate is that analyst firms create hype and influence markets in several ways or at even influence deals directly when speaking to end user buyers. The debate over objectivity and independence has always been an active one, with some firms using independence (in absolute and relative terms) as a source of strategic differentiation. Other factors that affect research integrity include transparency with regard to research methodology and survey sampling, theoretical or shallow vs. in depth or hands on expertise of analysts, emphasis on qualitative over quantitative research, and the overall efficacy of a firm's research offerings toward the goal of improving the quality of business and technology decisions.