…optimise your it investments telling the right story vendor overview 2009
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…optimise your IT investments
Telling the Right Story
Vendor Overview 2009
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Information overload
8 % of information retained by the brain
87 % of information forgotten in 4 weeks
To stick your story has to be;Created from the customers perspectiveEasy to navigateDifferentiated and in contextComplete and conciseBelievable and Consistent
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Your messaging challenges
ComplexityAn ever increasing number of segments and variants to understand and addressYour world is always changing (new products, acquisitions, new people, competition)
Competing business lines
ResourceStaff under-resourced – spread thinYour team is too close to the storyAlmost impossible to have expertise in all areas
InfluenceOften seen as biased – not believableHard to reach the right people cost effectively
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Meeting the challenge
What we do: Improve communication between Vendors and their Customers
What do your customers needs/wantsWhat is value are your providingWhat is the European perspective on thisWhat solutions are available and how do they compare
How we do that:
Create relevant simple, interconnected content to explain how solutions deliver value
Apply our knowledge to improve your marketing strategies and Go-to-market execution
Develop partnerships with audience owners
Interact with customers and articulate your value
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Telling the story
From the customers perspectiveWith complete contextThrough an evolving map of content
Context NomenclatureBusiness valueProduct comparisonCustomer perspectiveNews
Adaptable to the readers needs
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Setting the context
Where do you fit in the worldWhat problem are you solvingWho are the customersHow else can the problem be solved
Why should the customer care about your worldEnsuring you have a common languageHow: market guides, articles and wiki’s
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Determine the Hooks
Understanding your customersWhat are the business issues that effect themJustifying the value you can provideCreating digestible content to communicate thisHow:
SpotlightsArticlesPrimary Research
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Position for Strengths
Establishing your sweet spotWhat can/is being done to growth itPositive contextualization against the competitionHow can you justify it
Features and functionalityCustomer validationIndependent recognition
How;Product EvaluationsCustomer EvaluationsMarket Updates
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Engage the Customer
Communicating your story effectivelyHow does your customer consumeWhere do they congregateHow is this changing
Keeping it relevantStaying concise and on storyStaying affordably flexibleHow;
BlogsArticlesPodcastsMicrosites
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
How can we help you?
CONTEXTUAL MESSAGING FRAMEWORK
Establish a independent communications platform to be leveraged across all marketing channels
Solidify and consolidate existing domain leadership/position
Cross linking of product lines
Reposition competitors using your view of the market/segments
Value based messaging
Internal Awareness/Education
Facilitation of Content leverage (staff)
New hire sales training
Competitive win/loss analysis
Internal positioning support/checkpoints
Provide a European perspective
Assist with message/packaging and pricing testing
External Sales Cycle
Facilitation of Content leverage (third parties)
Pitch to key PR contacts
Tie to customer references (what customer wanted, how it fits in to Context)
Product and solution guides
Competitive vendor comparisons
Evaluation criteria setting
Accompanying RFP
Lead-gen webinars and seminars
Community development and engagement
Primary research to support the above
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Bloor at a Glance
Focused on the business value of effective Information Management
Biggest independent analyst in EMEA
All our Analysts are industry veterans
Founder member of the Bullseye Foundation
1000+ articles, reports & papers published per annum
Our partner program maximises end user reach and influence
25 million impressions, 1+ million uniques, 300k+ subscribers
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Research Focus & Coverage
Information Management Philip HowardData Security Nigel StanleyAnalysis (Search, BI, ECM) Gerry BrownData Storage Peter WilliamsContent Management Bharat Mistry
IT Agility Dr Richard SykesInfrastructure (SaaS, SOA) Martin BanksProcess Simon HollowayCollaboration and Communications Carl PotterAccess Control Nigel Stanley
Business IssuesIT Governance David NorfolkCompliance & Regulation Peter HoweAccessibility Peter Abrahams
+ Market driver research on 24 industry domains
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Customers
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Archive
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Services/Artifacts
Spotlight Papers, White Papers
Product EvaluationsInComparison (competitive analysis of multi vendors)
InDetails (Specific product details on single vendor)
Customer EvaluationsInPerspective (end-user views of vendors/products)
ReportsBullseye (Overview of a full domain)
Market update (Bullseye mini updates)
Surveys (RapidSurvey, Spotlight survey, Emergent Demand)
Analyst time (quotes for press releases, on-site consulting, speaking engagements, customer days, etc.)
Available in: Annual subscriptionOn-demandPackages
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Introducing Bullseye
The first open standard methodology for comparing vendors and products
Governed and maintained by a Non profit body (much like Web or Linux models)Shows more than a single view of market positionClose to real-time views with frequent updates based on vendor and product evolution
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
How is Bullseye different?
Results are published and available to any organization An ‘Open source’ approach increases uptake and intellectual inputAssessments are made on an objective basis by trained practitioners Arbitration to ensure fairness, independence and qualityThe data collected is used to create multi-dimensional views of the products strengths and weaknessesBullseye can be dynamically configured to highlight whatever attributes the user valuesVendors can influence the frame of reference
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Bullseye Methodology
DOMAIN STRUCTUREAll ICT technologies are grouped, top down, within a decreasing number of primary domainsFor each domain there is a list of recognised sub-domainsEach domain has a schema made up of a hierarchy of Master, Generic and Specific attributes
BENCHMARKINGAttribute benchmark is based on what the optimal product could be (the nirvana solution)The schema explains how each attribute should be measure and its weighting based on degree of importanceSchema’s for sub domains are created by just altering the weightingsA master database of assessments is maintained centrally with a web service interface
• Policy, governance and standards• Network and communication infrastructure• Datacenter infrastructure• Personal computing platforms• Collaboration• Telephony• User interface• Integration• Infrastructure Management• Data storage• Data assurance• Data retrieval• Data movement• Application development• Application deployment• User Productivity (office)• Financial Applications• Supply Chain Applications• Customer Applications• Resource Applications• Process Applications• Access Control• Enterprise Data Protection• Threat Management• Services
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Ranking on Methodology
Top down approach based on ^ primary attributes
Commercial TechnologyFunctionalityEase of UseValueSupport and coverage
PersonalizationBuyers can highlight their own technical or solutions attributesThey can develop comparisons using the graphics that best fit their orgWeightings can be adjusted based on personal priorityMultiple Third parties can support the buyer based on a single frame of reference
telling the right storyConfidential © Bloor Research 2009
Landscape Bullseye View entire vendor ranking at high level3 standard segments
–Champion–Challenger–Innovator
Segment nomenclature adaptable to vehicles (i.e., when communicating Innovation, segments could be champion, technology, solution)
Solution BullseyeDrill down to specific vendor/products to see performance against primary criteria
This is based on the idea of the scatter pattern (shooting)This can be adapted to show best fit of a product and supplier based on user’s own requirements. User selects number of attributes (from 6-12) and group around clear decision making dimensions.The smaller the shaded area, the better the fit to the users needs.
Ranking is used in multiple ways…