I’ve Been Getting Advice On How To Do Analyst Relations, The Narrowing of the Funnel

There must be something in the the water, or there is a plethora of new people in the A/R industry.

Just recently, I’ve received emails from Gartner, Forrester, Robin Bloor, and a number of other analyst firms (including some blogs) as well as the A/R consulting firms like Knowledge Capital Group, SageCircle, ARInsights and a new one called Alltheanalysts.com on A/R best practices. This is just in the last few weeks. There have been various other articles over time from the stalwarts like James Governer and Armadgeddon
How should i look at this? Are we that unprepared? Do we not know enough or has the profession progressed?
You can always improve.

If I look at this from the positive perspective, good council is always appreciated. No one is the end all, although from time to time, there are the Michael Jordan’s, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Pele’s who at a point in time are the undisputed champ.

Analyst relations is about relationships so that’s ever evolving. The word relations clearly implies that humans are involved, which means there is the opportunity for intangibles like feelings, emotions, ego and other influences that can make a good story bad, or a bad story stomachable (might not be a word).

What is important is time. You spend time with anyone and you begin to know likes and dislikes, favorite topics and sore points. It also let’s you know a person at a deeper plane, like I know the names of some of the analyst’s pets, or kids. It also offers the opportunity to get on ones nerves, which I’ve done more than my share of.

So, the net of it is you can’t stand still. The A/R world moves and you must move with it or left behind, so some of the information these emails and blogs are helpful, you have to parse it based on your experience level…..oh yes, and never assume you know it all.
What is the Analyst Point of View - How to work with us better?

At first, I took offense when I read some of these articles. Like how to get a briefing with Forrester since I’ve always thought that we could speak to each other with out going through the Secret Service. But I came to realize (after the ego settled down, which I never should have let out of it’s hole anyway) that the inundation was likely overwhelming. I also realized that a lot of requests to speak are rubbish anyway, a sales call, trying to get free information for nothing….generally a waste of the analyst’s time, especially when it’s my turn to speak with them (get back ego, down boy).

There also must be some bending on the analyst side as not all IT firms are the same. There are the normal firms and then there are the IBM’s, Microsoft’s and other behemoths who are like a Medusa of tentacles coming at the analyst from 500 directions. We have some of the most experienced A/R folks and also, uh-hum…some not as experienced. So one size does not fit all.

My doubting mind also wonders if there is a funnel that throws some opportunities at the sales department from this sign up process?

I also wonder if it’s a Hey, work with us on our terms ’cause we’re tired of 50 companies coming at us 150 different ways? Well, I guess there is only 28 hours in the day anyway.

What about the A/R consulting Firms?

In some cases, they are quite knowledgeable. I’ve read many of the articles from the above mentioned folks and they have good advice, some which should seem intuitive, but there are those of us who are slower learners than others, so I find them helpful…if nothing but for a reminder. Some like Carter Lusher have ventured to the dark side when he was head of A/R at HP so he knows the life we live day in and day out.

So Why All the Articles at Once?

When the moon, is in the 7th house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars…..wait, this isn’t the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, there has to be a better answer. It must be that there is a need or opportunity out there, or it wouldn’t be happening. Capitalism just works that way. It must be some combination of the A/R world needing refining and the Analyst world trying to narrow the funnel. Anyway, I’d recommend that one goes to these sights, heck, you’ve already either seen them or written one of them anyway.

Ethics in the Analyst Community

The Institute for Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR), specifically David Rossiter who has many links to those who have written on this subject.He points out some indiscretions here:

• the UK company that publishes a company profile - but gives no indication that the piece was commissioned by the vendor (and for which the vendor was effectively given copy approval)
• the analyst that writes blog posts promoting a project that his consultancy is involved in - without disclosing his connection
• the division of a large group that prioritises briefings based on the likelihood of selling reprints of the resulting company profile
• the analysts that use a briefing as an opportunity to pitch their own services
• the global company that says its analysts are more likely to recommend vendor clients to prospective buyers (because the analysts know clients better than those that are non-clients)
• the vertical firm that refuses to take briefings with non-clients because it’s so busy doing consulting work it can only handle briefing requests from clients
• and what about this experience highlighted by the corporate AR team at HP?

I’ve worked in the A/R field for a few years now, so I’ve seen some of these pop up, and in some cases had to deal with it. One must always be wary if there is money on the table to keep independence in the forefront. Conversely, if there wasn’t money on the table, the analyst wouldn’t be able to stay in business, so it’s a bit of a dichotomy.

My .02
For the record, there are those on the vendor side who also take advantage of the relationship also. Like calling a consulting a briefing to get out of paying. Trying to get something for nothing, also done but should be. That swims in the pool of un-ethics (sic) also.

What about when the analyst firm comes calling?

Here’s the first clue, the account representative is on the call or initiates it. You know there is a fee or it is a paid study. That should be a clue that money is on the table and you can’t be surprised when it comes up. I’m not knocking the Account Reps. Heck, in a way, I’m the analogous person from the vendor at times. They help me get a lot of work done, but when they are there, money is on the table.

What is the A/R responsibility?

Well, it isn’t that tough to know how much you have for a budget, what’s the priority for your company or group, and what you can or can not do. What if it’s in that nebulous area or the HP example ?. That was underhanded. The Aberdeen example is shady, but it was paid.

You better have a good working relationship with the analyst firm to know when you are about to be asked for money, or know that you are not on good terms….. or your product is suspect and will be called out. Then you have to know how to defend and deflect.

On non paid reports, can you be caught blindsided? Yes, in fact we had a recent report published that we weren’t sent a draft for fact checking, to our detriment. We met after it was published to correct the facts and to make sure that it didn’t happen in the future, but sometimes it does slip through the cracks.

You can work through the issues of the big groups who feel the opportunity to sell is greater with another company. Yes I work for a big company, but I (l)earned my lessons at a small firm when IBM was the competition, and was the big dog during the mainframe and very early PC days. To be successful and weed through the process, you have to have a compelling reason to talk, pick and choose your openings, not be willing to settle for the brush off and don’t lie. When you promise the universe and deliver a pebble, your cover is blown as are your chances of a next briefing.

So I’m not excusing the behavior of the above listed offenses, but there are ways of dealing with it, like looking out for and beware of what the situation is before it happens.

For the most part, almost all of my dealings to the 99th percentile are ethical and even enjoyable. There are always a few bad apples, but it doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.

At least in the realm of this discussion, nothing is as bad as this.

Analyst Relations at a Big Company

I’m frequently asked what it’s like to make an announcement at IBM. I’m also frequently told (by analysts):

Why doesn’t IBM just do x,y,z?

Why did IBM do x,y,z?

Who is the person that does x,y,z?

Company a,b and c can do this, why can’t you?

If IBM would spend some of it’s money doing x,y,z instead of stock buybacks, buying this or that, it would make more sense.

So it is when working at a larger company, things are different, especially in a communications function. It’s like working in the military, the congress or the UN sometimes.

IBM is a Big Company

Well, d’uh. But I had to establish the premise for drawing analogies. With big comes a different set of issues. When I worked at a small company years back, many times I made the decision to do what was needed for press, analysts or marketing campaigns.  If I needed money, I just went to see my buddies in accounting that I likely had lunch with and bingo, it was done.  Not so in a biggie company.

Coordinating communications across multiple disciplines, to different constituencies and from different area’s of the company and still seem congruent at the end of the day is also sometimes a feat. When it works, it is a charm, when it doesn’t…you wonder if we all work for the same company. Not only do you have message issues can conflict, you have executive issues…..and conflict.

There are times when the messages are actually competing with another brand or division. Co-opitiion lets you partner with your competitors and when you announce a joint project, it can upset the applecart internally. Oracle competes with our middleware, yet is a services partner. SAP uses our database technology to compete with Oracle, but again competes with our middleware stack. Microsoft is shipped with some of our servers, yet we are all about Open Source and Linux.

To make an announcement, hold an analyst day or any other form of communication, it calls for multiple revisions, making it hard to stay on track.

Working in the Congress

This is when it’s like congress. You have a bill (set of messages) and it covers many states (brands, divisions, groups) which you have to get it passed (make the announcement). There are constant negotiations, earmarks, pork where everyone has to get their message in. In case you didn’t already know, clear and concise messaging is effective, multiple and conflicting messages are not. It is up to the Comms team to keep it on track. Then you have a speaker of the house (executive) that is making the announcement, including the press secretary (announcement team) who field additional questions and clean up.

Then there are the times when we are doing say, acquisitions. We are sworn to secrecy (NDA’s), are given our marching orders (messaging) have a commander (executive in charge of the project) and are basically told when, where and how things are going down. Now drop and give me 20 push ups. This at times can actually be easier as the butt-in-ski’s from various groups don’t get to put in their 2 cents to slow things to the speed of a glacier. But to watch a big company work with the efficiency of an aircraft carrier, I’ve seen throngs of people get organized and get into action in literally minutes….. and it is some of the most effective work in the shortest amount of time you’ll see at a big company.

The UN
Then there are the communications times that remind me of raising teenagers, like nailing jello to a tree. It’s not clear who’s in charge, who’s announcing what and/or why. But we HAVE to get back to TPTB to report progress. I’m sitting back the whole time watching this train wreck waiting to happen. These announcements usually get swept under the rug or butchered if anyone finds out about them. It’s like working at the UN, people posturing about their product or announcement, but getting nothing done and and having no power to enforce anything….
How to get it to work
The net of it is coordination. A/R has to work with P/R, with the executives, with the analysts, with the press, with the WORLD to get the messaging correct and approved, The whole time the internal team has to notify everyone so that when a customer calls, we actually know what to say. All the affected product groups need to be communicated to and worked with. Timing has to be worked out because if you haven’t noticed, we pretty much announce something every day. It’s hard not to step on someone else’s toes, especially if you are communicating to the same mediums. We have to space out the announcements, and getting priority for yours is like going to court and negotiating a plea bargain. Which announcement is more important to the company? Well, what day is it.

The internal negotiations of such machinations is a skill in itself. You learn political, social, communication and flexibility skills in addition to your job. It is very difficult to make such a big company work together effectively, something that we do better than most, but still have a ways to go sometimes.

So when you ask us, why don’t you just do x, y or z, it’s because were going through the alphabet doing a,b and c,,,,plus some hieroglyphics to get it right, not because we aren’t listening to you. When you ask us who takes care of the revalvitating capitulators and I don’t know, it’s because we’re big and a lot of people do a lot of jobs. Oh yes, and since IBM stands for I’ve been moved, people change jobs and who did it last year is rarely an indicator of who’s doing it now.

It’s a good thing I can blog, the only boss I have to run that by is me.

Is a Blog that Influential to Analyst Relations?

Maybe.

I had a conversation recently with one of the major firms recently who asked me why I did what I do on my blog. Being transparent, I told them my motives, my objectives and my expectations. Let me stop and say that I fully expect them to be reading this post. I’ve been asked to present blogging as a best practice for analyst relations to a group of my peers. I do believe that it is a best practice as I accomplish many things through blogging (I’ll concede that competitive eating is pretty much motive-less, except for the spectacle of it). Mostly I was taken back that anyone would care a hoot about what I write, but I seemed to have mis-judged the audience. I know why I do what I do, but it seems that others are interested and the firm I spoke to thinks it could help the greater A/R community.

Blogging should be about transparency, but as I’ve noted before, I hate to lose. I clearly use my blog to speak to analysts as I learned well that the R in A/R doesn’t stand for reports. Yes, I write that often, so that phrase is brought to you by the department of redundancy department, but I digress. Back to hating to lose, I find that blogging gives me an additional line of communications with analysts, which I’d need to disclose to all, and it gives me a one up on the competition. I even have relationships with analysts through the blog that I don’t work day to day with.

It became clear in the conversation that I’m not going to worry about it that much as the discussion quickly came to the point that blogging is passion, you either are going to do it or your not. Most that do it are like the people at the gym after New Years. Here today, back at the buffet line tomorrow.

It also became clear to me who I felt was better than me, which I would point out in such a presentation, should I get asked to actually do it. But a lot comes down to me, would I discuss it or would I hold the keys to the safe of A/R tactics.

Maybe I just have delusions of adequacy?

My guess, I’d probably do it if asked to as if we can make our profession better, why not? And to answer the question is a blog influential to analyst relations, for me the answer is definitively yes…..both reading and writing.

Working with Analysts, the Consulting Day

Bill Hopkins of Knowledge Capital Group sent an email with 13 recommendations on January 10th. I like all of them, but want to address one, or one at time….we’ll see if I get through all of them. I picked the consulting day first as I get a lot of benefit from them, for the reasons that he points out.Here is Bill’s take on it:
1. Spending a day consulting with a vendor on strategy
- Most analysts find tremendous value in these types of interactions and no, its’ not what you think - it isn’t because the firm gets paid for these days, or in some cases because the analysts gets a “spiff”. It is because they know what you should know. That by spending 8 or so hours with somebody you get a much better picture of who they are, what they do, how they do it, where they are going and how they are going to get there. You also have a much better chance of furthering a relationship at the same time.

My Take:

I find from the vendor side that these days are very helpful also for any number of reasons. Foremost of those is that we are so detached in our communications via web, social softwaring (made up a word there I think), crackberrying (’nuther new word), and any number of technological communications assistants, that we’re detached from human contact. I find there is no substitute for face to face communications. You can’t read a person’s non-verbal responses over a text message. I can see an analyst cringe when they see one of our strategies that they don’t agree with. I can also tell when they care as they either comment, start writing or lean over and speak to each other when we say something significant either positive or negative.

Conversely, if the analyst is sitting there like a sphinx, it tells us that whatever we just said was either a bomb, meaningless or a total bore. Try to get that over a phone or IM.

Digesting the Company:

Analysts get bombarded with information about a company….constantly. Not only do they have to boil the ocean, some companies have complexity as a core competency. Others just outright lie under the guise of Marketing speak. Face to face communications allows the analyst to challenge the company, and to ask further detail that is easily digestible in person, which either too hard or just not worth in via technology.

Forcing the vendor to be concise:

This is not always the case come final presentation, but it forces a vetting process to decide what to present. Logically, you would present what you want answers to or discussion on, otherwise it is a briefing as you’ve made your decision and this is an announcement. It also assumes that the thought going into a consulting day was cogent. I’m guessing that there are those with agenda’s such as trying to convince an analyst that they are better or right on their product and/or strategy and it becomes combative rather than consultive in nature. This is a total my bad for the vendor. If you’re not going to listen to the analyst and their advice, why did you ask them or pay them to be there???????

We go through endless rounds of drafts of our presentations and what we need help on before these days. It makes you decide what is important. The A/R person must step in at this point to keep the executives focused on the fact that this is a help session, not a sales presentation. My favorite ending to any fork in the road in the analyst discussion is “what do you think?”. I’ve rarely witnessed an analyst without an opinion.

One can receive immense help from a day of discussion, yet I’ve seen ego’s get in the way of objectives which should be to seek out help and advice from one that knows the subject matter.

Building a Relationship:

One of the inherent outcomes of spending a day (as Bill points out) in the room is some form of bonding. Even after we’ve been told how bad our product or offering is, we still have been able to work out a plan to make it better, not that we did it every time. Going through the process allows you to grow together as analyst/vendor.

There is a caveat when either side can be so combative, over ego’d or just belligerent that it became worse, but that is a human flaw, not a flaw in the process of the consulting day. And yes, I’ve seen guilt on both sides of the table.

I’ve found that either good or bad review of our subject matter still gives the analyst a view of what we are doing and they are more amenable to working with you come report/MQ/Wave/Whatever time. You know each other, you don’t have to start from first grade on your product and you have history together.

I always feel better before a report knowing that I’ve spent time with the analyst to discuss what we are doing. Sure I work for a big company, but even if I was at a small company I’d do the same things. We explain who we are, where we fit in, who we work with, who we compete against, what is our offering….and can you help?

The net of it is I’ve rarely felt that it wasn’t worth it. I’ll be the analyst feels the same way, to some degree at least.

Competing in an Analyst Vendor Comparison - Part 2

I’m writing this series so one can see what goes on inside a analyst vendor comparison from our point of view. I compare this to what the outside world see’s, which is the results once published. I was also asked by some analysts when I began this blog to discuss the dynamics of these projects from our side so they could understand what we are going through.

This particular review as I mentioned before is being conducted by one of the big three firms. The dynamics of the relationship are different because of size, analyst reach and other factors which require us to handle the relationship portion of the job differently than with a non big three firm. I emphasize this as I’m writing about a report, but the wise in the A/R community know that the R in A/R stands for relations, not reports.

We were challenged by both time and experience as I noted before. Time, as it occurred over the Christmas holiday period and experience as I am working with an entirely new team who has never undergone this process. I wish to point out that the analysts have now commented that our attention to both detail and deadline were better than others so far, meaning we took the time to break down our programs vs. answering the question in terms of yes/no or did we comply. While this is not life or death, understanding what the analysts are going through to compare disparate programs when answering the questions helps them understand and therefore help us. One must understand from the vendor side that the analyst does NOT work for the vendor and therefore what we take for granted is not intuitive for them. They must boil the ocean of all the forms into something that is consumable for the audience and compare a huge variance in both programs and responses to questions. This can not be accomplished by just filling out the form and it is a process. Let me back up to describe this.

While I began this topic in December of 2007, I believe that the cycle started in December of 2006 when this report was not even scheduled. We took over a year and multiple briefings both over the phone and in person to cover the breadth of our programs. I’ll admit that we are IBM and complexity can be our core competency, so this doesn’t apply to smaller companies who might not have programs as large as we do, but I don’t work for them so that is the hand I’m dealt. Nevertheless, were I at a smaller vendor, I would still approach these comparisons the same way, relationship based. Through this process, we were never guaranteed that such a report would be written, as this is the first time for this firm on this subject, but we build the relationship between said firm and our programs over this time. What is most interesting as I refer back to the issue of a new team is we started with one set of executives and team, and competed in the review with another. This was a test for me as to whether the merits of the program stand out regardless of the players, of which time will tell.

We did deliver the completed forms on time and in great detail (not a wave of minutia, which must be managed) for which I credit our team in taking this seriously. I routinely count on the competition to be both late and incomplete at this point. I’ll give the smaller vendors the benefit of the doubt when they don’t have dedicated A/R programs and this is someone’s night job, but this happens at the major players I’ve been told by analysts, which is faux pas supremo. I’ll admit to a bit of anal retentiveness to getting the job done right, and a sense of competitiveness that drives me in almost every aspect of my life, but the reality is that a job done well is what we are paid to do, a job done excellent separates the men from the boys.

Our next step was to speak with the analyst’s to make sure that there was no questions on either side of the questionnaire that might be misunderstood or misinterpreted. As I suspected, there were. What was interesting is that in most cases, both we an the analyst’s had the same issues and subjects that needed clarification. This is a clear indicator that we were at least somewhere near each other regarding being on the same page as to the direction of this project. Again as I suspected, other vendors are not completing this step which leaves it up to interpretation, which can go either way. After a good conversation, we cleared said issues up. The old saying of leaving no stone unturned matters here.

I believe that this is a crucial step in dealing properly with analyst’s in such a project. Any misunderstanding or lack of clarity can cost you a notch or two in the outcome, once again challenging my competitiveness which won’t go away. This also gives us a chance to build the relationship with the analyst’s further. Beyond the obvious of business reasons here, it is a good practice to keep an open dialogue with your analyst counterpart.

I anticipate the results in February, so we’ll see how it turns out.  While I could have written a step by step guide of how to manage these projects, I don’t want to give away the keys to the store quite yet.  If you read it, there is enough information here to do well at this.

Competing in a Analyst Vendor Comparison - Part 1

I hope this will be a multi part post over the next month as I’m in the middle of a comparison by one of the big three analyst firms regarding our partner programs. As it is with Dragnet, the names are changed (or not mentioned) to protect the innocent. I also don’t want to affect the outcome by being too public, but since it is an analyst relations event that we all go through….. just the facts ma’am.

We received the questionnaire a week late from the original time line, but weren’t given an extension. Normally, this wouldn’t have been an issue as I’ve been working with a delta force team in ISV and Developer Relations (IDR) and I’ve “trained” them on the drill. Two things have changed. First, we’ve never done a report on our group with this firm so the unofficial rules of engagement are an unknown. I believe that while you need to follow rules, nuances are the make or break when there is an issue near the line where an answer or rating could go either way.

Second and this is the big issue, is my whole team turned over with the exception of me, so no one had ever dealt with an analyst and some are relatively new to the IDR program. This was a problem. We had to assemble a whole new team and get them to understand that not everything we do is important to an analyst. This discernment is a big issue when answering the questions properly. Overpowering a question with information is not the same as answering it properly. Conversely, we have to get them to understand what is important and answer the question asked.
Our ability to do well in this was in part governed by the questions asked for the rating. The analyst firm was very fair in giving all participating vendors the guidelines and asking our input beforehand, and asked if anyissues were not relevant or did they leave out something that was meaningful. This was one of our points to influence the report so we took the view of the reader (partner/ISV) and answered as to how they would read it and it appears that was of value to analyst.

I’ll give the analyst firm credit, they took the time to read our input and considered it, more than some have done for me in the past.

So I’m coaching a team of rookies that are playing in the big leagues (the competition in this one add up to hundreds of billions of revenue, no small potato’s) and this is the playoffs.

I’ll write further as the process goes forward and once over, I’ll reveal the results and perhaps the analyst firm . Normally, I’m quite confident in these as our programs are solid, but for this one, there are too many unknowns. If I had to guess, we’re a top 2 or 3, but again, there is no way of predicting.

The test of the quality of most things is by fire. So while it shouldn’t matter that we have all new people, the program should be capable and we should be able to do the normal good job we do. That discounts the human element of this, one incomplete or mis-interpreted answer could deal us a bad card. As they say in “The Gambler” every hand’s a winner and every hand’s a loser….

Why December is one of the most important months for Analyst Relations Work

One would think that with Christmas and other holidays, that December would be a slow month for analyst relations.  In reality it could be if you are a slacker, but it has worked just the opposite for me.  My whole year can be won in the prior December.  Yes, I look at many things as winning and losing, it’s the competitor in me that won’t go away.

A good hunter once told me that the harder he works prior to hunting season to prep for the hunt, the better his luck is.  On a really good year he gets accused of being really lucky, when in fact he worked harder that year.  So it is with working with the analysts (I guess this is any job really, but I work in A/R).  If I get my plans in order and schedule the beginning of the year with good kick off meetings, it’s amazing the results that occur, just lucky I guess? 

Here is the other thing I’ve noticed.  I have easier access to the analysts (except those who have to sell or close contracts which is a December time suck) as a lot of the other programs are doing the above mentioned slacking or holiday partying, or something which allows me in the door.

I’ve noticed that the analysts are planning their year, or at least the first part of the year also.  If I am working with them, they will at least consider my area as something to write about.
From the analyst side, there can be time left over in a group contract that I can access at the end of the year.  It is a benefit that I’ve used more than once and intend on using.  I’m not proud.

So I do celebrate Christmas, and I usually do take time off (use it or lose it), December is one of the most valuable months for me.  It can determine my “luck” for the following year.

Happy Hunting.

SWG Analyst Connect, the review

This was a good event to get the top Software Analysts and the top IBM executives together to hear what IBM has to say.  There are some upsides and downsides to this.

First, it is a logistical exercise just short of Desert Storm.  I’ll give kudo’s to the team lead by Monica Wells Grace who may be the best planner I’ve ever met.  It’s why I asked her to join me when I ran the meeting a couple of years ago and I’m glad she got the spotlight.  There were many other team members, but since some asked that they not be mentioned on the Internet, I’ll just say they did a great job.

Steve Mills continues to amaze me with his deep knowledge of endless subject, even mentioning Angstrom width on chips.  At an investor meeting, his comments affected Oracle’s stock price…how’s that for being influential.  Judith Hurwitz describes it from an analyst perspective .

The 1:1’s were good for me as the analysts knew what we were doing and could piece together the various groups and strategies.  The breakouts were good discussion’s of the various area’s…I’ll link to them at some point to see what the others said as I was in the ISV briefings with my new GM, Jim Corgel who did a great job with ISV and Developer Relations.

We have a speed dating session for analysts called speed jamming.  I think the jury is out on this after talking to the the analysts.  Most want more time than was allowed as they are just getting into the meat of their subject when it’s time to change.  That’s the analyst opinion.  For me, it’s short enough that it forces a followup if needed, so it accomplishes the get together part of our job.

The tech labs and Innovation center were a nice touch.  Any issues were well covered by alcohol and food.  I have to admit, I didn’t go to see them as I was in conversation with both analysts and IBM’rs.

The good part of this meeting for analysts is that they get direct access to the top executives of IBM and can ask them anything.  The bad part of the meeting is that the analysts get direct access to the top executives of IBM and can ask them anything.  This gives us the chance to either shine or shame.  I know of one analyst who will post that we are silo’ed between divisions, a fact of life for a company with individual P & L’s and 90+ billion in revenue.  It’s a fact of life.  We did note together that when the divisions do align, it is like the death star, very effective.

Most came out with a more positive view of what we are doing and where we are heading, because we have a good plan and lots of good people working on lots of good projects.   We have a better acquisition strategy and better middleware strategy than the competition.

We are IBM though and it’s tough to perceive us as hipsters for those who’ve been around for a while.  That is something we have to overcome.  Conversely, it is a source of comfort for others.

I’ll close by saying what I heard from the analysts about the SWG analyst relations team from virtually every analyst who commented on this.  We are one of the hardest working group that cares about the constituency.  We know our jobs and do it well according to them.  kudos to Sarita for that.

All in all it was a good event, and I’m glad it’s behind us.

It’s off to the SWG A/R Briefing

After months of planning and managing schedules, travel, egos and issues, tomorrow kicks off the SWG A/R analyst briefing.  The top honcho’s from SWG and the top analysts from the industry will get together for the next two days to dive deep into the strategy, products, past, present and future of both IBM and the industry.

No one pulls punches, we give ourselves, the competition and sometimes the analysts a going over.  They in turn give us the hard questions, fair is fair.

One interesting dynamic for me here in the peanut gallery is that Steve Mills is the king of SWG.  Normally, the other brand leaders of various levels are the star of their show, but at this meeting, there is only one leader….and all know it.  The respect for hierarchy is very interesting after watching the lieutenants order the troops around, until the general shows up.

I’m bringing my camera and hope to share the goings on.

For me, it’s going to be all about SaaS.  We have a strategy, and it’s competitive.  It will be the topic of interest for a Chat with the Experts session as well as a GM breakout session that the partnering group is hosting.  It will also be in the Lotus session.

For now, it’s off to the airport, I’ll be checking in later this week to report back.