Beers - always much enjoyed after a good IIAR forum!

The Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) has really started to find its groove in terms of organising some interesting panel discussions at its London forums. Last Thursday's panel consisted of analysts from four of the vertical market focused analyst firms - IDC Inisights, Cambashi, Kable and Silva Research Network (SRN). And the purpose of the discussion? To get a clearer idea of how their approach to research differs from that of other analyst firms and how we as AR professionals can work more effectively with them.

One of the key take-aways for me from this discussion was the reinforcement in my own mind that these guys really do expect any vendors looking to brief them to understand how their technology or business fits into the analyst's vertical market. It isn't good enough to present the usual slide-deck. They want to know the relevance that the vendor has in their market. And this means having appropriate case studies and a spokesperson that understands the vertical market, be that financial services, government or manufacturing. The feedback came back loud and clear from the analysts that some vendors are much better at doing this than others - and the ones that do are the ones that will end up in conversations that the analysts have with end-user organisations.

Interest areas for these analysts are not driven by what Stephen Roberts from Kable referred to as the "traditional AR calendar" - i.e. briefings that are mapped around quarterly results or product releases. His interest in briefings is driven more by a desire to hear about big deals in the sector - no surprise there. That's fine but I guess the difficulty for us on the AR side is that while we'd love to be able to provide briefings on that kind of topic, very often our hands are tied by whether we're able to talk about the deal or not, and if, by the time we can talk about it, is it still relevant at that point?

I was definitely pleased to hear that these analysts are looking for more of a dialogue with vendors. It's one of the things I always talk about as a differentiator between PR and AR. Analysts are looking for that longer term relationship and not just a quick hit on a story. Ralph Silva from SRN hit the nail on the head when he commented that he appreciates the briefings where he is able to ask questions back to the vendor and where it doesn't become a lecture.  Absolutely right Ralph, and in my experience, the vendors get a lot more out of those kind of briefings too.

Andy Bairsto