We all know there's numerous, if not more than enough technology market intelligence research providers currently doing what most would say is a fair to better than average job.
On the positive they stay current & sometimes even ahead of the trends of Red lighted & Green lighted technologies, as well as which vendors are & are not gaining mindshare & traction. Here though I'd like to explore the negative side of the space. That negative side, whether they will admit or not, is their motivation. The simple truth is that most research in our space is designed to pique your interest, draw you in & once you have "real" questions that will actually provide value in one's decision making process one is then propositioned with 1 of the following 3 options:
-Hire them for Consulting, which is not an immediate ROI & thus, difficult to justify in the environment.
-Hire them to perform a custom study, in which you will Not know the respondents or be able to ensure the methodology or be able to control the time duration. Not to mention costly.
And at the very least,
-Be asked to pay a subscription fee for continued research pieces, which will be macro in perspective & as useful in truth as a trade periodical.
Not the greatest options from where I sit.
In my opinion the solution to this research conundrum is that everyone should have their own research sample or focus group of their peers on hand so they can perform their own surveys on their own time schedule. Yes, I know what you're going say, "Tom, great idea & I'd love to, But not realistic."
Well to those of you who would say that, I say yes it's quite realistic. One can create their own research sample network & perform custom surveys by utilizing professional social networks (PSN). CIOZone is the ideal example of this & is precisely why I started the CIOZone Research Network, which will launch into it's Alpha version in under a week.
The concept & model are quite simple:
Aggregate a pool of IT professionals on varying criteria, such as: size of organization, industry, approx revenue, job title, domain expertise & so forth. We explain what is expected of the participants if they so choose to join the network; to answer 10-20 multiple choice questions 1-3 times per week maximum - each of which taking roughly 6-10 minutes. Additionally, participants realize from time to time one of their peers will request to speak with them about a previous experience in order to help them with possibly a vendor negotiation or something similar. Effectively eliminates the need to pay for managed introductions, doesn't it?
So there you have it, problem solved. Now all participants have their own sample of seasoned IT professionals with varying perspectives & experiences sharing their knowledge within a pre-agreed network & without having to leave your desktop... and all for Free. Next time you need some insight on what it's really going to require to bring on let's say a "NetApp" in regards to time & price, why not draft 5-15 questions that will help you make your decision & submit them to the network. Now storage professionals at organizations similar to yours in size & industry who have previously endured the process can tell you what to truly expect & then you can leverage that information in your vendor negotiation.
The Bottom Line:
In an environment of contracting budgets research is commonly one of the first casualties. Primarily due (in my opinion) to its perceived lack of value as it is not an immediate ROI. Yet anyone who has completed 9th grade science has learned that the best conclusions & decisions are made based on the best & most comprehensive data submitted.
So answer me this: What's better than a web-based research format & network in which you can control All factors of the methodology; sample size, respondents' profile & the questions posed and is also entirely Free?
I believe in this environment you'll be hard pressed to provide an answer.
One last question: Why haven't you joined yet?
If you'd like to join please send me an email
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or click on the following link below:
http://www.ciozone.com/index.php?option=com_groupjive&task=showgroup&groupid=79<emid=491
If you'd like more information regarding the CIOZone Research Network please visit our microsite at www.ciozone.com/researchprogram/
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