This is a great idea, James. Shall I set up a wiki? Seems a good way to go.

Besides enterprise technologists and their providers, this will be useful for analysts too.

I agree with points Alan made in his comment. This business model seems difficult for some people to grasp. Plus, there is some natural uncertainty as to the client experience — whether all research is free, whether there is an expectation for contributing back to the research community as in open source code (as if…).

A guide to the companies comparing their implementations would be a good supplement to the individual explanations in the wild. I still refer people to RedMonk posts like this one for an intro, and lately also to Brenda’s Elemental Links launch, as a good case in point.

Some other people I’d like to tag to contribute to the project would be Dana Gardner, the mwd Neils, and the analyst who sizes the largest analysts and trends buffeting them, Louise Garnett.

There are many other analysts engaged in open source analysis of various sorts in various disciplines — networking, security, etc. If we mandate use of a creative commons license or similar mechanism, then exclusion is simple. Good points for discussion, exploration.

Here’s an interesting survey for PR and marketing pro’s at analyst firms and other management/IT professional services providers. Marketing consultancy Bloom Group produced a survey and report on marketing effectiveness among U.S. professional services firms. Turns out strong intellectual capital (IC) is the most important ingredient of effective marketing. The participating services firms rated IC as more important than having a compelling brand, big marketing budget, a sound marketing strategy or capable sales force. Take the 20-minute online survey for a free copy of the full report. (Hat tip to Kennedy Information’s ConsultingWire.)

Bloom Group believes this is common sense. Professional services firms are in the business of providing expertise, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they feel the key to generating marketplace interest in their services is capturing and marketing strong intellectual capital.

Bloom Group report authors Robert S. Buday, Bernie Thiel, and Susan Buddenbaum note that the survey results do not suggest abandoning other forms and components of marketing. The survey simply indicates that marketing the ideas of a professional services firm through educational, rather than promotional, marketing channels is much more important.
Read the rest of this entry »