Ray Wang named Analyst of the Year 2009 by IIAR

R "Ray" Wang, most recently Vice President, Principal Analyst with Forrester Research, has been named Analyst of the Year by the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations, a UK-based association of analyst relations professionals. The awards program, initiated last year, is based on an online survey of analyst relations professionals. Wang also took the top honor last year.

This year, Wang was nominated by a global survey of 137 analyst relations professionals. Runners up for the title were Jon Collins of Freeform Dynamics and David Mitchell of Ovum.

Jon Collins of Freeform Dynamics was voted the EMEA Analyst of the Year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given an industry-wide retrenchment in IT research spending, the traditional global analyst firms performed very strongly this year. Gartner, Forrester Research and IDC were ranked first, second and third respectively in the Analyst Firm of the Year category. The three firms were also highly rated in terms of their importance, achieving top three places in five of the nine industry segments.

Nevertheless, boutique firms and specialists, particularly those based in Europe, also managed to hold their own in a tough economic environment. Freeform Dynamics, RedMonk and Quocirca all appeared in the top five Analyst Firm of the Year in EMEA, and their analysts scored highly in terms of importance in SMB, developer/IT Pro and Software, and green IT/sustainability, respectively.

What do AR professionals most value when working with analysts? In addition to knowledge and market insight, flexibility in approach, responsiveness and willingness to listen all scored highly.

"At a time when vendors are having to evaluate carefully where they should invest their limited funds, it is refreshing to see best-of-class analysts receiving recognition for the value they deliver." said Jonny Bentwood, Board Member for the IIAR. "Now, more than ever before, analysts have to prove their tangible worth and those that provide independence, integrity, flexibility and deep industry knowledge of their specific areas are being recognised as true partners for vendors and IT buyers."

Commenting on his award, Ray Wang said: "It's a great honour to be recognised by the IIAR, especially in a year where clients challenge analysts to provide more actionable and personalised advice. As we rely more on social media tools to improve client delivery and outreach, I'm often reminded not to forget the other part of the equation - building strong relationships. In fact the best AR pro's I work with master the art of fostering strong relationships and understand that art often trumps science when dealing with people."