META Group, a leading information technology (IT) research and consulting firm, has implemented a programme to have its geographically dispersed strategic consultants recognised as research analysts. This programme has been initiated to bring META Group analysts and the local strategic consultants closer together. The benefits will be improved service to South African META Group clients.
"The programme that was initiated by Jean-Louis Previdi, Senior Vice-President and Research Director, EMEA for META Group Inc. Previdi was in SA recently, when he presented a keynote presentation at the Computer Associates` Executive Retreat. These 'affiliated` analysts will be tasked with localising and customising international trends and best practices, while defining and reporting local trends for the region they serve. This will enable a better global perspective of trends specific to our region," says Johan Theron, director of META Group South Africa.
SA`s first three strategic consultants to be appointed research analysts are Eion Gibson (Practice Leader Architecture and Infrastructure), Johan Jacobs (Practice Leader CRM), and Les Stevens (Practice Leader Security and Risk Management).
Theron says local META Group clients will benefit from the programme to integrate the South African research analysts into the international analyst community.
"Our local research analysts will participate in the monthly European research meetings and annual international research retreats. At these meetings analysts review worldwide trends, and debate and refine research areas."
Theron continues: "META Group`s goal is to publish specific research for southern Africa and the southern African region."
"For historical reasons, SA, in particular, had to be creative and innovative due to being geographically removed from the rest of the IT world. We believe we often do things smarter -- we never had the First World finances, therefore we had to do more with less for much longer than the rest world," remarks Gibson.
"META Group has recognised the need for people who understand local conditions and have the skills and expertise to localise and customise international META Group research. The research analysts will be invaluable to our clients," says Theron. "In the past, we found that there was a lot of relevant local information but there weren`t effective feedback mechanisms to incorporate it into the international research engine.
"This close association between South African research analysts and international analysts will ensure that our local knowledge and research will be integrated into the mainstream research agenda. We will be actively sharing and reporting research, best practices and specific IT trends for the southern Africa region based on local experience," he says.
Jacobs explains that as an example METASpectrum reports will be localised and will be relevant to the local market. METASpectrum reports highlight the differences between product and vendor offerings that enable clients to make informed decisions about which vendor`s products best suit their needs in their geography with its unique characteristics.
The first METASpectrum will be localised shortly. META Group will evaluate local and regional organisations and service providers that provide implementation and integration services across existing CRM product suites. This information will be published locally and internationally after an intensive round of discussions and interviews with relevant vendors and service providers in this CRM space.
META Group is continuously repositioning and refocusing itself as an international research organisation. Local research and information will be beneficial to META Group clients as well international companies who will be able to make more informed decisions about the SA market. It thus is a win: win situation for all parties.
"In conclusion, SA-based research analysts will have the opportunity of intimately working with international counterparts that will result in improved delivery of applicable research to the South African business and IT community," says Theron.
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