Forrester's kitchen nighmares

Forrester has announced their earnings in August and Dominic has reported that 3 new analysts just joined the firm in Europe:

Analyst Movements: changes at Forrester Research [ARcade]

Don't rejoice too quickly though, the news on the joiners are not as good as it looks: although we could add Kevin Lucas and Duncan Jones as a recent joiners (George Lawrie is also old news as joined over 8 months ago...) to Pete Nuthall, Forrester EMEA has nevertheless still lost Norbert Kriebel, Lars Goddell. Martha Bennett also jumped ships a while back... This leaves only Alexander Peters and Pete Nuthall as real new hires. We also heard that David Metcalfe was on the way out, although this is still unclear.

On the earnings side, sources at the company say they're pleased but they're still growing slower than their competitors. The AR community was irked by their absence of reaction following the assimilation of the market's #3 by the #1. Concerns that they could be used in a dual-vendor strategy grew further after they failed to explain their strategy a couple of years back. However, they since have come forward at a recent IIAR Forum and gave a compelling presentation on their business model and role-based strategy. Some still doubt whether they can effectively cover regional trends, technologies and roles with a still limited local presence -looks a bit like an episode from Ramsay's Kitchen Nighmares where the chef struggles to deliver 72 dishes combinations.

Is Forrester trying to be too many things to too many audiences?
Yankee for instance, during their own presentation at the last IIAR Forum were very clear that their strategy is all about focus on global connectivity issues.

However, despite coverage issues, Forrester's research remains more thought-provoking as opposed to the institutionalised Borg content. Their research agenda maybe quite random but the result is sometimes fresh thinking.
They're also more innovative on their approach of delivering research to their customer: here again it's hit and miss. Roles-based research may not work but as Carter says "Kudos to Forrester for permitting clients to comment on research notes". We wholeheartedly agree.


ARmadgeddon's take: while signs that Forrester is at last taking Europe seriously, we're still watching their delivery and resources commitment with great attention. AR Managers should use them as a second source after Gartner rather than merely a bargaining chip but still be aggressive while negotiating RAS contracts with them.

PS: we're looking for a good nickname for Forrester, all entries to be posted as comments below please

UPDATES:

• Barbara suggested the Colony or the Beehive -we like the former more and will adopt it.
• We received an email from Karyl Levinson, VP CorpComms at Forrester with some precisions:
  "We saw your recent post dated Oct 20 and simply want to let you know that Norbert Kriebel is still an analyst with Forrester. He has relocated to San Diego . Here’s a link to his bio should you want more information: http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/norbert_kriebel"
  Our apologies for the factual inaccuracy and thanks for the vendor review. As a side comment, this confirms that The Colony is more open than the The Borg -kudos to them for opening the kimono.

Previous posts on Forrester:

How to get a briefing from Forrester?

Summer revolving doors

The revolving door is in full spin...

Why Gartner and Forrester will NOT be Disintermediated

Has Forrester missed a golden opportunity?

Weekly roundup: Forrester, IT-director and Quocirca (Part II)

Vinnie shoots at Forrester!

Germany

After GigaWorld: the future for Forrester

Forrester's 2005 newfies

Furl Forrester archive.