According to spokespeople and others within the leading IT research firms, IT folks spend up to $2 billion a year on IT research and analysis. They base their estimates on analysis from Outsell, the research firm about IT research firms (and the rest of the information industry). Outsell itself has not released that number, of course, because it wants to sell that information — and related forecasts and analysis — to the IT research companies.

And, based on what Outsell tells them, the IT research companies in turn want you to buy ever more of their analytical expertise, as represented in their analyst line-up. If you are thinking of expanding your use of IT and IT market research, or simply want to better understand what you are using currently, consider the analysts that do the research.

Where Do IT Analysts Get Their Information?

Some of the IT research firms get their knowledge about what you do — and should do next — through focus groups involving a dozen or so IT users, and some accomplish this in the natural progression of one-on-one consulting assignments. A few do large statistically significant surveys, and the largest research firms conduct all three kinds of IT user contact, but the individual analyst you deal with might not be aware of all of the resources within his or her own firm. That last point is as important in considering your IT research needs as understanding IT research firms’ heritage, focus and resources.

IT management and staff need to make sure that they are asking their questions of the individual analyst best able to answer them. The background and experience of the individual analysts — no matter the size of the firm — is key to getting your questions answered. Some firms employ mostly former IT staffers, others employ mostly former supply-side marketing and development experts, and others grow analysts totally in-house from college-hiring programs.

As the managing director of TekPlus, Dr. Mitul Mehta, said in an Institute for Industry Analyst Relations interview in June 2008, analysts at smaller research firms will tend to be big-picture people looking broadly at IT needs. Analysts at larger firms, on the other hand, typically look at specific types of products and services and secondarily at channel, how the software is written, and so forth.

The latter are more stovepiped. No individual analyst could research all products in depth and provide quality. But their independence should not be questioned. To rebut a hot topic on the blogosphere recently, analysts do not favor proprietary software over open source software or vice versa. Instead, the operating system analyst looks equally at Linux and Windows, the middleware analyst looks equally at JBoss and WebSphere, the CRM analyst looks equally at Sugar and Salesforce.com, and so forth.

How to Spot Sponsored Research

Speaking of hot issues about analysts, every year when the magic quadrants, market share tables and waves emerge from the leaders, the complaints begin that not all the best products and technologies are represented because it is necessary to “pay to play” (that is, the vendor has to be a client of the research firm) in order to be mentioned. IT Investment Research surveys have found no indication of that, but one thing you will want to do is distinguish between research with an agenda and straightforward “just the facts ma’am” research.”

Research with an agenda — often called sponsored research — can be useful in terms of pointing out the right questions to ask and/or providing an analytical framework useful to whatever your IT department is trying to accomplish. Not surprisingly, though, sponsored research is rarely going to give you the complete picture of the sponsor. The good news is that all the leading analyst firms clearly mark their sponsored research as such. Also, just because you receive a piece of research from a vendor does not mean it has an agenda.

Often, an IT supplier will see an analysis that involves his or her company, feel the analysis is useful to the supplier’s marketing efforts, and buy reprints. A key question to ask is whether research given to you by a supplier contains the same material provided as part of the research firm’s standard deliverable to clients.

The typical problem is not sponsored research. Analysts fail IT users with too much feature/function buzzword babble about software. There should be more holistic case studies that look at the total software life cycle.

How to Buy and Use Independent IT Research

While research firms are fair and balanced and not involved in the “pay to play” they are often accused of, they are still in business. Typically, they will want to sell you an ongoing subscription-based relationship. But IT users need to think of their own needs, says Peggy O’Neill, senior vice president, analyst relations, at Hill & Knowlton, pointing out that there may be research available on the Internet that is all you need.

Many users suggest that IT users buy research as it is needed rather than being locked into a long-term relationship with one firm. Users should even consider formal but short-term consulting assignments tied to one or two existing focused reports instead of syndicated subscription research unless they know they will need every report put out by a specific analyst, because the subscriptions are typically tied to a particular analyst.

A hybrid of this buying pattern involves buying a block of time and predetermined number of reports even though you don’t know at the signing of the contract exactly what the subject is and which analyst you’ll need. Research firms do not like this relationship but they will arrange it rather than lose your business altogether.

Finally, when you use IT research, always take time to understand how the research was conducted, and be careful comparing various pieces of research.

And although analysts are not needed the way they were when IBM and the Seven Dwarves constituted the whole IT industry and Gideon Gartner had not left IBM and Oppenheimer to found the company that bears his name, if you have to go to the board for a decision, still bring an analyst or analyst opinion with you. For at least one more generation, the old men on the board will expect it.

For more information, see a review of research firms’ focus, heritage and resources in IT Research Firms’ Focus, Resources Vary Widely.