Competitor Assessment: Watching The IT Watchers – A Segment In Turmoil

Outsell's annual look at the IT Research (ITR) industry finds a group of companies that continues to struggle relative to other segments of the Information Content (IC) Industry. It remains the only negative growth segment in the industry. The Briefing analyzes the trends driving the ITR segment, including maturation and consolidation in the technology industry and the changing ways users and organizations consume information because of the rise of the Internet. Consolidation will occur as larger players like Gartner, META, Forrester, and IDC are forced to grow inorganically; upstarts and boutiques will emerge and peck away at the top tier; and new modes such as Corporate Executive Board will change the nature of advisory offerings. The Briefing includes a side-by-side comparison of five players (AMR, Forrester, Gartner, IDC, and META) and their offerings. It also identifies several hot new players that are reshaping the landscape: Current Analysis, Primetrica, TechTarget, eMarketer, Bitpipe, Nucleus Research, and KnowledgeStorm. This Briefing answers the questions: 'How do I compete?' for players in the space; 'Who do I invest in?' for the financial community; and 'Who do I buy and why?' for buyers of IT research, whether they are CIOs, librarians, or marketing intelligence executives in the high-tech industry.