For quota bearing business managers across the IT industry, being able to anticipate changes to the competitive landscape is critical. I’ve heard from many of you that trend analysis is not the complete picture; you need to be able to assess specific players’ likely stances.

Quarterly trackers, earning report analysis and annual rankings are indications of relative performance based on history; managers at the coal face need more predictive guidance. Several debates with Martin and Claus led us to conclude that we can indeed compile a set of metrics that would point to short term future performance. It will be a livelier version of the traditional SWOT quadrant and take into account a broad range of indicators.

Our aim is to start with the global top 100 players already tracked on a quarterly basis by Martin, and expand into segment specific players as we produce our special reports. Subscribers will be able to focus on key players relevant to their market, and understand investment priorities, consider cost drivers and attitudes towards market share acquisition. We appreciate that understanding fellow industry players for competitive or partnering reasons is an additional task on top of the day-to-day job of closing business. Like the lion perched on a tree, scanning the horizon must be from a strategic vantage that can be afforded by trusted analysts.

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