What Industry Analysts Want from Customer Interviews
by Michael Teeling

No one calls a customer service center just to tell the vendor they are doing a great job. So it follows that analysts almost always hear from end user clients with a beef about Vendor A or Product B. At best, when there is no incumbent vendor to complain about, they call confused about which ones to short list. It's up to the vendor in any given market to counteract this negative user noise reaching influential analysts by providing a more balanced picture of customer application of its technology.

Analysts primarily want to speak to "evergreen" customers. Less appealing are customers offered up just because they are the latest or largest closed deal, or because they just bought the latest version but are not yet running it.

The customer reference needs of analyst relations are different and distinct from the needs of media relations - which is far more driven by promoting what's new. Conversely, research analysts are trying to gain perspective on the long-term application and resultant benefits of the vendor's technology - as well as a ranking of the vendor's service, support and upgrade procedures. This point of view is only obtainable from a long-term customer, so analyst needs map well to those users already in most customer loyalty programs.

The ideal customer profile for an industry analyst…

• Needs to have been a customer for 2-3 years, or at least selected the vendor 1-2 years ago
• Needs to have gone through the implementation process and its wider challenges - such as training, user adoption, data integration, and an understanding of the user experience
• Needs to have been involved in at least one upgrade -and be able to speak knowledgeably about at least 2 versions of the product
• Needs to have had experience with the vendor's level of service and support, as well as its software
• Needs to talk about ROI in terms of relevant measures and metrics, and ideally to have that data readily available
• Needs to be at least aware of industry trends, if not conversant (thinking a customer can parrot the vendor's positioning exactly is unrealistic)
• Ideally would be able to talk about the competitive alternatives considered before settling on the vendor
• Ideally would have made the vendor the actual or de facto enterprise standard within their organization
• Ideally could represent both the economic and functional decision that drove the sale from an IT perspective, but also the needs of business users

Typical Questions an Analyst Might Ask:

1. Organizationally, how are strategic IT decisions made at your company (the role of IT vs. LOB departments, etc.)?
2. What is the mix of similar vendor products installed in house and their specific applications? Have you standardized on this vendor for any particular function?
3. How do you classify the various types of users that you must address with the vendor's product, who falls outside its purview and why?
4. What kinds of feedback have these various user groups given you about the product's level of interactivity and ease-of-use?
5. Both with initial install and upgrades, describe the implementation process (touch on areas such as ease of deployment, data integration, user training, etc.)
6. How does the vendor's product perform in your IT environment on a daily basis (server architecture, concurrency, fault tolerance)?
7. What is the manageability burden on your IT organization with the vendor's product (address report creation, scheduling, auditing, data integrity/quality, etc.)?
8. Throughout the relationship, how would you rate the vendor's level of customer service and personnel?
9. Give me an application example of how an the vendor's product contributed directly to the bottom line, either revenue creation or operational efficiency.
10. With changes in your industry, has the vendor been quick enough to address your need for new technologies (e.g. Java, mobile, web services, etc.)?
11. How much does your long-term vision mesh with what the vendor has positioned as its vision?

AR practitioners should know how the customer spokesperson will respond to each of these questions in advance of any reference activity. Industry analysts usually insist on talking to the customer alone, without eavesdropping by vendor representatives.

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