In his Cisco Analyst Relations blog, Skip MacAskill – a former Gartnerian – takes a swing at the issue of the major firms versus the new media in The Changing Rules of Influence. A big part of his analysis is that the traditional firms are slow moving. In an age when information flows fast on the Internet, this could be a killer disadvantage. Key quote:

“I believe that the number of users that buy a product or invest in a technology off the back of a traditional Gartner, Forrester or Yankee report will significantly decrease over the next five years.”

If this turns out to be the case, then it has huge implications for the vendor and analyst communities. If the traditional analysts become less influential, then vendors will not devote as much effort on briefing them leading to less insightful research. Also, a key – but unspoken – selling tool the major firms use on the vendors “Buy our research to see why our analysts are telling your customers and prospects” starts to whither. This could have a major impact on the flow of money in the industry with the traditional firms getting less cash from the vendors and thus having fewer resources to do research, client service and so on.

For a related look at this topic check out my Will established analyst firms become dinosaurs to the new media-oriented analysts?

Bottom Line: Skip uses lyrics from Dylan’s The times the are a changin’ to drive home the point that all in the tech industry need to keep our fingers on the pulse of change in how the buyers of technology get their information. (Posted by Carter Lusher)