Deal Architect joins Constellation Research Group

Effective today, my consulting firm Deal Architect is now a member of the Constellation Research Group. We will continue to deliver services under the Deal Architect  banner, but in addition, we will now be able to leverage the resources of this brand-new membership research organization and extend our services to its clients.

What is Constellation Research Group?

Constellation is a next-generation research firm (with new technologies, focus and attitudes in an analyst market where incumbents were formed and continue with tools, cultures and business models over 30 years old) , comprising member analysts who take a multi-disciplinary approach to enterprise research topics. Our main mission serves the needs of technology buyers and end-users who seek insight, guidance, and advice in dealing with IT.

The best analysts bridge the gap between theory and practice, and that's what we seek to do. Our research agendas will look at cross-role, cross-functional, and cross-industry trends. Every analyst member of Constellation brings decades of practitioner experience, a strong network of other experts, and a passion to share and serve clients. We take the buyer’s perspective and make the tough calls that clients will expect of us as an independent research firms. Many of us have already been working together for years.

Our research agenda will echo themes that readers of my blog are already familiar with, such as enterprise applications, cloud computing, and legacy system optimization, plus a number of emerging trends and technologies such as mobile computing, social networking, business analytics, game theory, and unified communications. Additionally, I am excited we will look at new tech innovation areas my recent book, The New Polymath highlighted – an emerging world where companies learn to blend strands of infotech, cleantech, healthtech, biotech, nanotech to create new medicine, new energy and new algorithms.

Who are the Members?

We have assembled a  top-notch group of analysts to participate in Constellation. Some of us have already been collaborating on an informal basis for years, so we expect to hit the ground running.

• The driving force behind Constellation is R "Ray" Wang, whom I quote often on my blog. Ray is a former VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, and he has a long history with enterprise applications as well as other leading-edge technologies. He headed up the analyst relations program for PeopleSoft, and at Oracle, he served senior product management roles for both the ERP and CRM product lines. He was voted Analyst of the Year for both 2008 and 2009 by the prestigious Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR).
• Phil Fersht is a well-known industry analyst covering business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT services worldwide. He is the founder of the acclaimed global sourcing blog "Horses for Sources." Before that he worked for 15 years at AMR Research (now Gartner Group), Deloitte Consulting, Everest Group, and IDC.
• Maribel Lopez brings deep industry knowledge in covering the communications industry. With over two decades of marketing as well as industry analyst experience, she has covered the massive shifts in the communication market. Maribel has worked in marketing at Motorola and Shiva Corp and as an analyst for IDC. She also put in over 10 years at Forrester Research, most recently as Vice President of the tech industry strategies group, covering network and service strategies, enterprise communications, and consumer markets for voice, video, and data.
• Oliver Marks is a partner at the Sovos Group. Oliver provides consulting to end-user organizations on the effective planning of collaboration strategy, tactics, technology decisions, change management and roll out. Oliver previously managed the Sony WorldWide collaboration extranet, and has worked with the American Management Association, Sun, Docent/SumTotal Systems, Harvard Business School and McKinsey on major initiatives around knowledge transfer and change management.
• Frank Scavo is the co-founder of Strativa, a management consulting firm providing business and IT advice to end-user organizations. He has over 20 years of experience in IT strategy, IT management metrics, enterprise applications, and business process improvement, serving end-users in a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, life sciences, consumer products, high-tech, distribution, retail distribution, and information services. He is also an expert in benchmarking IT spending and staffing levels for end-user IT organizations. He is also the President of Computer Economics, an IT research and metrics firm, founded in 1979.
• Paul Papadimitriou is a big thinker on online media, its impact on how brands and individuals communicate, and the redefinition of social norms through new technologies. With more than a decade of experience as a lobbyist and business consultant, he delivers intelligence to companies seeking to understand the shift in customer engagement. Paul also advises start-ups, writes about Japan mobile and web trends, and is a sought-after speaker at conferences around the world.
• Sameer Patel is a partner at the Sovos Group, and another expert in collaboration technologies. Sameer is a recognized expert in accelerating business performance via the use of collaboration and enterprise social software. He has more than a decade of experience managing initiatives for large organizations to help drive sales and marketing intelligence, partner network optimization, innovation, customer acquisition, and employee productivity via communication and collaboration technologies. Sameer’s clients have included Ingres, Sun Microsystems, Computer Associates, KPMG, McKesson HBOC, WR WrigleyCo., The Sabre Group, Grupo Televisa (Mx), and Cardinal Health.
• Alan Silberberg is a leading analyst in Gov 2.0. He speaks on transformational change, crisis/brand communications, and government 2.0 and the crossover into business and technology. Alan has government and private sector experience, having served in the U.S. White House, at Paramount Pictures, and at numerous technology companies as an advisor, founder, or investor. His clients have included the Vatican Global Licensing group and elected officials, as well as many technology start-ups. He is focused on the business side of Government 2.0 and how the technology platforms create commercial ventures and new markets. He is the founder of Gov20LA, a West Coast conference for Gov 2.0 technology.
• Not to leave myself off the list: Vinnie Mirchandani, who goes by the moniker of “Deal Architect,” coaches enterprises on how to exploit disruptive technology trends. Over his career he has helped companies around the world on technology strategy and negotiations in excess of $ 10 billion. His firm has been recognized in The Black Book of Outsourcing as a top advisory boutique. He is also a prolific blogger, writing about technology-enabled innovation on his “New Florence, New Renaissance” blog and about waste in technology on his“Deal Architect” blog.

He is also author of a widely acclaimed book on technology enabled innovation, The New Polymath (Wiley, 2010). Earlier in his career, he was a respected analyst at Gartner, and he handled numerous international assignments at PwC Consulting. He has keynoted at many business and technology conferences and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The Financial Times, CIO Magazine, and other executive and technology publications.

Additional analysts are expected to join Constellation in the coming months.

Constellation service offerings

We work with our clients to tailor programs of access through open research, syndicated research, and one-on-one interactive engagement. Sample services include:

• Open research, such as blog postings and free reports.
• Syndicated research, available on a subscription basis tailored to the client's specific needs. These include in-depth reports, vendor evaluations, multi-analyst trend reports, and webinars.
• Direct access, which can be delivered as part of the client's subscription or on an ad-hoc basis. This includes analyst inquiry calls, advisory engagements, and custom projects.

Visit the Constellation Research Group website for more information, or simply contact me if you are interested in possibly becoming a subscriber.