May 16, 2008 HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions by TJ Keitt and Ellen Daley for Market Research Professionals Making Leaders Successful Every Day
May 16, 2008 HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions How HP Ensures Its Market Research Maximizes Strategic Impact by TJ Keitt and Ellen Daley with Brad Bortner, Heidi Lo, and Madiha Ashour EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Ensuring that high-cost market research maximizes return on investment is hard to do. A simple way to start tracking ROI is to make certain that key stakeholders at least read the research or, even better, act on it for example, a sales manager using competitive market research on a sales call. Today, market research distribution techniques to maximize research readership run the gamut from emailing reports to sophisticated, personalized portals that handle the complex licensing, content management, and security of multiple sources of market research. At the head of the class is Hewlett-Packard s (HP s) MarketVision. MarketVision s far-reaching data, ease of use, and facilitation of content sharing have made it popular, with 90,000 employees logging on since 2001, eliciting use in key areas like engineering, sales, and marketing. HP is pushing the envelope, using Web services not only to have market research available on the portal but also to incorporate market research into key business processes. TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 HP Market Intelligence Is A Harbinger Strategic Impact Requires Strategic Research Distribution 4 HP MarketVision s Success Goes Hand-In- Hand With Its Prescient Design Utilizing Partners And Limiting Research Services Keeps Operational Impact To A Minimum The MarketVision Design Will Complete The Journey To Collaboration NOTES & RESOURCES Forrester interviewed Richard Gee and Lauriel Luther of the Hewlett-Packard MarketVision team for this report. Related Research Documents How To Select A Market Research Portal Approach February 1, 2008 AT&T s Market Intelligence Portal Sets A High Bar January 16, 2007 RECOMMENDATIONS 11 Chart Your Portal Course Based On Your Organization s Capabilities 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester, Forrester Wave, RoleView, Technographics, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Forrester clients may make one attributed copy or slide of each figure contained herein. Additional reproduction is strictly prohibited. For additional reproduction rights and usage information, go to www.forrester.com. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. To purchase reprints of this document, please email resourcecenter@forrester.com.
2 HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions HP MARKET INTELLIGENCE IS A HARBINGER Market researchers tell Forrester that they want to propagate their marketplace knowledge and data assets among the decision-makers throughout the organization in a manner that will resonate. While market researchers use various distribution methods such as email, intranet pages, and dedicated portals many fail to really create an impact. For example, many market research portals report limited readership and an inability to track the effect on business decisions. However, some market research groups are using technologies like service-oriented architecture (SOA) and integrating research into business processes, such as sales or support calls. At the head of the class is HP with its MarketVision portal. The product has been developed and enhanced over the past seven years: HP has blended personalization, internal and external taxonomy, and security protocols created in conjunction with Dow Jones Client Solutions. It also includes, among other technology, indexing, search, and content integration services secured from portal development firm Northern Light, creating a seamless portal experience. 1 MarketVision not only reconciles dissemination with content management issues but also points the way to incorporating this information into the workflow of HP s employees. Strategic Impact Requires Strategic Research Distribution How syndicated and primary research is distributed and in some cases synthesized can greatly affect the market research department s impact on organizational strategic thinking. If no one knows that you have critical information, you can t help with decisions. Content not only needs to be distributed efficiently, but it also must also be timely, actionable, and relevant to the user of the information. To this end, market research distribution strategies typically unfold in a four-phase process (see Figure 1). Phase 1: Email used to send research and tidbits. Typically, market research departments initially distribute research via email. This usually happens when there is a small number of employees who consume market research and the company has a small number of sources. Email distribution quickly becomes unwieldy as the number of employees who need research increases in conjunction with an increase in the number of sources. Phase 2: Articles and links posted to the intranet. After the organization s use of market research has reached a certain maturity level, the market research department usually starts posting its content whether it is syndicated reports from Forrester or other analyst firms or proprietary research generated in-house to an intranet site. Ostensibly, this showcases the data on hand to a much wider audience, but this if you build it, they will come approach does not guarantee readership. It also may not address issues of licensing agreements with syndicated research vendors or access-control issues concerning owners of internally generated research. Phase 3: Content delivered via a personalized portal for research users. After posting research on a Web site, many market research departments recognize that there is a demand not for a site containing articles that various gatekeepers find interesting, but rather for a gateway to May 16, 2008 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions 3 information that is specifically relevant to each user. Organized with taxonomies unique to the organization, this system allows the resources of the company to be easily searched by the user, letting users customize the experience of looking for information to their individual needs. Phase 4: Research embedded into business processes. Although it is not a widely adopted practice at the moment, some leading-edge market research organizations have taken the step of funneling information into employee workflows via Web services. These arrangements allow users to subscribe to the types of information that are relevant to them and to embed them in the tools that they work with on a regular basis. HP is at the forefront of this process, as MarketVision feeds can be integrated into, among other things, team SharePoint pages, allowing for work-related research to be channeled into a collaborative setting. Determining whether or not the portal s users require a distillation of its content into a highlights package will help make the tool useful to your stakeholders. All groups could benefit from highlevel summaries, but some, such as C-level executives, may only have the time and desire for them, while others, such as junior-level researchers, may find these summaries insufficient and may want to sift through the data themselves. Figure 1 Market Research Distribution Evolution Phase 1: Email used to send research and tidbits Phase 2: Articles and links posted to the intranet Phase 3: Content delivered via a personalized portal for research users Phase 4: Research embedded into business processes If you build it, they will come Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited May 16, 2008
4 HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions HP MARKETVISION S SUCCESS GOES HAND-IN-HAND WITH ITS PRESCIENT DESIGN In the late 1990s, HP realized that it needed a way to streamline the acquisition and dissemination of market intelligence and organized a team under its corporate marketing group to address this issue. HP s MarketVision addressed early dissemination concerns while planning for future ways to incorporate market research into business processes (see Figure 2). But what exactly is it about MarketVision that has encouraged 90,000 people to log on since its inception in 2001? It offers information from a wide array of sources. Users of MarketVision have access to syndicated reports from more than 45 firms; propriety research commissioned externally and generated internally; financial analyst reports; journal, newspaper, and newswire articles; and eventually, material from blogs and Web news sources. This allows a MarketVision user to get a vast number of views on a particular topic without having to go to each one of the sources individually. This one-stop shop saves the users time by delivering what they need from the publications they want. It makes it easy for the user to operate. MarketVision takes advantage of HP s enterprisewide single sign-on to grant the user access to the research she has permission to view, regardless of the content s location, while eliminating the need for log-ons to each provider. The intuitive search function seamlessly queries for information located in disparate locations and allows users to share their searches at an individual, team, or company level (see Figure 3). MarketVision allows end users to customize their landing pages with research that is relevant to them, and it lets users define email alerts and RSS feeds. It alleviates the concerns of content contributors. To honor the licensing agreements that govern HP s syndicated research holdings, MarketVision s single sign-on attaches the appropriate permissions to a user ID so that someone using the portal can only view information that she has the right to see. This includes the ability to manage complex licensing deals like distributed seat management. For proprietary primary research, MarketVision allows control over who views the content whether they want it distributed to the whole company, to select groups within the organization, or only to those who make a request. Its system is constantly updated to keep pace with user needs. Currently, MarketVision is in its eighth version. With each new release, HP has added new functionality that makes the portal easier for employees to use. This analysis is verified by its widespread adoption across functions within HP, and employees have a multitude of reasons for using it (see Figure 4 and see Figure 5). The most recent release of MarketVision provides users with features that include RSS feeds, Web services, shared searches and folders, and a newsletter publishing tool. May 16, 2008 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions 5 Figure 2 The HP MarketVision Model Business needs Competitor tracking/analysis Customer insight/analysis Education Collaborate with peers on projects Develop marketing plans Product definition Drive product generation New business opportunities Explore potential markets Top users Marketing Sales R&D Engineering IT Strategic planning Finance Tools Market vision Northern Light index Content Primary research Syndicated research Financial analyst reports Newswires Journals Newspapers Posted by HP 47 suppliers 667 sources 62 sources 191 sources 94 sources Competitive information Purchase processes Syndicated buying network Syndicated ad hoc report purchases Primary SmartSource Source: Hewlett-Packard Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited May 16, 2008
6 HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions Figure 3 A Screenshot Of MarketVision s Search Function In Use Source: Hewlett-Packard Source: Forrester Research, Inc. May 16, 2008 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions 7 Figure 4 Total Users By Job Function Quality 1% Administration 2% Business planning 4% Finance 4% Operations 4% IT 5% Human resources 1% Systems integration 1% Technical 1% Training 1% Customer service/support 1% Services 26% Other 5% Marketing 8% Engineering 20% Source: Hewlett-Packard Sales 19% Base: 55,364 MarketVision users (percentages may not total 100 because of rounding) Source: Forrester Research, Inc. 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited May 16, 2008
8 HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions Figure 5 How MarketVision Is Used Obtain company information Increase knowledge for decision-making Perform industry tracking or analysis Keep up on current events/news Obtain industry analyst perspectives Perform market tracking or analysis Perform company tracking or analysis Explore new biz/markets/ industry/customer opps Define business strategy or plans Obtain financial analyst perspectives Source: Hewlett-Packard 18% 18% 23% 28% 34% 33% Base: 2,994 MarketVision users (multiple responses accepted) 41% 40% 58% 65% Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Utilizing Partners And Limiting Research Services Keeps Operational Impact To A Minimum The MarketVision team resides within corporate marketing under the Office of Corporate Strategy & Technology. The portal s syndicated and proprietary content is funded and provided by HP s business groups, such as the Technology Solutions Group, Imaging and Printing Group, and Personal Systems Group. HP s MarketVision ultimately combines 1,200 sources of information including 47 syndicated research sources that serve users across the company, and it is staffed by five full-time employees. So how does the group manage to operate a robust, popular portal with a limited number of live bodies? It decided against reinventing the wheel. In developing a platform that would allow users access to a comprehensive set of research information, MarketVision leverages the expertise of Dow Jones Client Solutions and Northern Light, minimizing the internal development pitfalls in regards to security, indexing, search, and content integration. The result is a portal May 16, 2008 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions 9 that maintains its front end, business logic, and security behind the HP firewall, while allowing content acquisition, aggregating, and indexing to reside outside with Northern Light. It does not initiate ad hoc research requests or primary research. Each business group within HP has its own market research arm, allowing the MarketVision team to push any requests it gets for these services back to those units. Thus, it has a dominant responsibility for the portal but not requests pertaining to the research. While this is a capability that it has considered, it is not something that it is staffed to do. Taking the approach of not performing ad hoc research allows the MarketVision staff to focus on key roles: content acquisition; content integration and quality control; Web experience; user communications, training, and support; and process excellence and reporting. It has a scalable architecture. The foresight of the team to revamp its architecture based on SOA principles enabled MarketVision to provide information-as-a-service (IaaS) capabilities. Now, market research can be integrated into any business process or system that can consume Web services using Simple Object Access Protocol/Web Service Description Language (SOAP/ WSDL). The MarketVision Design Will Complete The Journey To Collaboration In its current iteration, HP views its portal as a means of transitioning its workforce from individuals going out and looking for information via the portal to communities benefiting from expert searches that are relevant to all (see Figure 6). Thus, what makes HP s process unique is its work to mix the content into the business process. It accomplishes this in two ways: 1. It allows users to create newsletters, shared folders, and shared saved searches. These functions help employees distribute their MarketVision research with colleagues (newsletters) or provide those same colleagues with replicable searches and shared information saved in easy-tofind locations in MarketVision (i.e., shared folders and shared saved searches). 2. It provides Web services to deliver information to where employees live. The ability to embed the research in areas that employees consistently visit is a key part of the HP vision. MarketVision s saved searches and folders can be channeled to team Web pages and SharePoint sites to ensure high visibility for information deemed important to specific job functions. For example, HP s Sales Information Gateway, a sales portal, showcases Web services feeds from MarketVision. The MarketVision team is currently initiating similar Web services feeds on other enterprise portals, as well as providing internal Web site visitors with a MarketVision search window that lets them scour MarketVision for topics that they are interested in without leaving their primary site. 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited May 16, 2008
10 HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions Figure 6 MarketVision From Personalization To Collaboration Personalization User searches Expert (SME) searches Collaboration User selects Expert selects and shares Newsletter, shared folders, shared saved searches MarketVision Web services Application integration Communities of practice Web sites Emails Newsletters SharePoint team sites Web applications User receives content Many end users receive highly relevant content Source: Forrester Research, Inc. May 16, 2008 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions 11 R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S CHART YOUR PORTAL COURSE BASED ON YOUR ORGANIZATION S CAPABILITIES Not all firms are in a position to implement a system as robust as the one we have described here. However, because portal development is an evolutionary process, there are things that all firms can do to assess where they are and what they can produce to serve their potential users. Assess the real research needs and current use of research in your organization. Not every organization will need a system that s as slick as what HP provides in MarketVision. If the research that is being provided is not encumbered with licensing agreements or territorial issues and the number of employees needing the information is small, you can get by on a lesser solution. Usually, this means a portal with email alerts at a minimum. But if you have funding opportunities, a SOA infrastructure promises that when the time comes, research can be injected into key business processes. Evaluate what can realistically be delivered to users. MarketVision s development demonstrates a level of technical proficiency that many smaller companies will not have. It has a team dedicated to the maintenance and success of the portal. Determining if your organization has the resources or the will to obtain the resources to build and service a portal like MarketVision is a critical step. If it doesn t, look to partners to help defray the cost and effort. Develop a plan to periodically review the state of portal and user needs. Once the portal or whatever system it is that you are using to distribute research is in place, it is imperative that you regularly assess the number of users, how they use the portal, and what they would like to see. This understanding will help push your portal along the development path outlined earlier, as you will see where you stand on the evolutionary chart and what features your users are looking for in future builds. Take it a step further and also ask in these reviews how the research is being used to make better business decisions and where the research could be made more readily available to have a greater impact. ENDNOTES 1 For more information, view the: Northern Light Web site (http://northernlight.com) and the Dow Jones Client Solutions site (http://solutions.dowjones.com/clientsolutions). 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited May 16, 2008
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