11 Replies to “Status: Forrester Wave Report for Community Platforms, Analysis Process (Part 3/4)”

  1. The transparency in the research methodology has been invaluable in learning more about the entire process, but that’s not what this comment is about.

    I just wanted to give you kudos, a pat on the back, something to acknowledge that I realize how much you’ve been traveling/working and yet you’ve still been able to provide consistently valuable content on your blog week in and week out. It’s no wonder many of your posts continue to turn up on my ‘top posts of the month’ post I do at the end of each month.

    Keep up the phenomenal work Jeremiah, but don’t be afraid to catch your breath.

    Best wishes!

  2. Ryan thanks for noticing, I put in a lot of extra hours to do this work on the blog –which is beyond my job duties, in the long run it helps everyone, and me too. Keep on reading!

  3. Jeremiah,

    This statement really stood out for me:

    One thing I heavily stressed in my research, isn™t a focus so much on the technology, but instead how the vendors could truly be ˜community solution partners™ to their clients. A true solution partner understands the business needs of their client, offers strategy, best practices, can assist with implementation, offers ongoing technical “but more importantly, community management, guidance, and recommendations.

    As a business, software development, sales, and upgrades are much different than creating and managing a professional services organization (consulting and community management). This was a hard lesson for many of the early community leaders such as Participate.com. PDC started as strictly a services company offering community strategy and management services. When it expanded into community software, it was a disaster.

    Not all organizations can be all things to all clients. We’ve seen a lot of business come our way as a result of software companies selling experience and consulting services as part of their engagement, but not delivering fully on the consulting side. They were excellent in implementing their software, but weak in providing proven best practices to help their clients succeed. When the clients didn’t see any real results, they brought us in to clarify the strategies and help build out the processes necessary to get results (otherwise known as business results).

    Not sure the one stop shop for social media works so well in the real world. But that’s my two cents as a professional services company executive who doesn’t sell, but does recommend software platforms for clients.

  4. Jeremiah,

    I’m unclear on how you moved from 90 to 9 possible contenders — any light you can share on that process would be very much appreciated!

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