By Jeffrey Peel - At last week’s Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco there was, as expected, lots of discussion about social networking.  The discussions didn’t just focus on the usual suspect social networking sites either.  There was a lot of discussion about how so-called “micro-blogging” sites are becoming increasingly influential.  Micro-blogging sites like Twitter allow for much more rapid one-to-many interactions and are now considered a key component of the social networking/blogosphere.  In fact, I’d go even further and say that by the end of the conference on Friday I was all twittered out.  And this morning I read that Twitter may just have closed a round of funding. 

All this means that social networking is becoming more and more granular but it also means that the distinction between b2b networks and consumer networks is blurring.  Twitter, in particular, is becoming a day to day interaction tool for the celebrity tech bloggers who were there in abundance last week (like Robert Scoble and Stowe Boyd).  In fact Boyd has now come up with the idea of the Twitchpitch that mandates PR types who want to pitch a story to him have to use Twitter.  When I ran into him at a drinks party last week he made clear that he didn’t care much for Facebook pitches either. 

Therefore if you thought that all you had to do to get your B2B social networking strategy together was to have a Linked-In profile, I’m going to have to tell you that you need to think again.  Complex social networking ecosystems allow people to pick and choose - and people will define themselves in the ecosystem according to their favourite tools (and none of us has time to use them all). 

This, of course, means that there is an increasing role for marketing services companies.  Social networking elements in the marketing mix are essential in order to elicit information on how markets are evolving.  B2B networks are becoming the definitive communications media for channel owners, consultants, journalists and other ‘influencers’ in the tech space - not just celeb bloggers. 

As Stowe Boyd said in a panel session last week, social networking is about people talking.  And, when people talk, marketing people should always be interested. 

By Jeffrey Peel - Often I’m asked how it is that as a company that started in research we ended up doing so much more. 

The conclusion  I have come to is that research and analysis firms have more interesting things to say because our thoughts, and perspectives, are based on market knowledge and understanding.  While much of the work is client-confidential we, at the same time, build tacit knowledge that gives us some right to take a stand on issues.  Admittedly we have to operate within a frame of reference - and in our case that ‘frame’ would be heavily influenced by information technology.

But, think about it for a minute, the fact is that just about every business these days is becoming a technology business.  Even David Cameron in his latest election broadcast - just last week - made overt reference to the Internet as one of the most fundamental reasons for social change in the UK.  After all, entire swathes of our population no longer watch television.  Internet advertising is set to overtake TV advertising in the next two years.  And where the web used to be the domain and stomping ground for big business, suddenly - with Web 2.0 technologies - it has become democratised.  Even my own 11 year old daughter can now design her own Bebo ’skin’. 

The Internet is a super-medium.  In the past all advertising was a tell-sell.  Now it’s an interactive sell and it has become much more complex, interconnected and, obviously, viral.  If brands offend they will be pilloried online in seconds. 

The impact on marketing services is massive.  Frankly, unless one is immersed in the world of interactive web technologies one will quickly lose touch.  Indeed I recently went on an Internet-free, one week, beach holiday and felt I had lost touch a bit when I returned. 

But, let’s face it, marketing services firms can’t have the luxury of being type-cast these days as one thing or the other.  The Internet will inevitably make us all chameleons - admittedly with our own specialisms.  Therefore as a researcher I will present my research - socialise it - using new communications media.  I will also collect it in new ways making use of social networking communities and online data collection techniques.  And my clients must be prepared to act on research by reaching out to these new global communities, search engines and news portals via more and more flexible and target-able media. 

Partnership offers strong sector focused project management and access to international fieldwork resources…

London March 25, 2008– Quadriga Consulting Ltd and Blauw Research today announced a partnership that will allow IT and Telecoms firms a unique international project management resource for global research assignments. 

Quadriga Consulting Ltd is well known as a tech-focused research-enabled consultancy practice.  The company focuses on the IT and Telecoms sector with a range of clients from early stage, venture funded companies to international hardware and software firms.  Quadriga has particular expertise in complex international qualitative and quantitative assignments focusing on enterprise software, telecommunications products/software, computer hardware and digital content segments.  

According to Jeffrey Peel , MD of Quadriga Consulting, “this represents a major step forward for ICT players that need both specialist sector expertise and international data collection resources across multiple markets.  Many so-called international agencies try to offer turnkey international research capability but typically that means farming data collection out to local agencies that have no overt sector understanding.  What we offer is end-to-end management of the process, while never losing sight of the business and research objectives.”

Jonathan Wheeler, MD of Blauw UK, agrees, “the ICT sector is very demanding in terms of international capability.  Many MR and marketing managers in tech firms get very frustrated that they can’t find agencies that can offer a full understanding of their product management challenges at the same time as offering an international data collection ability.  We can offer both.  The result is easier, more responsive project management and a focus on the findings rather than the process.”

We are delighted to announce that Ruth McNeil has joined the Board of Quadriga Consulting Ltd as a Non-Executive Director.  

Ruth McNeil is a highly respected market researcher with particular experience in the business to business sector.  She works for a range of private and public sector clients across a range of different subjects both in the UK and internationally. She is a non-Executive Director at Quadriga Consulting and works with us on international assignments based out of London.  She runs her own research practice based in London.

For fifteen years Ruth worked at Research International as deputy managing director of RI Specialist Units (where Jeff Peel was also a Director) and was a main board director of RI. Ruth left Research International in August 2000 and has since worked with clients on practical business and services issues, strategic planning, branding research, customer relationship management, concept development, market optimisation and other areas.

Ruth plays an active role in the wider research industry, for two years having been one of the Market Research Society Awards Judges for the annual MRS conference. Ruth is a member of the BIG Conference Committee and the conference Programme Committee (BIG is the annual specialist Business to Business researchers conference). She convenes the MRS “International Research” training course and is a frequent speaker on market research issues at conferences in the UK and USA.

Ruth has a degree in Languages from Durham University and is a Fellow of the Market Research Society.  She has also written an excellent book on B2B Market Research (see Books). 

By Jeffrey Peel - Research Magazine, the holy grail for all things market research related, publishes an interesting round-up of interesting stats on a monthly basis.  One statistic quoted in the most recent edition is that 25% of entertainment consumed by people will be created, edited and shared within their peer circle by 2012, rather than being generated by media owners - according to study by the Future Laboratory backed by Nokia.

This has obvious implications for all types of companies.  At one level, companies need to start developing their own content.  Web sites just don’t cut it any more…the challenge is to create “content with currency” - rather than depending on media owners to do all the work.

There are huge implications for PR processes. 

Needless to say, we can help.  We specialise in helping companies understand this brave new world of personal publishing, blogs, wikis and social networks.  We can also help large organisations create better engagement processes with channels and end customers that bypass traditional media approaches. 

Give us a call. 

Quadriga Consulting, the ICT sector market analysis and consulting firm, today announced the launch of a major new research project designed to paint a much clearer picture of the current status of transformational change in local government.

The role of technology as an enabler in delivering effective and efficient services, information sharing and the take up of public services is a common theme in the context of ‘transformational government’.  The research assignment will be designed to focus on how local authorities are going about implementing a transformational strategy.

• The survey will focus on the following key topics:
• The emergence of national standards on service delivery and citizen satisfaction monitoring
• The need for the evolution of public services in a digital world where most commercial services are customer-centric: how citizen-centricity can be achieved
• Designing services to meet the rising expectations of local consumers of services
• How technology can become a more important tool to assist authorities to focus on their core competencies
• How technology saves money in processes and administration, and provides flexibility in delivering services and enhancing public perceptions
• How authorities are achieving joined-up service delivery and maintaining accurate records and audit trails
• How authorities are achieving information-sharing to deliver citizen centric services and facilitate better transactional processes

According to Jeffrey Peel, Quadriga Consulting’s CEO, “There is a growing need for local authorities to develop better ICT resources that will enable partnership at all levels and departments, suppliers and with the voluntary sector.  In addition there is the growing need for authorities to co-operate and develop shared services models.  The survey will allow us to build a better picture of current state of play in local government.  Every UK authority will be invited to participate and we are actively seeking the involvement of the ICT vendor community to help define the scope of the study.  Findings will be shared with participants and the vendor community.”

Quadriga Consulting International Law Enforcement Agency Survey Helps Visual Analysis Software Firm Fight Crime

A survey of 65 law enforcement agencies across 14 countries has revealed that many police forces make their own decisions in terms of information technology.

The survey, conducted by information and communication technology (ICT) research specialist Quadriga Consulting Ltd, on behalf of world-leading visual analysis software company, i2, aimed to build a clearer picture of information technology use within law enforcement agencies across the world.

Part of i2’s ongoing commitment to customer-focused product development, the survey incorporated the views of both existing and potential customers from local, regional and national police forces, as well as government and military intelligence agencies.

i2’s Marketing VP, Zoe Baxendale, said: “The survey, conducted by Quadriga Consulting Ltd, is just one of a number of ways we use to consult with the wider intelligence community.

“We are wholly committed to developing products and solutions that will benefit our customers and we regard asking them what they want as fundamental to our development and quality strategies.”

Jeffrey Peel of Quadriga Consulting, said: “This survey highlighted to i2 the importance of information and communication technology in law enforcement agencies in a variety of countries across the world. 

“The survey also underlined the influence both political structures and geographical location have on the way different agencies work, emphasising the need for companies, like i2, to listen to the needs of their users.”

Zoe added: “More than 2000 law enforcement, intelligence, military and commercial organisations in over 100 countries have invested in i2’s award-winning suite of visual investigative analysis software and we pride ourselves on the service we provide to them.

“By listening to the requirements of our present and future customers across the world, we are able to develop products and solutions that will directly benefit them and the global fight against crime and terrorism.” 

Notes to Editors

The international law enforcement agency survey was conducted by Quadriga Consulting for i2 during the third quarter of 2006.  A total of 65 agencies in 14 countries were surveyed – including local and regional police forces and government and military intelligence agencies.  All interviews were completed by telephone or face-to-face.

About Quadriga Consulting

Quadriga Consulting Ltd is a UK based consultancy that provides international market research, market intelligence and marketing consulting services to ICT firms. Get further information from www.quadco.co.uk

About i2

i2 is a leading provider of investigative analysis software with solutions that are proven in law enforcement, military and commercial organisations around the globe. Analysts and investigators in more than 100 countries and over
2000 organisations now use the product range. Customers are supported by a network of offices in the UK and US and through a strong distributor network across Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. 
 
i2’s product range enhances the analytical capabilities and enables understanding of complex and volume data. It has received a number of awards from the international analytical community and Analyst’s Notebook is the de facto standard application for link and timeline analysis. Get further information from www.i2.co.uk

Contacts

Jeffrey Peel of Quadriga Consulting
jeff @ quadco.co.uk (leave out the spaces)

Sarah Cooper of i2
sarahc @ i2.co.uk (leave out the spaces)

Today is Quadriga Consulting’s 5th Anniversary.  On the 2nd of January 2002 we started trading and, since our first month, we’ve been profitable.  Nearly all the work we undertake is international, and our client list in pretty equally divided between mobile software/services and enterprise software. 

We hope to grow even more in 2007 and would like to thank our clients for their business over the last five years. 

The web is changing and we’ve decided to change with it. Bye-bye static web site. Hello Web 2.0. At last our clients, suppliers, fans…anyone really…can add comments to our site.

Using the Wordpress blog engine we have more flexibility in getting timely information to the site. We’ll add more resources, more content, more news, more opinion. Feel free to subscribe and comment. It’s free after all.