Lighthouse extends its reach into Asia-Pacific

An increasing amount of analyst relations effort is being focussed on Asia-Pacific, and Lighthouse is extending its reach into the region (more of that alliance with EASTWEST here). Over the last two year, we’ve had three researchers working in the region helping clients to respond to the market’s growing opportunities. We also expanded our 2005 Singapore training programme in 2006 and again in 2007.

A number of trends are driving that growth. Many of them are quite specific to Asia. Needless to say, Australia and New Zealand function very differently from Asia. Tactics that are effective ‘down under’ might not work in Asia.

  • Firstly, buyers in the region have specific and distinct information needs and decision-making styles. As a result, the number of analyst houses headquartered in the region in growing, something which has been underestimated by some. US analyst firms are fighting back, and an increasing trend can be seen towards regional-specific research, even at the level of the Magic Quadrant.
  • Second, economic growth is strongest in Asia, as we commented in January.
  • Third, there’s a particular kind of interest in niche research and consulting in Asia, and over the last two years a number of firms started to capitalize on that, especially RHK, XMG, Mercator, Ovum and Orbys, building on earlier growth in Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.
  • Fourth, we think that there’s a strong opportunity for a wave of acquisition of local firms. We first noted the feelers working their way out from Forrester and Gartner last year.

There’s a further point we should add, which isn’t a trend but an accomplished fact: local analysts dominate across Asia-Pacific.

Duncan Chapple

Duncan Chapple is the preeminent consultant on optimising international analyst relations and the value created by analyst firms. As SageCircle research director, Chapple directs programs that assess and increase the business value of relationships with industry analysts and sourcing advisors.