The Significance of Analyst Relations for the Cloud Industry

Digital transformation is accelerating, and so is the technology spending of companies. 

According to Foundry’s 2022 Role & Influence of the Technology Decision-Maker, IT budgets are expected to increase (51%) or remain stable (39%) over the next 12 months. The category of software will see the greatest allocation (35%).

With thousands or even millions of products in each category, how do you ensure your solution gets in front of the right buyers? 

Industry AR (analyst relations) is one method of ensuring that your platform doesn’t get overlooked by its target customers. 

So what is AR, why does it matter in the cloud industry, and how do we approach it at CAST AI?

What is an industry analyst?

The Institute of Influencer & Analyst Relations (IIAR) defines an industry analyst as a professional or organization researching ICT products and services and related trends. 

Analysts have a unique vantage point as they speak to all market players, from vendors to buyers, media, and influencers. As a result, they better understand the IT segment and play a meaningful role in major buying decisions.  

The most prominent global analyst companies include Gartner, followed by IDC, Forrester, and ISG. There are also firms focused on particular regions and market segments, such as Omdia, Teknowlogy, KuppingerCole, or 451 Group (now part of S&P). 

What industry analysts do

The width and depth of the research carried out by analysts cover the industry in a way that individual enterprises couldn’t accomplish on their own. They gather, analyze, and compare data on solutions to paint as objective a picture of the market as possible – and empower tech buyers to make optimal choices. 

And as new technologies emerge, analysts lead the process of understanding and explaining their value propositions to the market. They evaluate new trends and place them in the context of a larger marketplace. 

Apart from informing and influencing buying decisions, analysts often serve as the “voice of the customer”, conveying key customer concerns to vendors.

Why analyst relations matters 

The process of analyst relations is essential for IT products because it connects vendors with industry analysts. Identifying key research firms and areas of coverage means that tech companies can integrate analysts into their communication programs to build that link.  

AR is even more important in the case of emerging technologies because it helps explain the value of new solutions to buyers and purchase influencers. Analyst perspectives often support vendors in shaping their messaging, marketing, and sales strategy, as well as go-to-market plans.

Moreover, AR builds credibility and enhances visibility. Having a third-party analyst company review validates the product and its value to the market. 

Maintaining relationships with industry analysts increases the chances of being included in vendor roundup research, wider analyses, and greater influence on future research agendas. In addition, many analyst firms organize awards and rankings, which like for instance Gartner’s Magic Quadrants, carry much credibility in the industry.

Starting to appear in industry debates and listings is crucial to building a product brand with which partners and buyers want to work. Otherwise, this can be a tough nut to crack in the times of fast-moving commoditization.

Why CAST AI decided to invest in analyst relations 

Born out of dissatisfaction with the cloud status quo, CAST AI offers an innovative approach to Kubernetes with an AI-driven automation and cost optimization platform. 

Instead of forcing you into one particular optimization method, the platform analyzes your workload and automatically selects the best instance types and sizes to ensure optimal performance at all times. Companies using CAST AI save on average 63% of their typical cloud spend. 

We created it because we felt that there was no other solution tackling the issue of soaring cloud complexity and costs in a similar way. While some of CAST AI’s functionalities had been present in the market, our approach to applying AI and automation for cloud optimization proved to be a complete novelty. 

When we demonstrate the platform to prospective clients, they usually respond that they didn’t expect cluster optimization to be that easy.  

Neither do they expect that they could achieve immense savings in less than 15 minutes while eliminating tedious manual tasks.

So is there a better way to explain that novel approach to the market than work with industry analysts?

What we’ve done so far

Entering the market with a disruptive approach, we knew it might be more difficult to explain our idea to buyers whose expectations were that cloud optimization couldn’t be that easy without catching their interest.

But it wasn’t until the beginning of 2022 that we launched a broader AR program. That’s when we started to establish relationships with top industry analysts, including Gartner, Forrester, IDC, 451 Research, Omdia, Amalgam Insights, and DEJ Research, to name a few. 

Our efforts have born fruit. We started to appear in industry listings and reports, including:

• Omdia: “On the Radar: CAST AI delivering visibility and optimization to cloud and cloud-native environments”.
• IDC Market Note: “Containers Bring New Challenges for Cost Optimization”.
• Futuriom: “The 2022 Futuriom 40 Top Cloud Trends and Private Companies”.
• DEJ: “Technology Innovation Spotlight – March 2022”. 

Recently, CAST AI has also got featured in several other publications, including two cloud cost management and optimization whitepapers and an impact report prepared by global research leaders and an influential analyst from California.  

Our approach to analyst relations 

At CAST AI, we are always happy to share the details of how our platform works. It’s encouraging to see analysts’ enthusiasm when we demonstrate that CAST AI isn’t just a reporting tool but it also automates cloud cost optimization in minutes.

And we are happy to receive valuable feedback on our product and new approaches to cloud cost optimization worldwide. Some of those ideas are already being addressed in our ongoing development efforts. 

That’s definitely an exciting moment in our product timeline, so we look forward to building strong relationships with industry analysts.

If you are interested in having a platform demo or discussing its potential in detail, don’t hesitate to write to [email protected]. We’ll be happy to arrange a briefing session at your convenience.