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
For Market Research Professionals
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
EXECUT I V E S U M MA RY
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 O F CO N T E N TS
2 HP Market Intelligence Is A Harbinger
Strategic Impact Requires Strategic Research
Distribution
4 HP MarketVision’s Success Goes Hand-InHand 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
N OT E S & R E S O U R C E S
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
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2
HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
For Market Research Professionals
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
For Market Research Professionals
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
“If you build it, they will come”
Phase 4: Research embedded
into business processes
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© 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
May 16, 2008
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HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
For Market Research Professionals
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.
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© 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
For Market Research Professionals
Figure 2 The HP MarketVision Model
Business needs
Competitor tracking/analysis
Education
Customer insight/analysis
Collaborate with peers on projects
Develop marketing plans
Drive product generation
Product definition
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
Posted by HP 47 suppliers
Financial
analyst
reports
667 sources
Newswires
62 sources
Journals
Newspapers
191 sources
94 sources
Competitive
information
Purchase processes
Syndicated buying network
Syndicated ad hoc report purchases
Primary SmartSource
Source: Hewlett-Packard
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© 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
May 16, 2008
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HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
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Figure 3 A Screenshot Of MarketVision’s Search Function In Use
Source: Hewlett-Packard
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May 16, 2008
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
© 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
For Market Research Professionals
Figure 4 Total Users By Job Function
Systems integration
1%
Human resources
Technical
1%
1%
Training
Quality
1%
1%
service/support
Customer
Administration
1%
2%
Business planning
4%
Services
26%
Finance
4%
Operations
4%
IT
5%
Other
5%
Engineering
20%
Marketing
8%
Sales
19%
Base: 55,364 MarketVision users
(percentages may not total 100 because of rounding)
Source: Hewlett-Packard
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© 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
May 16, 2008
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HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
For Market Research Professionals
Figure 5 How MarketVision Is Used
Obtain company
information
65%
Increase knowledge
for decision-making
58%
Perform industry
tracking or analysis
41%
Keep up on current
events/news
40%
Obtain industry
analyst perspectives
34%
Perform market
tracking or analysis
33%
Perform company
tracking or analysis
28%
Explore new biz/markets/
industry/customer opps
23%
Define business
strategy or plans
18%
Obtain financial
analyst perspectives
18%
Source: Hewlett-Packard
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Base: 2,994 MarketVision users
(multiple responses accepted)
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
For Market Research Professionals
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
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HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
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Figure 6 MarketVision — From Personalization To Collaboration
Personalization
Collaboration
User searches
Expert (SME) searches
Expert selects and shares
Newsletter, shared folders,
shared saved searches
User selects
MarketVision Web services
Application
integration
Communities
of practice
Web sites
User receives content
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Emails
SharePoint
Newsletters team sites
Web applications
Many end users receive highly relevant content
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
© 2008, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
HP’s MarketVision Brings Insight To Biz Decisions
For Market Research Professionals
R E C O M M E N D AT 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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