Big Changes at Yankee Group

We’ve heard a lot of rumblings come from the Yankee Group. Here are the rumors:

• The company is focusing down to mobility. This means no more IPTV, no more enterprise, no more telecoms. (What happens to those clients?)
• The organization may put together an “Affiliate” program… which would release some of the most senior-level analysts from their non-compete clauses as well as their jobs. The concept would be that they are affiliated with Yankee, but not full-time employees. Watch here for more on this as it unfolds.
• More layoffs have happened than we reported. Including Tole Hart, , Tole Hart, Charlie Carr, Terry Cudmore, (we reported Chris Nicoll and Andy Castonguay). Stay tuned for us to report any additional.
• There will be 15 analysts left. Is Yankee Group moving from a Strategic Consulting firm to a reports/product house?

Upon inquiring with Yankee, below is the response they gave us to the above rumors:

“Over the past few months, Yankee Group has unveiled key initiatives focused to position the company as the preeminent research and advisory firm equipping enterprises to profit in a mobile world. In response to customer feedback, we’ve invested in the following areas:

• Unveiled 12 new or expanded mobility market forecasts
• Launched a new data visualization portal, making market forecasts more accessible to throughout client organizations
• New products such as Mobile Money Strategies, which deliver a combination of actionable data, research and insights targeting hot mobility issues
• Faster delivery of insights, such as through our new Mobile Now daily newsletter.

The core of our content going forward will be focused on our proprietary research and analytics on the attitudes, behaviors and usage patterns of mobile users. Based on this research, we will continue to provide a range of actionable data, insights and advice to marketing, strategy and product executives driving the mobility revolution in leading companies worldwide.

• Continued focus on core mobility research categories, including:
• Advanced RAN, B/OSS, Cloud Computing, Connected Devices, Consumer Connectivity Services, Consumerization, Consumer Pricing and Packaging, Core Transport Network, Content-Centric Networking, Converged Consumer Applications, Customer Experience, Digital Content and Advertising, Enterprise Connectivity and Collaboration, Enterprise Mobility Mobile Applications, Mobile Transactions, Policy Management, Security, Service Delivery Architecture, Service Provider Strategies.
• Adding two new research categories:
• Consumer and Enterprise Device Usage (including bandwidth and application use)
• Measured Pricing and Purchase Behavior for Mobile Products
• Shifting focus away from Fixed Broadband, as it is not core to our mobility direction.”

Also, I think it’s important to note they are actively recruiting for a Senior Mobile Security Analyst. http://www.yankeegroup.com/careers.do

We’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

Thanks,

Laura