ITAM Review Business Model Flip
This blog is now 3 years old. Those loyal readers who have put up with my tedious emails from the beginning will know what The ITAM Review began accidentally, grew into an interesting side hobby and then became my full time obsession.
The ITAM Review began as a show home for my web design skills for the internet company I was running at the time. When I first began touting for business with my internet business I set up a few ‘show homes’ to showcase my skills, one of which was the this site. I had just left an ITAM Vendor and wanted to share some of experience I had picked up along the way. There was such a thirst for knowledge in this area that the site immediately starting to gain traffic and the show home soon outgrew the internet business. Three years later and I am pleased to say we recently crossed our 25K visitors a month threshold.
I have been very fortunate to surf on the back of a recent phenomenon called social networking, which means I have spent precisely £0.00 promoting this site and have sent precisely 0 press releases. I’m glad that some folks might find the site useful, thank you to everyone who has referred or recommended my site, for this I am truly grateful. It has allowed me to do what I love for a living and avoid getting a proper job; geeking it up and networking with people.
FLIP
With all this in mind I have decided to flip the business model for all future research. Since the growth of this site has been down to Google spiders and word of mouth – why put the best stuff behind a paywall?
All research published for the foreseeable future will be published free of charge. Rather than paying for access to research I have charged the vendors to participate, which means all research and reviews will be available free, online and without registration.
To be clear, vendors aren’t paying for the editorial – it will be the same independent reviews – they are just paying for the process. The result is a balanced, independent conversation about their technology.
I will be discontinuing the ‘Tools Intelligence’ subscription for new subscribers. Thank you to all existing subscribers for your support – you can continue to access the member site in the normal way.
Upcoming Research
- Inventory and Audit – 1st November
- SCCM Plug-Ins – 1st December
- SAM Tools – Early 2012
- ITSM Tools – Currently mapping the market. Reviews to start 2012 on The ITSM Review.
Future Research Requests
Please let me know if there are articles or research you would like to see in the future. All content you see on this site is driven by either my curiosity or requests and questions from readers. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your continued support.
About Martin Thompson
Martin is also the founder of ITAM Forum, a not-for-profit trade body for the ITAM industry created to raise the profile of the profession and bring an organisational certification to market. On a voluntary basis Martin is a contributor to ISO WG21 which develops the ITAM International Standard ISO/IEC 19770.
He is also the author of the book "Practical ITAM - The essential guide for IT Asset Managers", a book that describes how to get started and make a difference in the field of IT Asset Management. In addition, Martin developed the PITAM training course and certification.
Prior to founding the ITAM Review in 2008 Martin worked for Centennial Software (Ivanti), Silicon Graphics, CA Technologies and Computer 2000 (Tech Data).
When not working, Martin likes to Ski, Hike, Motorbike and spend time with his young family.
Connect with Martin on LinkedIn.
Hi Martin.
I joined your session yesterday, and if/when you find another (webinar) platform, feel free to choose one that offers more local call-in numbers 🙂 (I could choose Finland or Germany 😉
I also read your plan to flip business angle, and I think I may get the idea of it from your point, but if I try to put myself in customer/consumer situation, I could
be worried, that while you still will be independent in the individual evaluation of the single tool/solution, you may down the line (as I read and understand it)
only do evaluations of tools that have paid for it, thus not necessarily offer the full and independent picture to your audience.
Dear Loyal Reader,
Regarding the webinar platform, agreed. Thanks for the feedback.
In terms of the flip – I agree that this approach is not without its limitations. It is dependent on vendors ‘playing ball’.
But to be honest, I had this issue when I was not charging vendors. I can only complete a review with the vendors cooperation. Historically many vendors have chosen not to participate for one reason or another.
Martin