Industry analysts are paid to give executives, investors, and other stakeholders essential insights. To develop their acumen, analysts must constantly gather data on numerous companies from multiple sources. Unfortunately, other demands on their time are substantial: they must conduct primary research, publish reports, provide advisory services, attend events, and be available for sales support. These conflicting demands create the analyst’s dilemma – how much time can they afford to spend on basic internet research
versus more profitable tasks.
Analyst’s Copilot resolves the dilemma by offering an AI-powered application to streamline information gathering. Using the product, analysts can get updated in minutes, freeing them to perform other tasks that will directly impact their firm’s top and bottom lines. Based on the Azure Cloud platform, Analyst’s Copilot works with AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Cohere to be large language model (LLM) independent. The modular architecture is purpose built on an adaptable and extendable Application Programming Interface (API) framework.
Since LLMs are general-purpose systems, the founders believe Analyst’s Copilot is an early
example of a trend likely to sweep many industries – B2B application software that provides
measurable business benefits impossible to build with the current generation of technology.
What Industry Analysts Do
An industry analyst collects and analyzes data to evaluate existing and potential products and services within a specific market. Their insights help executives, investors, and other stakeholders make better business decisions. Their goal is to be expert within a particular industry sector, providing guidance on market dynamics and future company directions. That information is not always easy to come by. Software and consulting are two examples of industries where most market participants are not publicly traded entities with mandated disclosure requirements – the usual source of information for a financial analyst.
As table stakes, industry analysts must perform basic research by gathering data from various sources, such as the company itself, third-party news, and interviews with key market players. Only then can they identify opportunities and provide competitive insights within their domain of expertise. Consequently, their most important job is to keep up with different market competitors and monitor changes in their coverage area.
Number of Industry Analysts
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) lumps industry analysts along with financial analysts and estimates there are 404,800 jobs in the field. Assuming 10% to 15% of the Bureau’s job estimates are industry and not financial analysts, there are 40,000 to 60,000 positions in the United States alone. Well-known analyst firms include Gartner Group, Forrester Research, IDC, Frost & Sullivan, SP Global, and Ovum. The Bureau also projects that analyst jobs will grow much faster than the average occupation.
The Analyst’s Dilemma
Analysts have many demands on their time. They must assess trends, create segment taxonomies, size markets, prepare forecasts, and develop industry models. In addition, they must publish syndicated and client-sponsored research reports, white papers, research notes, newsletters, and social media. They must also provide advisory services, including inquiries, consulting projects, and share study findings with clients. They must attend industry events such as conferences, seminars, and roundtables. In addition, they frequently give presentations and webinars. They must also conduct surveys or supervise third parties to collect data. Finally, analysts must also provide sales support for their firms. With only so many hours in the day, all these tasks leave analysts little time for their greatest responsibility – monitoring all the competitors in their segment.
Complicating the effort, analysts typically follow many organizations. Their total addressable market is limited to the companies in their coverage area. Consequently, many individual analysts must be knowledgeable on a day-to-day basis of 100, 250, and even 500 different entities. Given all the content they must deliver, how to spend their time most profitably creates a dilemma.
Analyst’s Copilot
Resolving this dilemma is Analyst’s Copilot – a cloud-based, AI-powered tool that leverages LLMs to streamline the research process. The tool helps industry analysts save time by sending them regular updates tailored to their specific areas of expertise and delivered directly to their device of choice. With Analyst’s Copilot, analysts receive a concise and comprehensive summary of their entire coverage area daily, giving them more time to think, write, provide advisory services, attend events, and sell. Since LLMs are general-purpose systems, the founders believe Analyst’s Copilot is an early example of a product trend likely to sweep the technology industry – application software that provides measurable business benefits impossible to build with the current generation of technology. Consequently, they feel this will eventually become one of the hottest markets in software ever.