Summary

  • Problem Analyst Portal solves: Splunk needed to increase analyst recognition of their capabilities in the observability market, particularly with Tier 1 analysts who weren’t fully reflecting their strengths.
  • ARchitect features used: Analyst Portal for self-service content delivery, portal analytics for measuring engagement.
  • Splunk’s AR approach: Three-phased strategy targeting Tier 2 and boutique firms first while playing the “long game” with Tier 1 analysts, using the Analyst Portal to scale communications efficiently.

ROI

  • 11 analyst reports authored primarily using portal resources without requiring RFIs or separate demos.
  • 15+ leader placements achieved, including 2 from Gartner (Tier 1).
  • 45 analyst firms engaged through the portal.
  • 200% increase in briefings delivered using portal resources versus previous live-only approach.
  • 48% increase in analyst usage of Splunk’s portal from year 1 to year 2.

 When observability and cybersecurity leader Splunk was searching for a portal to greater analyst relations (AR) success, they found the answer — quite literally — with an Analyst Portal.

“We think it’s been a really great value-add to our analyst relations impact,” shared Sophie Kwon, analyst relations specialist, Splunk, at last year’s ARchitect User Forum (an event we’re expanding into “AR Engage Live” this fall).

Sophie, along with Rachel Bernstein, Splunk’s senior analyst relations manager, discussed how their portal — which gives analysts central, secure, self-service access to a variety of Splunk content — has helped the company reach and influence more analysts. One exciting measure of success: Over just a couple years, 11 analyst reports have been authored primarily using Splunk’s portal resources — no million-page RFIs or separate demos involved!

Rachel and Sophie also reflected on Splunk’s AR program, challenges they’ve tackled, and the impact of their portal. Let’s dive into the highlights!

 

AR program overview

Splunk has a “mighty team of 5” AR pros, according to Rachel, who manages AR for observability. Their mission? “To ensure Splunk is top-of-mind — and known and understood — in the analyst community.”

At the company, product and portfolio levels, the team is also laser-focused on:

  • Building recognition with key market influencers
  • Shaping and guiding analyst perception of Splunk
  • Bringing valuable insights from analysts back to the company to fuel smarter, strategic decisions

 

Challenges

Splunk has invested heavily in the observability market. At the time, though, analyst coverage (especially from Tier 1s) didn’t fully reflect the company’s capabilities and strengths, as it worked toward greater market leader recognition.

“From an AR point of view, we needed to take a different approach with the analysts we were working with,” Rachel explained.

So, they devised a two-pronged strategy:

1. Prioritize “Tier 2” and boutique firms. “The return on investment with these firms can go a long way in marketing activities and for the business in general,” Rachel shared. “The portal was a real driver to help us get there.”

2. Play the “long game” with Tier 1s. Rather than expecting immediate “leader” rankings, the team focused on steadily building brand awareness, delivering proof points, and expanding its influence over time.

 

Getting down to business

As they put their strategy into action, Rachel outlined the AR team’s three-phased approach — with their portal playing a role in each one:

1. Align on strategy for reaching and influencing Tier 2s. First, the team had to get internal stakeholders on board — which, as it turned out, wasn’t a hard sell. Boutique firms often had sharp market insights, sometimes even more so than their larger counterparts. “We approached this boutique/Tier 2 research cycle with a Tier 1 mindset,” Rachel explained. “We put our best foot forward, which helped our team get really clear on vision and direction. We also spent a lot of time filling out RFIs, creating briefing decks, and briefing the analysts.” At the same time, having recently added an Analyst Portal to their ARchitect subscription, the Splunk AR team brainstormed ways to weave it into their outreach strategy.

2. Generate “quick wins” in an evolving market… and use the portal to help. The outreach paid off — fast. “We started to become a leader in a lot of these [Tier 2] reports,” Rachel shared. Soon, Splunk was racking up two-to-three leader placements per quarter in the observability market.

The impact didn’t stop there. These reports became valuable sales enablement tools — especially since reprints from Tier 2 firms are often more budget-friendly than those from Tier 1s. “We could give these reports to the sales team when they had a customer conversation,” Rachel continued. Even without immediate Tier 1 recognition, the sales team could say, “These other six firms see us as a leader: Here’s why.”

But success brought new challenges. “It became a little overwhelming to manage all the requests from analysts,” Rachel admitted. That’s where the Analyst Portal really proved its worth, helping the team efficiently scale its communications. Splunk’s AR team created a dedicated portal section packed with resources for analysts writing evaluations.

“We have briefings, demos, product briefs and a general-purpose RFI that analysts can use,” Rachel noted. “All we do is a fact-check in the end. It’s been a huge time-saver for us and our stakeholders.”

3. Scale out with the Analyst Portal. The portal is core to Splunk’s AR strategy today. “Working with these Tier 2 and boutique firms remains very important to us,” Rachel said. “We’ve built a foundation of trust, we’ve established the relationships, and it’s important for us to maintain that. So, the portal is the perfect place for these analysts to go now. It’s an essential tool for us and for them as well.”

 

Results, results, RESULTS!

Splunk’s strategy, execution and portal adoption paved the way for major wins — first with boutique firms, and later with Tier 1s. In just a couple of years, the team achieved:

  • 15+ leader placements, including:
  • 2 leader placements from Gartner! This Tier 1 validation, combined with continued efforts in Tier 1 and Tier 2 engagement, reinforced the portal’s value in keeping a broad set of analysts informed.
  • 11 analyst reports authored primarily with portal content. As Sophie puts it: “The portal provides a low-barrier-to-entry way of getting up-to-date on Splunk at a corporate level, and it’s also been really valuable to see that reflected in research write-ups.”
  • 45 firms engaged on the portal.
  • 200% increase in briefings delivered (using portal resources vs. previous live-only approach). According to Sophie, “This is something we wouldn’t have perceived possible before making the portal investment.”
  • 48% increase in analyst usage of Splunk’s portal (comparing portal year 1 to year 2).

And the momentum keeps building. “I think the portal is a part of our analyst relations strategy that will really grow in value,” Sophie said. “And that gives us a lot of optimism for the future. There are boutique firms arising faster than you can keep up with — and so the on-demand, self-service content also serves as a really great way to help analysts that want to get up-to-date information about Splunk.”

 

Secrets to portal success

Sophie also shared best practices for maximizing portal impact, based on Splunk’s experiences:

  • Consider your content mix. “AR people are pretty busy juggling a ton of balls,” she noted. “So, we knew that we needed to make sure the portal content really supported our strategy and mission of educating analysts at the company, product and portfolio levels.” For Splunk, this meant prioritizing pre-recorded briefings, product updates, acquisition (by Cisco) news, and thought-leadership — alongside pre-packaged assets for analysts writing evaluations.
  • Use the portal analytics. AR teams can see which firms and analysts engage with their portal, which content is most popular, and more. “Splunk is a data company — data-driven insights and decision-making are always super-important to us,” Sophie shared. “So, we knew we really wanted to use the Analyst Portal analytics to understand which topics were most interesting to our analysts, the types of content that were really resonating, and how to define our success.” One key finding? Short, digestible briefing recordings (5-10 minutes) drove the highest engagement.
  • Assign clear ownership. “Whether you’re an AR team of one, five or 30, we really think that having one person driving the car of the Analyst Portal has been really helpful to us,” Sophie shared. While others contribute, having a designated lead ensures consistency, avoids content duplication, and supports a unified approach.
  • Post regularly. “We publish content pretty frequently to make sure we’re consistently reaching the analysts,” Sophie noted. “Viewership is much higher when we can post at least one or two things per week.” Because analysts get email notifications when new content is available, regular updates help reinforce the habit of visiting the portal for the latest info and insights.
  • Get stakeholder buy-in. “We’ve been able to have really high-quality recorded briefings for the Analyst Portal because our stakeholders understand the value of scaling this way. It’s been a really great partnership,” Sophie said. “We see the Analyst Portal as reflective of our overall strategy, and it’s the major capability we use to scale out the work we do as an AR team.”

As Splunk’s AR program continues to evolve, the portal remains a not-so-secret weapon for expanding their reach and making a lasting impact.