Nick Wakeman, editor of Washington Technology Magazine, last week posted his list of 13 trends and predictions driving the government contracting market. He sees smaller growth; fewer big, new opportunities; increased competition; and higher pressure on profitability, among other things.

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Join us in supporting the 3rd annual Power IT Down Day, sponsored by Citrix, Intel, HP and GTSI, and join the community of government and industry IT users that are going green. All you have to do is pledge to turn off your computers and peripherals at the end of the day on Friday, August 27, 2010.

Please take a moment now to visit the Power IT Down website, www.powerITdown.org, and sign up.

Each person who does will save approximately 13 kilowatt hours in a single evening and 55 kilowatt hours over the weekend. And, to illustrate how we can all put energy savings to good use, the Power IT Down sponsors will make a generous donation to the Wounded Warrior Project again this year.

Thank you! We look forward to saving with you.

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In last month’s issue of Research IT, we shared some insights about adoption trends and policies revealed in our recently released 2010 Federal Community Social Media Study. This quantitative online study on the perceptions and use of social media in the federal market combines the findings of two surveys – one targeting federal employees and one targeting federal contractors.

As we pointed out in the June article, federal agencies’ fairly slow adoption to date of social media hasn’t stopped the contractor community from embracing the tools as another means of branding and marketing to their government prospects and customers.

In fact, 55% of contractors use social media either formally or informally to communicate with their government audiences – primarily to share sales and marketing materials, event information, and press releases. And, 39% of contractors who do not currently use social media expect to start in the next 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »

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On July 27, 2010, Market Connections presented the findings of the 2010 Federal Community Social Media Study to a standing-room-only crowd at the Tower Club in Vienna, VA. Of the findings, Alice Lipowicz of Washington Technology wrote, “Federal contractors have jumped into social media in a big way, but many are finding it difficult to calculate a return on their investment, according to a new survey of 167 federal contractor employees by the research firm Market Connections Inc.

“The most popular social media tools among federal contractors are wikis, followed by commercial social networks, followed by blogs.

“LinkedIn was cited among the most popular social media sites for federal contractors…”

View the full article on www.washingtontechnology.com.

The full Federal Community Social Media Report takes a comprehensive look at the use of social media among federal agencies and suppliers, including analysis of the use of a variety of social media tools and planned investments in social media.

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Webinar details government attitudes on cloud computing

The Lockheed Martin Cyber Security Alliance and Market Connections presented the webinar Securing Data in the Cloud on June 23, 2010. The live event shared findings from a recent research study of federal government IT decision-makers and influencers involved specifically in cyber-related activities. The presentation detailed awareness of and attitudes on cloud computing and cyber security in federal agencies, in addition to considerations when moving to a cloud computing environment.

Download a PDF of the slide presentation.

View a recording of the webinar.

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It’s common in every workplace to encounter stressful times when internal or client deadlines loom, staff members feel frazzled, and personal priorities weigh on our minds. Productive managers and staff recognize these pressures before they become problems and work on solutions, like delegating to other members of the team. Sometimes, though, we spend time stressing about whether we can accomplish what is expected of us or what we expect of ourselves. We may quietly fume at our desks, lose sleep, and avoid the intimidating task of approaching a supervisor to redefine priorities and expectations. That’s when “recontracting” will come in handy.

The Market Connections team learned in a recent training session that when you recontract, you go back to a manager or team member to adjust priorities, timelines, and expectations. Sometimes this is a formal change of duties and responsibilities; other times it’s a chance to casually air frustrations and shuffle immediate pressures and priorities. It’s often hard for people to do this because of our own internal expectations and pride: we want to do a good job, we don’t want to let our superiors or peers down, we don’t want to let ourselves down by admitting we just can’t do it all. Frequently, our own internal struggles, insecurities, and needs prevent us from productively handling a frustration before it becomes a full-blown problem.

When everyone on your team understands that it will at times be necessary to reprioritize or shift responsibilities, and that it’s ok to ask for help and admit you can’t be superman all 365 days of the year, recontracting can be an incredibly useful tool. We have embraced the concept here at Market Connections and are committed to recontracting with a calm, respectful, and solutions-oriented mindset. Our goal is to distribute responsibilities and priorities in a way that maximizes internal productivity and facilitates superior execution and delivery of our services to customers.

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Market Connections has been awarded a General Services Administration (GSA) contract.   As of October 1, we’ll be on the GSA AIMS schedule under SIN 541-4A – Market Research & Analysis Services.  We look forward to providing our deep government market expertise and full-service research services to federal agencies.

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When checking out market research firms, it can be a good idea to find out how many of their employees are professionally certified.  The Marketing Research Association established the Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) program to validate industry knowledge, dedication, and professionalism among market researchers.  A PRC designation assures the credentials of market researchers and underscores their commitment to continuing their professional education.  Similar to certifications in other fields, it sets an industry standard for excellence in research. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is your marketing budget shrinking faster than you can blink an eye?  You’re not alone.  In this economy, many organizations are looking for ways to both reduce their research investments and get a greater return from them.  Right now, it’s more important than ever to ensure a research project will maximize the learnings you need to enhance the performance of your marketing or operations.  But don’t worry, because with a little effort, you can get more bang from your research buck.  We’ll show you how.  Click here. 

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Happy Holidays from all of us at Market Connections!

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