Q&A at VMworld with Melanie Posey, Research VP at IDC, the IT Market Intelligence Firm 

Standing out at VMworld, in a sea of teach savvy gentlemen, was, market intelligence expert with a passion for technology, Melanie Posey. VMworld is one of the leading virtualization technology conferences, and every year, IT innovators from multiple industries and around the world come together to discover the latest technologies — emerging from both large companies like Dell and HP and new innovative startups looking to disrupt the virtualization and cloud market — discuss best practices, and learn from industry experts.  Out of hundreds of sessions at this year’s VMworld, only a handful were led by women. Melanie Posey, of IDC, which provides advisory services to IT professionals, was one of those few women.

IDC is a leading global market intelligence firm whose research influences the core strategy of major companies, from retail to technology. They are thought leaders who predict and analyze market trends, so that companies can quickly adapt to changing conditions and make fact-based decisions. Leaders at IDC are experts in their fields, and stay close to specialists in their markets in order to gather knowledge and paint accurate industry landscapes. By reading an IDC whitepaper, for example, you can quickly get up to speed on a new subject area that would take days to research yourself. Information is key to success, especially in tech.

So Melanie Posey’s presence – and her representation of IDC — at VMworld was a particular standout. After an engaging presentation on the current trends in Cloud technology, she sat on a panel with four other men, and never hesitated to speak up to answer questions. Aside from her keen insights and articulate speaking manner, she commanded respect from her colleagues, as evidenced by their continual references to her presentations and spoken comments.

Melanie Posey, IDC Expert, and alum of U.S. International Trade Commission

Melanie Posey is an industry analyst, frequent speaker at industry and client events; her insights have been quoted everywhere from Investor’s Business Daily to The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and NetworkWorld.

She is currently the Research Vice President of IDC’s Hosting and Managed Network Services programs, where she provides analysis, forecasting, and consulting on hosting, cloud, and telecom sector dynamics, as well as on service provider positioning; technological and business model innovation; and industry evolution. She has won several IDC awards, including the runner-up James Peacock Memorial Award.

Ms. Posey graduated from Amherst College with a BA in French; she also holds an MA in Political Science from the University Michigan (Ann Arbor), and an MA in International Relations/International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Q&A with Melanie Posey:

What was the most pivotal moment of your career?
It was when I’d been at IDC for three or four years, and I was suddenly thrust into a different coverage area, which I didn’t know much about. My boss said to me, “You’re a good analyst, you know how to get up to speed, and how to get smart quickly by talking to experts” – so that’s what I did, and that’s how I ended up covering hosting/cloud service providers.

I knew nothing about it when I started, but I had a good grounding in how to be an analyst, how to do research, and how to gather and synthesize information.  So I would say that was pivotal for me, because I realized suddenly that “I have a set of skills that are applicable to different subject areas — and that’s a good thing to know, because it gives you a lot of flexibility!”

What is it like to be an expert on something very technical?
What tends to happen as an industry analyst is that you end up talking to the business people, strategy people, and product marketing & management folks. On the rare occasion when I talk to very technical people, I use that as an opportunity. When you’re talking to people involved in a highly technical area, they appreciate your perspective on the business side (what competitors are doing, what the market is demanding, etc.), and then they appreciate it when you ask them technical questions.

One of the techniques I’ve learned (and this is how you get smart on things!), is to ask people a lot of questions. There’s the saying, “There’s no such thing as a dumb question,” so if you don’t know something — and you need to know it — it’s not a dumb question.

What advice would you give to your younger self, and generally to women in tech?
If I could go back to when I was twenty-five, I would probably have gotten a better grounding in technology — but in some ways, it actually worked out really well, because the whole trend towards cloud and virtualization and abstraction means that not everyone needs to be that “down in the weeds.” When you abstract everything to a platform or a framework, you just need to know how the pieces fit together.

Being a woman in tech is interesting; I can’t say I’ve had any bad experiences. The main way I’ve managed to build my career and succeed is just being able to bring a “big-picture perspective.” I think women are better at relational explaining, which can help them connect to audiences who aren’t quite as technical.

At the end of the day, you’ll be successful in your career if you can relate to people. When you have more to bring to the table on a professional and interpersonal level, you can get to the next stage with a client, vendor, or whoever. It’s about having that emotional IQ and ability to process information in a broader context, and then tweak that context to your audience.

You can be successful in a career when you know what it is you don’t know, and you can figure out how to get the knowledge you need and how to talk to people and help them get you there.