If you’ve been following “Shimmy Says” for a while, you know I like to keep things current, curious, and a little bit contrarian. So when something truly disruptive lands in the research and analysis space—yes, that old, dusty $90 billion industry—you better believe I’m going to talk about it.

This week’s episode dropped just one day after the announcement of Futurum Signal, a bold new platform from the team over at The Futurum Group, and let me tell you: Signal isn’t just another rehash of last quarter’s numbers dressed up in analyst lingo. It’s an entirely different approach to market intelligence—one built for right now.

On the show, I was joined by Futurum‘s President & COO Dan O’Brien, who helped unpack not just what Signal is, but why it matters for digital leaders, tech execs, and anyone trying to make sense of vendor noise in a real-time world.

What Is Futurum Signal?

Signal is what happens when you stop looking in the rearview mirror and start watching the road ahead. It’s a real-time, AI-enhanced predictive evaluation tool that blends Futurum’s proprietary data, voice-of-customer insights from G2, and some very smart tech—including RAG workflows and Google’s Gemini models—to assess vendors based not on what they did last quarter, but what they’re about to do next.

That’s right. Signal doesn’t just tell you who’s been leading—it tells you who’s accelerating. That’s a whole different level of strategic insight.

With dynamic scoring, Future Proof Radars, Heat Maps, and even a badge system that cuts through the marketing fog, it’s like someone finally reimagined the analyst model for the era of intelligent platforms.

What We Really Talked About

Now, I’ll be honest. Dan and I could have geeked out on the architecture and data ingestion pipelines powering Signal (they’re impressive). But what I really wanted to dig into was the user experience.

And that’s where Signal shines.

In the episode, we cover key questions like:

• Can you track specific companies? Yes.
• Can you explore entire market segments like AI platforms or intelligent data stacks? Absolutely.
• How fresh is the data? Let’s just say “real-time” isn’t marketing fluff here.
• What does using it feel like? Think: smooth UI, intuitive tools, no clunky PDFs, no 3-month wait for a report.
• What’s the pricing model? We talk about that too.

But here’s the catch: If you want the full scoop—including where Signal is going next and which industries are up first—you’ll have to watch the episode. We don’t give away the whole Signal roadmap for free. 😉

Why This Matters for Digital CXOs

Digital transformation is no longer about implementing yesterday’s ideas tomorrow. It’s about knowing who’s moving, who’s innovating, and who’s falling behind—in real time. For digital CXOs, that means shifting from rearview analysis to predictive positioning.

Signal isn’t just a tool. It’s a lens—one that brings into focus the companies actually executing, not just storytelling.

Mark Your Calendars: August 20

Futurum Signal goes live on August 20, with its first evaluation covering Intelligent Data Platforms—one of the most consequential spaces in enterprise tech today. Additional Signal reports on Agentic AI, Cybersecurity, and Cloud Platforms are already queued up for the fall and beyond.

If you’re serious about staying ahead of the curve (and let’s face it, who isn’t right now?), you’ll want to keep Signal on your radar.

Early access sign-up is available here: futurumgroup.com/signal
And don’t forget to watch the full “Shimmy Says” episode above for the full conversation.

Stay tuned. The future just got a little clearer.