As the largest analyst firm, everyone in analyst relations is impacted by their relationship with Gartner. From contract negotiations to account management to research coverage, our AR programs are greatly impacted by Gartner’s offerings, communications.
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Gartner Symposium / ITxpo 2018: key takeaways for AR professionals
This year’s keynote theme: the Continuous Next Strategy
Gartner Symposium, Gartner’s flagship event in Europe, attracted more than 8,000 visitors this year, and met or exceeded expectations, at least mine. The analysts were brilliant, inspiring speakers on stage and great advisors in the one2one meetings.
This was the first time in Europe that Mike Harris delivered the keynote, having taken over from Peter Sondergaard in the summer. It was a hard act to follow: Many attendees knew Sondergaard as an exceptionally gifted and inspiring speaker. Harris was different, of course. His presentation was strong and dynamic – and he came across as being very present, open and humble.
Harris outlined Gartner’s “Continuous Next” concept, referring to how the pace of innovation is accelerating and disrupting business models, and outlining the need for organizations to adapt to be successful. CIOs must adopt the role of business innovator and enabler, he said, and must interact with C-suite leaders to secure the foundation of digital business. In the era of Continuous Next, the CIO assumes responsibility for digital products and therefore controls not only technology and operations, but should also drive cultural change for the benefit of digital or business transformation. CIOs must also consider digital ethics before adopting new technologies.
Harris also noted that traditional enterprise roles, including HR, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal, Supply Chain will change as they all become digital. Continue Reading →
IIAR Discussion Group: negotiating with Gartner – is it the new seventies IBM?
Feeling the pinch in your negotiation with Gartner on your subscription contract? Do you feel comfortable in buying the various seats options being pushed your way? Are you confident that you are getting value from your contracts?
You’re not alone -many of your peers and IIAR members have commented (see the IIAR Tragic Quadrant) on Gartner’s hard stance and cowboy attitude during negotiations: it maybe the IIAR Analyst Firm of the Year 2017 but also the hardest to work with.
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2017, a tectonic year for influencer relations? A world post Gartner + CEB and IDC sold
This January feels like our IIAR April Fool posts came early. After Gartner gobbling the largest peer-to-peer advisory firm CEB (Corporate Advisory Firm) for a cool USD 3.3 billions (2.6b in cash and stock plus 700m debt), the long awaited and many times postponed sellout of IDG, the parent company of IDC, happened yesterday.
Firstly, the acquisition of CEB by Gartner is notable for three reasons:
So this is not a META Group style margins-led competitive take-out (2005) but more an expansion into new markets just like in 2009 as Gartner bought AMR, SCM World and Burton to address techies and supply chain roles.
Where does that leave IDC and the others?
Will research crowdsourcing finally move analyst firms to an experience business model?

G2 Crowd Grid for Help desk
Good piece by Tony Bradley on TechSpective.net (via Rob Enderle and Stephen England) on whether crowdsourced analysis could displace Gartner, Forrester, IDC, etc.
I’ve been watching analysts for a long time and think this is fascinating -I was waiting for such a “JD Power of Tech” for a long time. The piece talks about Chaordix and Whale Path, and I’ve known for a while about G2 Crowd. Another well known so called Peer Review Site (PRS) is TrustRadius.
If they get it right, it will finally change the analyst business. Continue Reading →