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Analyzing the Analysts

Posted by Roblimo on from the guarding-the-guardians dept.

Very cool, very deep story at Information Week about the IT "analysis and research" firms you often see quoted as authoritative sources in assorted media, and how accurate their predictions are - or aren't. A quote from the story: "The leading analyst firms have become so influential that their opinions can help IT chiefs gain senior-management approval for technology investments." Obviously, these firms carry plenty of weight. Should we be scared of their growing power? Or have they become an essential part of the computer and Internet business scene?

2 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Here's The Problem by mochaone · · Score: 5

    A great philosopher of the 1950's once said that too much "analyzation causes paralyzation". Yogi Berra might not have been talking about the IT industry when he uttered those words, as a matter of fact, historians have not been able to discern what he was talking about at all, but I digress; Actually, I have digressed to the point where I have to log out and regather my thougths. Fare thee well.

    --
    Hates people who have stupid little sigs
  2. Most dangerous if management mistrust their staff by judd · · Score: 4

    A former boss had a regular subscription to Gartner Group reports. He would always favour Gartner advice over our own.

    This was especially weird, since we were a small New Zealand university, and about as far away from the environment that these reports were written for as one could imagine.

    The underlying problem was that the boss (as bosses will) had lost touch with the technology, and was paranoid that his staff were trying to pull one over on him. Rather than taking the high road - building a workforce he could trust - he took the low road of ignoring their advice in favour Gartner's. Result: poor decisions based on advice that was never really relevant to our circumstances.

    While we were building cheap effective linux based solutions that actually worked - see, that mistrust had become justified :-( - he would be telling us how an NT only world was "inevitable", and pointing to Gartner to back it up. (Remember how anti-Linux Gartner used to be 2 years ago?)

    Analyst reports have their place as preliminary reading before you do your own research, or as a second opinion. If you don't have time to do you own research, and you haven't hired someon whose judgement you can trust, you are not taking things seriously, and deserve whatever you get.

    I remember long ago at University learning that there was no subsitute for primary sources. Secondary sources are only ever there to get you up to speed. Treating secondary sources as though they were reliable was always a recipe for disaster.