Gartner reports - what is their accuracy rate?

Post #2,860 by bluke 7/26/01 8:12:24 AM Reply	Gartner reports - what is their accuracy rate? Lately our PHB's have been quoting Gartner reports to plan strategy. My experience in the past is that Gartner has no real clue what they are talking about especially when they give long term predictions. Has anyone actually gone back 5 years and compared Gartner's predictions with what actually happened?
Post #2,869 by Andrew Grygus 7/26/01 10:16:33 AM Reply	Gartner is highly skilled . . . . . at determining what PHBs want to hear and reporting that. Exactly how they phrase it is determined by which software publisher is financing the report. [link\|www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #2,871 by boxley 7/26/01 10:17:59 AM Reply	I remember the old ROI of 40k per 5 years for having a PC on a desk. It was very interesting that in the opinion who the powers that be they folded in timewasting that would of happened anyway. Bob Lweis had a series of forums discussing their innacuracy. Pull up a PC and ask for the maintenence records along with that report and ask the powers that be for a reconciliation between the actual cost and the gartner. thanx, bill Our bureaucracy and our laws have turned the world into a clean, safe work camp. We are raising a nation of slaves. Chuck Palahniuk
Post #2,941 by addison 7/27/01 11:24:39 AM Reply	As I recall, it was $17k, per year. Which was about right. When we did the math, we came out with $22k, per year, per PC on our network. Our bosses screamed because "Garter said it should only be $17k" so they cut out the help desk from the math, and got it dropped to $19k, and that was OK. Bob Lweis had a series of forums discussing their innacuracy. Bob had a lot of forums. Bob's columns were damn short on facts, and long on guesses. I did the math. Gartner's math (using theoretical PCs, users, hardware, networks) was in the ballpark. Pull up a PC and ask for the maintenence records along with that report and ask the powers that be for a reconciliation between the actual cost and the gartner. Don't forget: Hardware Network (did you run a cable(s) Admins Techs Help Desk Network (internet connectivity? factor in that, too) Routers/Switches Software Maintence contracts... And yeah, it starts adding up. Things have decreaased some, with more user literacy, and cheaper hardware. But I suspect, not by a lot. Bob didn't want to add all the costs. Sure, you can do it cheaper. Some places do. They have varying levels of success. But enterprise level customers are still talking a big chunck of change, per year, for their PCs. Addison
Post #3,036 by Andrew Grygus 7/30/01 11:11:17 AM Reply	And don't forget . . . Procurement costs Warranty hassles Lost productivity (problem caused) Insurance Phone system usage Shipping & Receiving Accounting costs Cost of money Occupancy Electricity and a whole lot more. Most people who say Gartner's figures are way too high have no idea how to identify and allocate costs. Companies that do have that ability generally confirm Gartner's figures. Computers can be effective tools, but they are very expensive tools. [link\|www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #2,965 by Brandioch 7/27/01 2:50:37 PM Reply	At my old job, we had Gartner in ONCE. We were looking at their email comparision reports. Actually, we wanted to buy their email comparision report. The one comparing Notes / GroupWise /Exchange / Sendmail / whatever. But they didn't really have one. The woman who was their "expert" could go on and on about Notes vs Exchange. Then they came out with the "fact" that, if you had fewer than 5,000 employees (or some such number), it was cheaper for you to outsource your email services. ??? Sorry, but managing GroupWise takes less than 10 minutes a day. I asked about that figure and they couldn't explain it. So we didn't buy their report. Nor did we ever use them again (while I was there). If you want info on Gartner for your PHB's, just look at what Gartner has predicted in the past about the sphere they are interested in. I did a similar thing with Gartner's "reports" on Linux. Just hop back 4 years and step forward. EVERY single "prediction" they've made (by certain date) has been wrong. What are they quoting from Gartner?

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