Dealing with the Mafia
Over the past two weeks, I have been working with two established Analyst firms, Forrester and Gartner. Forrester published its Wave report on the human-centric business process management landscape. Gartner finished gathering information for an update.
Well, let me tell you the industry is corrupt. Very corrupt. Analysts are not required to disclose their revenue from the companies they “analyse”. As Jonathan Schwartz put it, “it’d probably help their credibility if they, like the financial analyst community, started disclosing revenues they receive from the vendors they cover”.
But nope. No way. Things are good for them as it is. Why change when you have over a billion dollars in revenue?
At Intalio, we don’t pay Forrester a Dime. Not a Penny. So guess what happened when Forrester published its Wave? We got an email.
From Greg DeGregorio, Forrester Account Executive, to Ismael Ghalimi, Intalio CEO
Hi Ismael,
I just got word that the wave Intalio was included in just went live
to our web site. Is this a good time to discuss having Intalio become
a Forrester client? As a non client you cannot use this wave
externally meaning you can’t put it to your website or even put a
press release out about it. Please let me know if you want to set up a
call to discuss our services as well as learning about how you can
leverage the wave externally and use it to your advantage in your
sales cycle.
Pay us! They say. Pay us or you can’t use our research! Makes me feel sick.
If they had an honest business model, they would get their revenue from the people they advise; instead they act like a petty advertising agency. “Quotes for the clueless” should be their tagline. Because with a business model like that, you know they’ve got to be biased. You can’t be fired for choosing Gartner? I think you should. Politicians have more integrity than these guys (well, maybe not in the US).
Enough said. I’m off to write a press release.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I am not sure I share your indignation.
1 These guys are in business to get paid for generating information. They contacted Ismael AFTER the report so at least a bit better.
2. You are using their brand image to elevate your own so why shouldn’t you pay for that
3 Long term they have an incentive to write the most accurate they can and any sub segment is not worth loosing credibility over.
4 They seem to have rules that can be scrutinized. Normal press is open game and bribes is being “paid” all the time.
5. You are free to choose so if too expensive for what you get don’t play along. They will never write negative due to that Just will not write
Long live Blogs probably best independent source around
August 8th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I wouldn’t have any grief if they disclosed revenues they receive from the vendors they cover. But they don’t.
That the vendors cite Forrester is in their interest as well. Should they pay us for that?
At all levels, they are willing to sacrifice long term for short. Individuals looking to further their careers have no incentive for long term.