Posted on Wed, Dec 16, 2009
My previous post discussed my thoughts around the print/copier consulting industry and my overall concerns with the Gartner rating system. Well, here is a very interesting blog article about Gartner and a current court challenge regarding the merits of their ‘research'.
http://thedeathofthecopier.blogspot.com/2009/12/gartners-magical-quadrant-and-scales-of.html
One of the shocking notes is the following comment from the blog: Gartner plainly admits that it attempts to leverage value from its largest clients, many of whom are also vendors covered in the company's research.
A further note states: Gartner argued to the Court that its rankings and other statements in the proprietary Magic Quadrant Reports are merely opinions that are not based upon fact, and that they are understood as such by the readers of those reports. However, Gartner's past statements in marketing materials, white papers, blogs and even the Magic Quadrant Reports themselves, assert that their research and analysts' opinions are based on a body of facts compiled through what is asserted to be a rigorous process.
If your company utilizes the Gartner Group for information or research purposes, it may be worth a further review to determine if you are truly receiving the value and benefits you are seeking.
Posted on Tue, Dec 15, 2009
Think back to the spring of 2009. US banks are failing by the day. House pricing are in total freefall. Unemployment is climbing at a rate of 500,000 per month. We've also just sat through another Lyra Symposium wondering where the copier & print market is about to go. If anyone is talking Managed Print Services, it's only the Photizo Group. Heck, we've been ‘doing it' for almost 15 years & we're still calling it Print Fleet Management or Cost Per Page (our trademarked brand for this print management thing).
May arrives & the Photizo Group holds the first ever Managed Print Services Conference in San Antonio. Here's to Ed & his team for pulling this off in the middle of an economic mess. But they did pull it off, with excellent attendance. So, I guess this is when Managed Print Services began. Once there's a conference, there's an industry!!! Event side note: LaserNetworks is recognized as being the Top Managed Print Provider at the Conference.
Fast forward six months & it seems everyone has a ‘Managed Print' program, with Gartner even recognizing some as (already) being in the Magic Quadrant. Congrats to HP & Xerox but wow! Imagine these hardware companies transitioning their business models from technology companies to service companies, essentially overnight. While I'm a bit sore about not seeing LaserNetworks name in that top box (or anywhere!), it's also disappointing not to see other industry leaders such as Printelligent up there.
Although, maybe we're coming down the hype curve & Gartner will begin to recognize the leaders in the space...to date, these have not been manufacturers. Two weeks ago, at a Gartner event in Toronto, they noted about MPS: "there's an over-commitment and under-delivery from many of the providers." Cause for optimism for the companies that have built their business models on MPS for 10+ years???
2010 should continue to be an exciting year for MPS, from manufacturers, service-based companies, and most of all - the consulting industry. While Gartner does have a stranglehold on the IT industry, and will only get stronger with its recent acquisition of AMR, they may be losing their Magic Quadrant Print/Copy status to Photizo or NewField IT (Europe).
It will be interesting to see if Photizo continues to maintain their first-in position & begin to promote and recognize the companies that are truly aligned with the customer. Looking forward to seeing their Magic Quadrant rating at some point down the road...
Here's to a very interesting 2010!!!