Thursday 3 March 2005

You will be assimilated...

As I write those lines, it seems that the assimilation of the META techno-utopians all in one probability of the Gartner Borg is inescapable (.9 probability)

The META sales force is trying hard to get all the business they can, often offering good discounts. In that respect, the latest META communication to their clients (25/02) insists
that "Gartner has clearly stated that it will honor all META Group contracts during and after this acquisition" (don't know where and when they said this though?). That same letter from their COO states that the integration team has identified the following areas to be directly complementary:

  • Topical research enhancement: Business process management, business applications, business intelligence, etc...
  • Vertical industry research enhancement: Energy and utilities, insurance, government, etc.
  • IT organizational role research enhancement: Enterprise architecture, IT operations, security, etc.
  • Geography presence enhancement: Germany, UK, Australia, etc.
Interesting they've singled out specifically those countries, Germany and UK being in EMEA those where META Group Consulting is the most developed.

What this leaves out is the "META Group's well-trained, successful sales force", as mentioned explicitly in the first release. I hear contradictory rumours, that pinks slips are already distributed in the US, that META US sales are already fixed on their future but also that Gartner has a very aggressive 2005 sales plan, is looking to expand coverage in geos/verticals. But as they're legally impeached to talk to their future colleagues, these are only rumours... (.3 probability)

The mood at the San Francisco METAmorphosis seemed bleak, the EMEA version which is slated for after the April fool day rumoured merger date will be interesting.... (.5 probability)

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