"Customers see the value from a trusted and impartial source," Wilson said.
It's no surprise that the likes of Gartner, IDC, and Meta Group wield enormous influence within IT circles. And when there are questions about their integrity, you take notice.
In 2001, Joe Sweeney, a senior research director with Gartner Asia-Pacific, was forced to resign after his involvement in an adult Web site was disclosed. Hong Kong-based Sweeney was said to have promoted Jadecool.com, a virtual go-go bar based in the Philippines, in interviews with CNN, Asiaweek and others.
And in a recent article entitled "Who Owns Gartner", US-based InformationWeek asked why Gartner executives failed to be more "open" about tech bigwigs holding shares in the company. Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, and Bill Gates are three of more than 150 leading technology executives who have shares in Silver Lake Partners, a Silicon Valley private equity-investment firm -- which has a total of about 50 million shares in Gartner.
Gartner CEO Michael Fleisher denied any impropriety. "I meet with hundreds of clients...I've never had a client ask about Silver Lake," he was quoted as saying.
Fleisher added that investors and board members have "no influence, input, or connection whatsoever to the research process and there's no dialogue between board members and analysts". He told InformationWeek he doesn't even know who invests in Silver Lake: "I've never seen a list or even asked."
Sure, Dell, Ellison, Gates and others have minority stakes in the research company but is this a case of guilt by association? Would this cause customers and the media to cast a doubtful eye on its research findings?
Perhaps Gartner should practise what it preaches and exercise some of the corporate governance advice it dishes to customers.
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