Gartner Acquires Burton Group

By now everyone has heard the news.  So here's our take on this:  It's very positive.  Here's the top reasons
-Gartner is going to retain the whole Burton Group analyst and consulting teams.
-Gartner is going to maintain the Burton Group brand and IT1 product.
-Burton Group's product gets a world wide sales force behind it

In other words, this is not another Meta Group acquisition. 

So some of you not familiar with the details of the two products may be wondering "what's the difference between the products?"  Actually, there is not much overlap at all.  We sold to two different markets.  Gartner focuses on the executive level - the strategic question of "what to do."  Burton Group focuses on the IT leaders and implementers - the question of "how to do."  So both products compliment each other and focus on different audiences within the IT organization.

The question of vendor independence has also come up.  Gartner has a strict policy of no vendor sponsored white papers, just like Burton Group does.  While the perception may be that Gartner is swayed by vendors, their policies all force vendor independence.

So this is an opportunity for Burton Group research to grow its reach into the market.

Comments are welcome.
[Posted by Drue Reeves and Richard Jones]

Comments

[Robert Wipfel]

Congrats guys - uhm - future "distinguished analysts" ;-)

[Marc Farley (3PARfarley)]

Congrats guys! Best of luck with the transition.

[Vikram Mohan]

Definitely a great value addition.

The exemplary work done by Burton and the research it does would definitely be able to leverage upon symphonies of harmony using the value addition Gartner brings to the table.

Good luck with everything, I am sure Burton will scale new heights.

[Research2km]

Hope that there will be a continued future for Burton even after the Gartner assimilation process....check the following url for a history of Gartner's previous 30+ acquisitions.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/gartner/acquisitions.html

[Jim Walker]

As a Gartner employee and greater Salt Lake area resident, it's great to have you join the company. I look forward to working with many of you.