Stories by: Rob Enderle

Gartner is a major power in the IT advisory firm space. There is constant contention between Gartner and the vendors who think, right or wrong, that the company charges them way too much—sometimes upwards of $100 million—for positive reviews. IT buyers often complain that Gartner, like any large company serving lots of people, doesn't get down to their unique needs and often sends them analysts who are inexperienced. Furthermore, there has always been a concern with every vendor-funded firm in the segment that the difference between reviews and marketing collateral is negligible. With Gartner, the issue generally isn't corruption but, rather, timeliness and relevance.

In a world driven by consumerization one company stands alone against the wave of employees who are bringing their iPhones and Android phones to work. That company is RIM , who just announced plans to abandon their consumer efforts and focus on the enterprise. We know this will work because it worked so swimmingly for Microsoft. I think we can officially start preparing to say, "RIP, RIM."

Having worked for large and small companies, I have seen massive layoffs and reorganizations, and watched painfully as entitlements were stripped in order to feather executive bonuses. In the end, there are companies that value employees and those that don't, and, given a choice, my recommendation based on a lifetime of experience is to find a path to work for the former.

HP's recent coming out party unveiled products ranging from an enhanced server line to a new range of thin clients to the first all-in-one workstation. What's missing is an HP corporate story along with what may be the major competitive opportunity. Let me explain.

Just the other night I was told of yet another horrid experience where a company, at the direction of the CEO, had bought a new technology (in this case Salesforce.com) and then spent a massive amount of money creating a tool the sales people couldn't use.

There isn't a great deal of demand for Windows 8 at the moment, but then, this early in the cycle, new versions of Windows rarely garner much enthusiasm.

VCE (Virtual Computing Environment) is a showcase for a new kind of company, one that is made up of a series of partners yet has its own identity and CEO in order to drive an independent agenda.

I came to the Silicon Valley to work for a company in the mid-1980s that was then where Google is now in terms of offering unrivaled benefits. ROLM Telecom, a new telecom company, had a department called "The Great Place to Work" department and the firm was top ranked as the best place to work in the country.

Analyst firms often use surveys to make predictions sound more believable. However, there generally is no connection whatsoever between what a survey predicts and what the outcome eventually is. For example, according to the surveys the U.S. President should be Hillary Clinton and the person most likely to win the Republican nomination were a bunch of folks that aren't even in the race anymore.

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