Gartner, and the joys of the press release

Ouch! Need any further evidence that the bottom's falling out of the IT market as the economy continues its death spiral? CIO.com reports that research and consulting bigwig Gartner is canceling two of its flagship events in 2009: its Spring Symposium/ITxpo in Las Vegas and Barcelona.

While CIO notes that the events have been something of a news-maker in the past (assuming you have a loose expectation of what constitutes "news," that is), the need for companies to cut back on spending in a tough economic environment won't really come as news to anyone. Especially not to Gartner, which in the first 15 days of 2009 alone has managed to produce press releases bearing such cheerful messages as, In the Fourth Quarter of 2008 the PC Industry Suffered Its Worst Shipment Growth Rate Since 2002, and the equally uplifting IT Spending to Be Flat in 2009.

Still, it's not like it's all bad news. At the time of writing, the most recent press release put out by Gartner highlighted the good news that Outsourcing Will Continue to Grow in 2009 Despite Economic Slowdown. According to Gartner vice president and analyst Allis Young, "Although things look gloomy for the larger global economy, the outsourcing market represents a dichotomy: on the downside, organizations' cost-cutting outsourcing strategies may negatively impact market growth, but at the same time, the upside is that outsourcing will be adopted by more organizations to help them work through financial and competitive challenges." Who knows how much to read into a Gartner press release, however, when it hasn't put one out acknowledging the cancellation of its own events or, for that matter, the 117 jobs the same CIO article reports Gartner is intending to cut over the course of the year? Press releases that never reflect negatively on one's own organization - who'da thunk it?

-Posted by Phil Stott