When I first joined Gartner, the Client Partner organization was abounding with senior personnel of high maturity, strong IT knowledge and exemplary previous experience working within servicing. At the time, staff of this standard were deemed a necessity so that the ‘Gartner for IT Leaders Services’ could be delivered on and executed in the best possible fashion. As time passed, new and more expensive services were introduced and aggressively up-sold to drive CEO Gene Hall's new ‘double digit growth’ business objective.
In an effort to increase client spend and move them onto more expensive services, the once well sought after services, managed by the Client Partner, are now being discredited through being sold cheaply and portrayed by sales as a stepping stone or introductory service. Where once CIO’s and other senior IT executives experienced Gartner’s ‘IT Leaders’ service as high tier, an aggressive sales strategy is turning it into a legacy product.
This shift in sales focus has negatively impacted not just individual client retention but the various service roles within Gartner, including the Client Partner. Where newly implemented metrics to assess a Clients Partners efforts in delivering no longer aligns with the objectives of the sales organization, conflicts of interest and varying objectives have created a huge divide between services and sales.
With more investment going into newer services and sales people to push them, budgets for the Client Partner organization have been cut drastically. This has reduced the potential earnings for the Client Partner role and due to these particular changes being so poorly communicated, it has forced a large number of Client Partners to leave. Less experienced and more affordable students with no work experience are now being hired to replace previous staff. What people say about Gartner being an old boys club is becoming more apparent to me by the day, with a majority of new Client Partners AND Managers being either related to current Gartner Management or at the least, close friends outside of work.
The Management within the Client Partner organization is lacking in experience, with no responsibility being taken for the motivation of staff. If there is a want for change, it is demanded, rather than effectively influenced and led.
The now aggressive sales strategy has created a shameful practice of “Companies profit when customers suffer”. If you are looking to progress your career in servicing, then right now, I would say Gartner isn’t for you. Unless you are close with management outside of work, do not expect to develop here on your merits of hard work alone.
