I will never forget my first HIMSS conference. I was fresh in the IT industry. It was my first real experience at an IT conference, and it was the mother of all healthcare IT conferences. 50,000 attendees packed the World Congress Center in Atlanta Georgia. Two enormous floors housed literally thousands of vendors, from IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and GE to McKesson, Epic, Siemens and everything in between. The leaders and the newcomers. Thousands of salespeople, CEOs, Marketers and IT professionals collided together in a sea of excited chatter, information gathering and a battle for attention and eyeballs.
As the representatives for each vendor vied for the attention of passers by (most importantly the IT leaders and medical professionals from the country’s leading hospitals, insurance companies, rehab facilities and a multitude of other healthcare related industries), the attendees worked to fight through the sea of hype and stay focused on their priorities and goals. After the packed day of information sessions and vendor presentations, the nightly entertainment starts and the selling begins again. I attended one such vendor after party (which shall remain nameless), and as soon as I stepped in the door and they scanned my attendee badge, I was immediately pounced on by the analyst relations team from said vendor.
“You’re from Gartner?” The woman asked in a sugary-sweet voice.
After looking at me (at 27 years old with my wide eyes and excited smile), she added “Are you an analyst?” After realizing I was not, she politely excused herself and went back to her perch awaiting the next Gartner analyst to pounce. This was my first introduction to the power of the IT Analyst at the world’s leading IT Advisory firm.
It’s easy to see, with the massive amounts of information and technology vendors in existence today, why IT advisory services are necessary. How would you even know where to start your research if there were no Magic Quadrants or vendor reviews to start with? What’s not so easy to do is justify, on a continuing basis, your annual investment of thousands of dollars per user for the traditional analyst firm services like Gartner, Forrester and CEB.
Continually, we heard that the most valuable part of clients’ Gartner membership was the ability to get answers from peers through our events, such as Symposium or the role-specific summit events like the I&O Summit, Security & Risk Management Summit and the Identity & Access Management Summit, among others, throughout the year. While we had Peer Connect, a tool meant to allow users to collaborate with other Gartner clients, the very existence of the tool goes against the revenue model where Gartner makes money when clients (IT professionals) tell analysts (the middleman) their problems or success stories, and analysts package and resell that information (remember, provided by paying clients) to other clients, vendors, and investors. You have to admit, it is an ingenious model. I wish I would have thought of it in 1979 before Gideon Gartner founded the firm. But alas, I was not born yet, so I missed the proverbial boat on that one.
While I enjoyed my time with Gartner and learned a tremendous amount about the IT industry, technology and consultative sales, I had a feeling that their had to be a more effective way to collaborate and share ideas and information without reinventing the wheel.
Now, enter the 21st century. We live in a connected world, dominated by social networks and instant gratification. When I needed a new accountant, I turned to Facebook to crowdsource the best professionals from my “Friends”. When I want a place to eat, I search Google Maps and get peer reviews or turn to Yelp or Facebook again to get answers from trusted peers. Now, the only problem with applying the instant gratification of social sourcing to IT, IT Infrastructure and IT Security problems is that traditional channels are too public and sales and marketing folks are all too eager to jump in to help- all while working to sell you on their particular solution.
To solve this problem and apply the social technology and Gen Y research methods to the 35+ year old IT Advisory industry, Sara Gates, CEO and Founder, created Wisegate, a gated braintrust of pre-qualified IT Professionals ready to answer questions and provide advice in a cost effective and facilitated social platform. Wisegate Members get the benefits of the social network, plus the facilitation of 1:1 member calls, round-table discussions and a team of dedicated professionals ready to help them with their questions and solving their specific problems. In addition to solving problems for members, Wisegate naturally provides a platform for you, the IT Practitioner, with a wealth, knowledge and working expertise, to provide advice, build your own brand as an expert and give back to the IT community, thus becoming a Rock Star in your own right.
Though curated research, Wisegate is giving a voice to the IT Practitioner, the senior level experts actively creating and implementing strategy, selecting technologies, managing teams and achieving goals for the leading organizations and enterprises around the world. Now there is a brain trust of experts that can provide the instant gratification of direct, on-demand research that you can do easily and cost effectively from your computer, iPad, telephone, iPhone app or soon to be released Android App. Wisegate has created a trusted body of experts who help each other save time and avoid reinventing the wheel. The best part- now your voice can be heard and you can help cut through the hype and contribute to the braintrust that will power the next generation of IT leaders and practitioners.
So, who will be the future Rock Star analyst? At Wisegate, it just might be you.
“ If a man be endowed with a generous mind, this is the best kind of nobility.” – Plato
I will never forget my first HIMSS conference. I was fresh in the IT industry. It was my first real experience at an IT conference, and it was the mother of all healthcare IT conferences. 50,000 attendees packed the World Congress Center in Atlanta Georgia. Two enormous floors housed literally thousands of vendors, from IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and GE to McKesson, Epic, Siemens and everything in between. The leaders and the newcomers. Thousands of salespeople, CEOs, Marketers and IT professionals collided together in a sea of excited chatter, information gathering and a battle for attention and eyeballs.