GARTNER CONSULTING: FROM INSIGHT TO ACTION

GARTNER RESEARCHERS GATHER A HUGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION ON EACH AND EVERY ASPECT OF THE IT MARKET. INSIGHTS THAT BUSINESS USERS AND NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS ALIKE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF. BUT UNDERSTANDING TRENDS DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO LASTING CHANGE IN THE ORGANIZATION. THAT’S WHY GARTNER CONSULTING HAS BEEN CREATED: TO HELP CUSTOMERS TURN RESEARCH RESULTS INTO A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH MEASURABLE RESULTS.

By: Marco van der Hoeven

Edwin Maaskant is a Senior Managing Partner for Gartner Consulting. He serves a variety of large organizations, including the European Union and the United Nations. But he is also responsible for the consulting business unit at

Gartner in Brussels. Gartner’s consulting helps customers to translate analyst research into something they can put into practice. “We help them use the insights they obtain and derive actions from them. Once the research is in, we can guide customers through implementing it.”

On the customer side, there’s a wide variety of challenges, as

Maaskant explains. “The type of questions obviously depends on the type of customer and where in the cycle they are. Some of our commercial customers are firmly focused on optimizing costs.

That’s where benchmarking comes in. But we’re also seeing a lot of migration to the cloud, and improved performance with things like data analytics.”

HELPING THE PUBLIC SECTOR

The public sector has its hand full with digital transformation, too. But since it isn’t profit-making, the goal is more about how to better serve citizens with digitalization, as well as better understanding the data they collect to help with evidence-based policymaking. So, how can you convert data into policies? Data analytics plays a role there, too, as does the transformation of their own processes to improve communications with citizens. “AI also plays a role in this, with more and more companies wanting to know how AI can specifically help them go further. Some organizations and companies are already working on it, but others need to improve the foundation of their data strategy and data analytics to achieve greater maturity before they can even think about building on a real AI strategy and actually deploy AI. The maturity of organizations varies greatly, and we can help them lay the foundations for AI, so they are ready to implement it. Many customers want to know what’s already out there and what others are doing. That’s where we can help, because we have a broad view of it as an independent party.”

IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP

“We recently helped a large organization with its data strategy to improve performance. We are seeing that demand grow and grow, and in Gartner Research we have designed a data strategy model for it. We then tailored it to that customer, identifying a few steps in the implementation roadmap. You could describe it as learning to crawl, then walk, and then run.” “You need to start with the basics, such as the data sources, the architecture, and the tools. From there, you can move on to building new tools that are even more powerful. We can then advise on the investments you need for this and what return you can expect on them. This also applies to the public sector, for example to a project on development aid. You then measure the results of your efforts, and you look at the results. This means you can invest more in the things that are delivering the most for you. To do this, we at Gartner can perform a market scan to see which technology is available for document recognition or to identify any correlations, which will help you determine causation.”

POLICY

In government, it starts with policy advice – so, for example, about what the EU should do to improve internet access or cybersecurity. “Once that policy is known, the strategy comes next, and we can help with the digital strategy and IT strategy needed to support the legislation. “After the strategy has been formed and we have a roadmap, we can help with the implementation. Gartner doesn’t do system integration or outsourcing, but we do help with sourcing the right technology parties, because we already have that knowledge

EDWIN MAASKANT

through the studies for our Magic Quadrants. We can also carry out program oversight and quality assurance, or help with tendering.”

STRATEGY

Typically, Gartner consultants are both business leaders and IT leaders. “We speak to the CIO, the CFO, and the COO. The digital officers and data officers also often sit round the table with us. And of course the Chief Security Officer. We are currently seeing huge demand for cybersecurity strategies, not least because of the ongoing war.” In digital transformation processes, culture, skills, and people are essential. “At Gartner, we talk about digital literature and data literacy. How do we use the data? And how can we prepare people for a digital future? That’s what organizations should be focusing on now. We’re seeing an influx of digital natives now, but the question is often how to help those who haven’t grown up with digital technology. The transformation is happening so fast that you have to be constantly engaged in it. That goes without saying in IT, but on the business side it isn’t as obvious. So, it’s vital to give due attention to the cultural shift that digital transformation calls for.”