IT research merry-go-round

Senator Coonan’s decision to commission the report to end all IT reports is interesting on a number of fronts. After reading this Computerworld story, I’d not hard to guess the assumptions made by Senator Coonan:

1. There are too many IT lobby groups, each with competing agendas. I can’t trust any individual group.

2. There must be one research company out there that can give me the definitive report. I can’t trust non-commissioned reports.

Half of me would like to take the glass is half-full attitude and believe that she really does want to get the research job done right. But experience dictates an alternative reality, regardless of her good intentions – if the Government appoints Gartner, IDC, or another firm, you will simply get that company’s view of the industry. The report will be filtered through the looking-glass of its analysts’ collective set of assumptions and scope of research. Surely the better approach is to take an aggregate view, a broader perspective achieved by combining all the existing data and qualitative reports.

How many more times do we have to create yet another report offering us the same assessment as this one already well understood across the industry?

Penned by Gartner’s Asia Pacific senior vice president Bob Hayward, the paper discusses the wanting state of Australia’s IT industry noting it has "failed to produce many recognized IT companies or exports" and suggests "what policies an incoming government should pursue….to help the sector to grow".