Earl PerkinsWith the Gartner Information Security Summit over, we have time to reflect on what all of us may have learned from the experience. It isn’t that often that we have the opportunity to all come together in one place, share ideas and question ‘established’ practices. In listening and observing everyone there, I am able to make a few observations about the event and those that attended. While they aren’t specific to identity & access management, I think they’re applicable.
(1) It really is about the customer. While we tend to get wrapped up in this (IAM) technology or that vendor, what ultimately matters when it comes to addressing issues and problems is the end user. Such a simple observation, but we often lose sight of such in pursuit of the optimal process, the best feature set, the best practice, or the most qualified vendor. There are fundamental cultural, political and organizational characteristics about the customer that may make one solution for them perfectly suitable while another positions them for failure. Without understanding the customer in several perspectives, we can lose the ability (and opportunity) to be relevant to their decisions.
(2) Vendors are customers too. This may sound a bit strange when looking at the customer-vendor relationship, but consider: vendors derive their direction regarding feature discussions with customers, customer councils and other inputs, and if they’re truly listening, they receive valuable insights. Market opportunity analyses, positioning and messaging for the vendor is also derived largely from the customer. If properly established and managed, it can be a productive partnership, this vendor/customer thing.
(3) The importance of other partners in the solution is growing. I believe that service providers, consultants, systems integrators, 3rd party providers to the vendor and the customer play increasingly important (and often critical) roles in providing customer solutions. The time and attention that customers devote to these partners must also increase. While the enterprise environment for providing IT solutions is volatile, relationships often take longer to establish and flourish– after all, we’re talking about people here, not software or IT hardware. While change is a good thing, it must be balanced with the ability of customers to experience the true value the change brings. Good partners can help there by creating a sense of continuity amidst those changes.
(4) Everybody is an analyst. Gartner tries to bring insight into customer decisions by virtue of the company’s scope, but customers, vendors and partners also have a role to play in analysis. It is extremely important for no one to substitute their judgment for a partner’s judgment, regardless of the relationship type. There was an interesting piece on TV this week that showed research matching brain activity when listening to an ‘expert’ pontificate on a problem. The research implied that when an expert proposes a solution or process, the areas of the brain normally associated with decision making go dormant, meaning that some decision-makers prefer not to burn brain activity, leaving that decision up to others. This is a dangerous process. In fact, mis-reading Magic Quadrant studies is classic example of this. Customers read about leaders and forget about the rest, which means they’re allowing the analysis part of their brains to remain inactive.
This entry isn’t much about IAM, but I felt that it was important to share my observations with you. I learned much from our customers, the vendors and partners at the Summit, and I hope you did as well.
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Category: Uncategorized Tags: customers, Gartner Information Security Summit, lessons
