My Analysis

Last night I got thinking about the industry analyst firms and the environment. This was sparked by Gartner’s critique of the Green Grid (accessible here, but only if you have a Gartner account) and Simon Mingay’s comments in the press (see “Gartner Dumps on Green Grid”).

After my initial reaction (“Jeesh, I know that Green Grid’s not perfect, but did it really deserve that at this early stage?"), I started thinking about the value that someone like Simon could bring to the process if he was involved, instead of sitting in the stands and critiquing the calls on the field.

So my question to Gartner, IDC, Forrester, etc, is this: how can you guys get involved in the Green Grid, either directly or indirectly? Its a shame to have a group working together voluntarily on such an important problem, and then to have folks with important data and expertise sitting on the sidelines.

Also, in the course of seeing what some of the analysts are up on the environmental front, I found a ton of whitepapers. So I looked deeper for what they were doing themselves, and I came up totally empty handed. IDC (and their parent, IDG). Gartner. Forrester. Carbon footprint disclosures? Nope. CSR reports? Nada. Environmental impact statements? Zip. CO2 reduction goals? MIA. Collectively billiions in revenue, over 10,000 employees, etc. Did I miss something? (if so, please let me know!)

I found this kind of ironic, since discussions with these organizations have given us some really valuable input on the eco and CSR parts of our website.