interoperability is more important than ever. burton has certainly been a champion and educator on open standards. this would seem an area gartner could even invest in, but i have no idea whether it will or not.

1. Gartner and Burton have different models when it comes to the notion of the seat. Would it be a bad move if Gartner forced Burton to eliminate?

2. Burton dialogs tend to be one hour by default where Gartner is much shorter, will customers lose choice?

3. Burton is much more technology savvy when it comes to running own business. A user never has to type an id and password as they also offer federated identity. Likewise, Burton allows outsiders to see their calendar such that they can schedule a dialog more efficiently.

4. Comparison of vendors and products is fascinating however taking it one step further into interoperability provides even more value. Should Gartner leverage the Burton playbook in this regard and host interop events for BPM, ECM, CRM, etc

Robb – hey! My stated intention is to focus on customer value, not rubbishing the competition. In danger of growing up, I know, but I have obviously still have a ways to go in that regard

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

The Burton model was wonderfully open and democratic – you schedule time *with the analyst* and they were flexible with time, accessible by email, etc. Anyone in the enterprise can access research.

Burton’s main advantages will tank if their interaction model gets Gartner-ized.

Cheers jdub! you too @robciampa and right90

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

While I wish Jamie and team the best, I’m disappointed with this particular M&A. I doubt that Gartner will want — or be able — to scale Burton Group’s rigorous architectural approach to research, analysis and customer-specific recommendations. Nor the access to Burton analysts. Burton’s signature holistic approach and analyst access were the reasons IT professionals did business with Burton.