Globalization of AR

I just got back from the Gartner IT Expo in Orlando. The day before I attended the KCG AR Forum with AR professionals from Microsoft, Siemens, HP, CA, EMC and others. I spoke as one of KCG's Global Partners on the Globalization of AR together with partners from India and Australia. The message was that some things are the same but some markets are very different. The rankings and influence of different analyst groups are very different from the U.S. market; for instance, Frost and Sullivan is highly regarded in some EMEA and APAC markets as is IDC whose on the ground precense is very strong.
Gartner still rules in many parts of the world but we all got in a little Gartner bashing and let out our frustrations about some of the bureaucray and out of touch policies at Gartner. Emily Green, the CEO of Yankee Group gave us a presentation on her vision of the Anywhere world of Yankee and also tried to convince us that firing a significant number of analysts was just an efficiency move.
I was a bit jealous and in awe of my AR counterparts in the U.S. who talked about their AR budgets and teams while in EMEA and Israel we usually have to make do with 10-20% of the Marketing or Marcom Managers time. There are no real AR positions in Israel and even the marketing positions will probably be in danger because of the current financial crisis. I have already heard news of one NASDAQ traded Israeli company who is downsizing their Marketing Team. In the U.S. companies fire R&D in bad times; in Israel they let the Marketing people go because some companies still dont know that it is all about perception (marketing) and not the great technology.
Will blog later this week my thoughts on the Gartner conference...
Highly recommend the KCG AR Forum for any AR professionals that want to network with the best in the profession, learn, and whine a bit about our frustrations with both the analyst companies and our own management....