Guest Column: Lies My Vendor Told Me

By Jon Toigo, Toigo Partners International

At a conference where I was speaking not long ago, a fellow in the audience shouted out, in a cheering tone, "We like you, Toigo. You're like the Ralph Nader of storage technology." I shouted back to the fan, without really thinking about it, "No I'm not. Ralph would say that you are a victim: Big companies preying on small consumers. I say that the reason your infrastructure is in such bad shape is because you let it get that way." The fellow, somewhat deflated, returned to his seat.

Afterwards, he approached me in the hallway and identified himself as an IT captain for a large and notable bank. He said that he understood what I was saying, but suggested that I was missing a bigger point. Intelligent consumers needed good information to guide buying decisions. Where was he supposed to get such guidance, he asked.

"You know that the vendors are lying. Their lips move. And the analysts are in the hip pockets of the vendors — their paid political spokespersons."