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One of my posts from yesterday entitled ITIL News: ITIL Set To Take Off in the US? triggered a defensive response from the company Axios Systems, because I questioned their sponsorship of research produced to benefit their interests.  The timing of this "research" is particularly interesting, because it came just about 10 to 14 days after an independent research company revealed exact opposite results on a global scale.   

I would normally respond to the comment below with another comment, but the points I need to make require more space than a simple comment can afford.  (Please see the previous articles 1 & 2 if you haven't already.)

Here is the defensive response HelpDeskNotes received:

"Hi Linda (Marie), In truth, the Aberdeen group produced the report independently and it was not commissioned by Axios. We simply sponsored this report as it reflects our interests.  For anybody wishing to view the full report, it is available free at www.AxiosSystems.com or direct from Aberdeen Group site at the attached URL. Martin"

(Here is the actual URL to download that report.  The one given by the sponsor just brings you to the sponsor's website, and you need to really look around to find the report.)

I would like to address the tricky language here.  The following three words used above need clarification: commissioned, sponsored, and produced

• A commissioned product or assignment is one committed to one's charge or an official assignment.
• A sponsor is a person (or business) responsible for something, but in this case, a business that paid for something.  
• A producer is one who produces goods or services that are for sale. 

I found the producing company's self description very interesting as well.  I learned in elementary school that research numbers and statistics are easy to manipulate.  You can make statistics suite whatever need you want as long as you know how to present the facts.  This producing company actually advertises the fact that they help design research to promote the companies that sponsor their research.  If you don't believe me, read it for yourself:

"Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information – Opportunity – Insight – Engagement – Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market." 

I did manage to find one review on one of Axois' products.  I will let my readers draw their own conclusions:  ITILPeople. 

So, the moral to this story is that any time you read about research done that supports a product, you should find out who paid for the research before you believe it.  Also, look into the company who provided the research.  You should also examine the material for yourself.  Be particularly wary if you notice two or more research documents published around the same time that contradict one another.  

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ITIL News: ITIL Set To Take Off in the US?