AMR Research - Supply Chain Management Experts

To our valued clients,

We’d like to update you on the progress we are making to integrate AMR Research and Gartner, and answer some specific questions we have received regarding contracts, products, pricing, people and brand.

First, we will continue to honor all existing client contracts, and current products and services will continue to be available for renewal. We have already started to invest in the AMR portfolio to enhance the depth and breadth of services that will be delivered to existing AMR clients starting in Q2 this year. This will increase the value you receive as part of your current entitlements. We do not plan to change AMR’s pricing model to deliver these incremental benefits.

We have retained the vast majority of AMR employees to ensure that you continue to receive the same high quality of research, sales and service you have come to expect. We also plan to retain the AMR brand so that we can clearly package and deliver the highly targeted products and services we provide to supply chain executives worldwide.

We hope the answers below provide further useful information at this early stage of the integration process, but please do not hesitate to contact your account representative or email amr@gartner.com for additional help.

Regards,

Gene Hall, CEO, Gartner & Tony Friscia, CEO, AMR Research

Frequently asked questions

Products

Will Gartner honor existing contracts?

Gartner will honor all existing client contracts and clients will be able to renew the products and services they currently receive. We also recognize that some clients of AMR and Gartner will want to merge accounts and contracts. We will work with those clients to do whatever works best for their organization.

Will the products and services I bought change?

Gartner will continue to honor all current AMR entitlements. Specifically, clients will be able to renew web access (reference) seats, advisory units (inquiries) and Peer Forums. For supply chain professionals, content entitlements will significantly expand in Q2 to include the full complement of AMR Advisory services (Industry Value Chain, Sustainability, Enterprise Applications and Retail IT). We will also invest to upgrade the client user experience in 2Q10 and expand analyst coverage on supply chain research later this year.

What is the future product strategy?

Building on the great base of AMR’s current supply chain products and services, Gartner will release a new generation of AMR research products. In research and advisory, we will introduce AMR Supply Chain Leaders. This will combine AMR’s research with Gartner’s supply chain management and manufacturing research on our new “My Gartner” personalization platform, which includes Peer Connect, Gartner’s peer network. We are also introducing AMR Enterprise Supply Chain Leaders, which combines the research and advisory product with expert coaching and facilitated peer networking/learning. For more information about these new products, please contact your account representative or email amr@gartner.com.

Will I continue to access research via www.amrresearch.com?

AMR clients will continue to access their research via amrresearch.com. Additionally, we plan to create linkages between the gartner.com and amrresearch.com websites to make it easier for clients of both companies to access our research.

Will the AMR Supply Chain Executive Conference continue?

The AMR Supply Chain Executive Conference is scheduled for June 2-4, 2010, and we’re looking forward to another great event. We are very excited to have added this world-class event to Gartner’s portfolio. We intend to continue and grow this conference for the foreseeable future.

Research

Have the AMR analysts been retained?

Gartner extended offers of employment to every AMR analyst on December 1, 2009. We have retained 92% of the analysts and we are currently hiring to increase the number of analysts covering supply chain management. We are very pleased with this result and we will make every effort to ensure our clients have access to the very best advisors on supply chain topics.

How are AMR analysts positioned within Gartner’s organization?

AMR remains as a dedicated team. AMR’s Supply Chain research team is led by Kevin O’Marah and its Enterprise Applications research team is led by Dennis Gaughan. To immediately strengthen these teams, several Gartner analysts have been added.

Have AMR research topics changed?

AMR research topics have not changed, other than an increase in our global research efforts in Asia and EMEA. Clients will continue to receive the same valuable research and advice they expect from AMR.

Sales and service

Will my sales representative stay the same?

Wherever possible, we will try to maintain the existing relationship between a client and their current sales representative. However, in those limited instances where there is overlap (e.g. a client has a Gartner and AMR sales representative), we have combined the relationship so that one account representative will now service the client.

Will my service representative stay the same?

We have worked hard to keep current client and service representative relationships intact. As a result, the vast majority of our clients will have the same service representative they had prior to the acquisition. In any case where we had to make a change, an experienced, highly tenured AMR service representative will continue to provide support for the client.

Will pricing change?

We do not plan to increase prices as a result of this acquisition. Upon renewal, clients can expect our traditional nominal annual price increase.

Brand

What will happen to the AMR brand?

We recognize the value of the AMR brand, and as such, we intend to retain it.

Who should I contact if I have a question, suggestion or concern regarding the acquisition of AMR?

Please contact your account representative, client representative or email amr@gartner.com.