Gullibility: the extraordinary spread of crap factoids on the internet

Blog entry submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2008-04-15 10:10. [nid:540]
in

Readers may think I'm exaggerating about the spread of crap factoids. Back at the end of 2006 we spotted the crap factoid "ITIL reduces costs by up to 48%". This one was particularly pernicious because it had the Gartner name behind it, which gives it a CF multiplier of 2. Where is it now? Let's see.

acquisition.gov with potential savings of up to 48% (source: Gartner) [update: fixed a broken link here]

itsmdirect can reduce an organization's Total Cost of Ownership by as much as 48%.

govtech.net up to 48%” (source: Gartner).

dream-catchers full adoption can reduce an organization's Total Cost of. Ownership by as much as 48%. ITIL currently has over 100000 certified [another crap factoid???]...

computacenter of up to 48% in their annual total cost of ownership by adopting ITSM*.

cioupdate states that an organization can achieve up to a 48% reduction in total cost

pultorak Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) .... of up to 48%. Procter & Gamble, $125 million savings in annual IT. costs ...

HP best practices are the key to cost reduction, with potential savings of up to 48%. (source: Gartner).

focusprojects Savings in total costs of ownership of 48% have been reported in case studies ...

quanta An organisation’s total IT costs can be reduced by up to 48% by adopting the ITIL methodology, say Gartner

Microsoft a reduction in their annual total cost of ownership (TCO) of up to 48%.

qaiasia Reduction in an organization's total cost by as much as 48%

HP adopting IT Service Management (ITSM) principles could reduce annual IT expenditures related to Total Cost of Ownership (TOC) by as much as 48%.

Fujitsu Costs can be reduced by up to 48% (Gartner)

itilsurvival adoption can reduce an organization’s Total Cost of Ownership by as much as 48%.

gcn can achieve up to a 48 percent reduction in total cost of ownership

osds Reduce your total cost of ownership by up to 48%

aogroup can reduce total cost of ownership by as much as 48%,

HP adopting IT Service Management (ITSM) principles could reduce annual IT expenditures related to Total Cost of Ownership (TOC) by as much as 48%.

agilitaIndustry watchers predict that cost reductions of up to 48% are achievable through the application of

Fox IT Industry analyst Gartner Group states that organisations who adopt IT Service Management can reduce their total cost of ownership by as much as 48 per cent.

aogroup management can reduce total cost of ownership by as much as 48%

smartenterprisemag adoption can typically reduce its total cost of ownership (TCO) of the ITIL implementation by as much as 48 percent.

itilmadeeasy [oh dear!] can reduce an organisation’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by as much as 48%.

ingenex Organizations can achieve a reduction of. some 48% in their annual total cost of. ownership by adopting ITSM.

olsenpurdyassociates to full adoption can reduce an organisation’s support costs by as much as 48%

teamquest adoption can reduce an organization's. Total Cost of Ownership by as much as. 48%.

sourcing-africa can reduce an organization’s Total Cost of Ownership by as much as 48%.

shearingassociates can reduce an organisation's Total Cost of Ownership by as much as 48%.

marcorsyscom achieve as much as 48 percent reduction in its annual total cost of ownership by

The IT Skeptic ITIL reduces costs by up to 48% - another crap factoid to beware of.

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Re: Crap factoids

Submitted by Neil Hepburn (not verified) on Tue, 2008-04-15 16:28.

It's true, there is so much of that crap.
If I'm ever confronted with these numbers, I just put my data management cap on, and proceed to unravel the sources and methodologies used to produce these numbers.
When laid bare, it usually becomes obvious that there is no secret sauce, and the study was anything but scientific.
But here's another question: Does anyone that thinks pay attention to these numbers any more? When a statement is sufficiently vague, the author is practically begging to get their ass kicked.

how many people think?

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2008-04-15 19:04.

Your question : Does anyone that thinks pay attention ?
My answer: no.
My question: how many people think?

Well I guess that ITIL

Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Tue, 2008-04-15 22:02.

Well I guess that ITIL reduces TCO by on average 48% looking at all these reports :)
(nudge nudge, wink, wink)

Gullibility: the extraordinary spread of crap factoids

Submitted by reasonable robinson (not verified) on Tue, 2008-04-15 22:45.

What a fantastic post. The collection of stories which show how people exepct other people to accept their unsubstantiated claims is brilliant - blogrolling you now! You'd better believe it LOL :)

Caveat Emptor

Submitted by Cary King on Wed, 2008-04-16 15:36.

If a company actually believes this kind of hyper-puffery from their consultants, vendors or service providers - then I wish the best for them.

The average IT spend on bought hardware, software and telecommunications - no labor - is 52% (ranges, generally, from 40% - 60%).

So, the "best practices are the key to cost reduction, with potential savings of up to 48%" roughly equates to totally eliminating ALL labor costs. Wow, these "best practices" must be awesome.

I didn't do an exhaustive search, I sure would like to have a copy of the original Garter article. When individuals cite only an enormous body research like Gartner, and not the specific article, then any aware adult understands this is likely to be out of context.

I appreciate you finding this one. And, chasing down all the references to it. It is particularly funny.

It seems to me that this should call to question the truthfulness and trustworthiness of all the indivduals and companies who have used it.

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