Tom Austin VP & Gartner Fellow Boston, MA USA Years of Experience 15 years at Gartner 37 years IT industry Areas of Coverage High Performance Workplace View Latest Research Resources Create Analyst Alert Contact Gartner Roles and Responsibilities Tom Austin, vice president, has been a Gartner fellow for a decade. He is chief of research for social software, collaboration, communications, information management, business intelligence and high-performance workplace (HPW) research (HPW deals with business strategies and technologies that enable or enhance the contribution of high-impact individuals and teams, particularly as they perform key, business-critical behaviors such as discovery, innovation, teaming, leading, learning and relating to one another). Collaboration, social process support and Enterprise 2.0 are some of his specialties. His scope is much broader, however, including, for example, information and content management and analytics. Mr. Austin is responsible for work on the intersection between five key mutually reinforcing disruptions that are reshaping the industry and fueling the growth of cloud computing (consumerization, Web 2.0, global-class systems, software as a service and open-source software), and he drives Gartner’s "Maverick" research incubator program. Previous Experience Mr. Austin was a research executive for four years, directing Gartner’s overall research agenda and process. In the 1990s, he was responsible for much of Gartner’s early work on network computing and its immediate predecessor, client/server architectures. He was Gartner’s resident expert on groupware and related technologies, and the struggle between Netscape, Microsoft, IBM and others for next-generation messaging and interpersonal applications. Prior to joining Gartner, Mr. Austin was with Digital Equipment, where he focused on strategic planning, line-of-business management, marketing and software engineering. He has more than 30 years of experience in the IT industry. Professional Background Digital Equipment Corp., group marketing manager, product line manager, engineering program manager, etc., 17 years Education Completed coursework toward Ph.D., University of Massachusetts M.A., University of Massachusetts B.A., Georgetown University LATEST RESEARCH More by this author Title Publish Date Author(s) How Enterprises Can Tap Into Informal External Entities Beyond Their Direct Control 02-Nov-2009 Tom Austin Adobe's New Collaboration Services Can Enhance Applications 09-Oct-2009 Tom Austin, Gene Phifer, Eric Knipp The Collective Imperative: Thriving in Chaotic, Out of Control and 'Normal' Markets 09-Oct-2009 Tom Austin IBM Hits Cloud E-Mail Market With $3 Mailbox 09-Oct-2009 Tom Austin, Matthew W. Cain Q&A: Gartner's Five Key Positions on Google: Gmail, Advertising, Enterprise Applications, Search Appliance and App Engine 08-Oct-2009 Whit Andrews, Matthew W. Cain, Yefim V. Natis, Ray Valdes, Andrew Frank, Tom Austin