Gartner Expert

David Mitchell Smith

Distinguished VP Analyst

David Mitchell Smith is a Distinguished Vice President Analyst and Gartner Fellow Emeritus in Gartner Research. Mr. Smith is part of the Enterprise Architecture and Technology Innovation team where his focus is on cloud computing and digital foundations.

He specializes in the impact of catalytic technologies, such as the internet, cloud computing, digital business and consumer technologies. During his 28-plus years at Gartner, he has played a leadership role in several of the company's efforts in these areas, including the consumerization of IT and willful disruption, a model for analyzing the intent of disruptors.

He has served as a Lead Gartner Analyst covering major vendors, such as Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Sun, Google and Apple. Mr. Smith is often quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and has frequently been a guest on CNBC. In 2002, Adweek's Technology Marketing magazine named him The Most Influential Industry Analyst.

Previous experience

Mr. Smith has more than 30 years of experience in the IT industry. Prior to joining Gartner, he was a Service Director for Unix and advanced operating environments at International Data Corp. (IDC), where he was the Lead Analyst for open systems and software architectures. Before IDC, he held various marketing and engineering positions at Digital Equipment Corp., including responsibility for the company's Unix competitive analysis program. Before Digital, he spent several years working as a Programmer at a small time-sharing (cloud computing) operation in Boston, Massachusetts.

Professional background

International Data Corp.

Service Director

Digital Equipment Corp.

Various Roles

Manager of Programming Services

Mark Ops

Areas of coverage

Executive Leadership: Cloud for Business Enablement

Digital Future

I&O Platforms

Education

B.S., Applied Mathematics, summa cum laude, Clark University

M.S., Computer Engineering, Boston University

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Top Issues That I Help Clients Address

1How do I incorporate digital disruption into my overall innovation or transformation strategy?

2How do I build a cloud strategy?

3What are the strategies of the leading cloud providers?

4What are the top technology trends?

5What is the future of cloud?