Magic Quadrants from Gartner. How can a company be selected?
Magic Quadrants are a list of the best ICT companies from around the world. For vendors, a place in the quadrant means enormous prestige and a significant competitive advantage, for customers it is often a criterion for choosing a vendor. However, can your company be selected to be among the global elite of ICT companies?
We wrote about what Gartner’s Magic Quadrants were in a previous article called Magic Quadrants – an excellent tool for selecting ICT vendors, which almost no one in the Czech Republic is aware of. This time we will focus on what is required from a company to even be selected for a quadrant.
Basic requirements for entering a quadrant
Small and medium-sized ICT companies often fear that the Magic Quadrants from Gartner are only designated for global vendors with billions in turnover. But that’s not actually how it is – there are over 170 quadrants and many of them are focused on products or services from smaller companies in developing markets.
However, in order for a company to have a chance to enter the Magic Quadrant, it must:
- offer a very good product or service
- have global ambitions with its product or service
- have very satisfied customers
- participate financially as well, because placement in quadrants is not free
- take into account the significant time demands of the whole process
- and be willing to work with Gartner analysts.
What to expect from the approval process
Willing cooperation with Gartner analysts is a key point. As soon as a company applies as an applicant for quadrant entry, it will have to engage in intensive cooperation with them.
They verify:
- who you are
- what your company does
- why Gartner analysts should even consider you
- what kind of customer issues you deal with
- what distinguishes you from the competition
- where you are heading
- what your vision is
- where and how you want to move your business forward
The analysts then compare the results of the conversation with reality. For example, when the people form Gartner tested us, System4u, they asked about the knowledge of our technicians, their technical training, and asked for feedback from some of our customers.
The evaluation and processing of the analysis usually takes several months, when analysts evaluate, compare and, of course, take into account their own ideas about how a specifically evaluated product or service on the market should look and where it should go in the future. For a company that is fighting for its placement and which has already undergone the steps described above, a dramatic period of waiting begins. This is also because no one finds anything out in advance from Gartner. Everything is top secret until the last moment. And then comes the D-day, when the result is published.
If it succeeds and the company finds its name in the quadrant, while which part of it is also significant, it is a huge victory and a big step forward for the company.
If not, there can still be an intermediate stage, when the company does not appear in the quadrant itself, but in the list of companies below it, which means that it is very good, but not the best yet. But even that is fantastic on a global scale!
What to do if it doesn’t work out
Cross my heart – thousands of companies are interested in being selected for the Magic Quadrants, but in reality only a few, no more than a couple of dozen of them, make it into each of them. There is thus a high probability that even if you meet the basic conditions for entering the quadrant, Gartner analysts will not select you in the end.
However, this doesn’t mean that all the time associated with the preparations was a waste. Working with the analysts gives you important feedback on your business and you get to know the market better – this is of great value in and of itself.
Moreover, Magic Quadrants are also not the only place Gartner can place you. In addition to quadrants, it also offers other options for presenting your company – such as a market guide, vendor guide, cool vendors or market trends. None of these reports have the same prestige as the Magic Quadrants, but they can still bring a key competitive advantage when trying to sway prestigious customers.
System4u as the exclusive partner of the international alliance GEMA has placed in the Magic Quadrant in the position of Visionary this year.