Gartner vs ZL Technologies- Is the Magic Quadrant unfair?

Gartner is under attack.  ZL Technologies has sued Gartner Group claiming that the "Magic Quadrant' is misleading and favors large vendors with large sales and marketing budgets over smaller innovators..." 

Gartner's response (oversimplified) is that they offer opinions that are protected free speech. Some pundits hail ZL as sticking up for the rights of the smaller vendor, while others call ZL's lawsuit sour grapes.

Whether or not ZL has been wronged, the elephant in the room is the godlike power of analysts like Garnter.  Until recently, there have been no independent information resources to counterweight analyst opinions. Prospective customers have learned to distrust vendor supplied information, and advertising-based resources carry the stigma of being influenced by sponsoring vendors.  (Don't get me started about white papers morphing from academic treatments to marketing spin. )

Our solution- IT departments should supplement analyst opinions by using reliable input from "wisdom of crowds" services like VendorRate. After all, who knows better about how a vendor actually performs than the existing customer base? Why trust just a single opinion when you can view the collective opinions of many existing and former customers? 

Most importantly, benchmark scoring creates a level playing field between "best of breed" vendors who often perform at higher levels than a big brand competitor.   The niche vendor will never make the Magic Quadrant, but prospective customers can compare vendor performance scores to see which vendor performs best in the eyes of the existing customers.  

And when compared with the expense of a single analyst opinion, VendorRate’s "voice of customer" services is an affordable, trusted resource to help all organizations select the best vendor for their needs, regardless of size.  As we like to say, "Before you buy,know the score"

You can read ZL's summary of why they are litigating on their website http://www.zlti.com/courtdocs/ZLvGartner.html 

Comments

[Ann]

Thanks for this!
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