The English writer Arthur C. Clarke used to say that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Whether this phrase is more or less accurate, it is certainly not far from one of the milestones that is awaited with more devotion every year in the business world: the "predictions" of the Gartner Magic Quadrant, which the consulting and research firm has been offering in multiple technology sectors since 2008. In other words, the test to which it subjects dozens of software suppliers for all types of solutions in order to determine their position in the market.
Analytics tools, management suites, customer relationship systems or e-commerce platforms are just a few examples of the dozens of sectors reviewed by the "magic quadrant" to place them on their particular coordinate axes, from which the main players operating in the market are derived: leaders, visionaries, niche players and challengers. One of the industries whose review generates the most impact is that of analytics and business intelligence software. We dedicate this post to its recent publication, with the aim of knowing in detail the "state of the art" in this area.
As in 2019, Microsoft and Tableau remain the two dominant tools in the market. Both score highest in both their ability to be executed and completeness of vision, the latter being the ability of a vendor to understand the needs of its customers and translate these needs into products and services; if a vendor is determined to be highly visionary, it wants to listen to and understand the wants and needs of its customers, which it can then shape or enhance with its vision.
Of the two vendors, Microsoft is still in first position, although it has lost some positions in this "integrity of vision" compared to last year, a movement that has been reflected throughout the scene among the players closer to the "visionary" stage: Salesforce, Qlik, ThoughtSpot and especially Sisense are moving backwards in this coordinate towards more focused positions, although they still occupy the top positions on this vision scale.
For their part, two well-known firms such as SAS and SAP maintain their positions in the middle of the table, although many competing technologies are joining them, such as the aforementioned Sisense, a rising Yellowfin, and a veteran Oracle, which has seen its capabilities on both axes revised upwards over the past year. For its part, Tibco Software, which last year competed closely with SAS and SAP, jumps in 2020 to a position of greater execution but less vision, which moves it from the "visionary" to the "challenger" quadrant, where it competes head-to-head with MicroStrategy. In that same quadrant, the third competitor would be Looker, which makes a leap from the position of niche players where it was last year.
To understand what it means to be in one of these quadrants, we can refer to Gartner's own definitions, which, except in the case of "leaders," are not exactly flattering:
- Leaders execute well within the framework of their current vision and are also well positioned for tomorrow.
- Visionaries understand where the market is going, or have a vision to change the rules of the market, but do not yet execute well.
- Niche players successfully focus on a small segment, or are unfocused and are not innovation leaders and outperformers.
- Challengers may execute well today, or dominate a large segment, but they do not demonstrate an understanding of market direction.
Gartner's rating tool is not without its critics, with some claiming that it is aimed more at investors and vendors than at the vendors' own buyers. Doubts have also been raised about possible conflicts of interest, and it is also felt that they do not take open source vendors into sufficient consideration.
In any case, Gartner's Magic Quadrants are considered to be a roadmap that allows multiple industries to benchmark technology market trends. In that sense, they provide a quick insight into the competitive technology vendors in a market, as well as their ability to deliver what end-users require today and in the future. It also allows to understand how technology providers in a market are positioned competitively, and to take note of the strategies they use to compete for the end-user's business. In this way, any company can compare the strengths and challenges of a technology provider, and choose one of them based on their specific needs.
Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash
