Analyst Firm

An analyst firm is a company that researches technology vendors and publishes reports, rankings, and comparisons to help buyers make sense of a crowded market. Gartner and Forrester are the best-known, with their quadrant- and wave-style charts that plot vendors against each other.

These reports are a useful starting point rather than a verdict. They lean toward large enterprise buyers, vendors pay to participate in some programs, and a firm at the top of the chart may be wrong for your particular needs. Read them, then weigh them against your own hard requirements.