(Newswire.net — December 24, 2020) — Every business is always looking for new ways to distinguish itself and stand out from the competition. Some businesses do this through their excellent customer service, distinctive products, or eye-catching marketing. And, while many businesses do all three of these things to stand out, some businesses look to third-party committees to help them distinguish themselves further. These third-parties will give out a kind of award or certification that will help a business stand out even more to potential customers.
This is where the Gartner magic quadrant comes into play.
What Is Gartner’s Magic Quadrant?
The “magic quadrant” is a series of market research reports published by Gartner every one to two years. In these reports, Gartner uses their algorithms and private data analysis systems to determine what companies should be a part of their magic quadrant reports. Their data also allows them to establish which companies should be at the top of the list.
The reports also rely on two main points to come up with an evaluation: completeness of vision and the ability to execute
Completeness Of Vision
This is where Gartner considers the company’s overall strategic goals and if the business is an innovator in the market. Suppose the business is being intuitive and driving new strategies forward. In that case, that will help them rank more highly in Gartner’s reports (especially if the business seems to be making decisions based on how they see the market and that view matches closely to Gartner’s). If the business is viewed as more of a “follower” of other industry leaders, then this will significantly hurt them in the ranking.
Ability To Execute:
This area looks at more than just the business’ strategy; it looks at how well it can execute its business to be a successful and stable company. Gartner looks at financial viability, market responsiveness, product development, sales channels, and the company’s customer base for this area.
What Is The Magic Quadrant?
The MQ is a large square that has been divided into four squares with two lines that are all of the equal size. Each of the smaller squares is given a specific name, and businesses will fall into a respective square based on Gartner’s report.
The MQ squares are labeled as leaders, challengers, visionaries, and niche players.
Leaders
Companies that fall into this category end up with the highest scores in the completeness of vision and ability to execute rankings. Companies that are granted this score have proven that they have the market share and credibility to be a “leader” in their space truly. Leaders in this quadrant also prove that they have some kind of presence in all five major US geographical regions.
Challengers
A business in this space has proven that they have enough of a presence in the market and a strong enough execution plan to disrupt the companies in the “leaders” quadrant. While financial stability isn’t a problem for these companies, they may not have the leaders’ size or presence.
Visionaries
These companies provide high-quality products but haven’t been around long enough to have a large presence or a huge market share. Often, these companies are privately-held and have an end goal of being acquired by a larger company.
Niche Players
These companies are a part of the same market as the rest of the companies included in their specific MQ report, but they’re focused on a small and particular sliver of that market. Since their target audience is so focused, they often lack the “leaders” market share.
Gartner’s First Contract Management Magic Quadrant
Although Gartner looks at many markets and provides reports on them, this is the first year for a Gartner contract management magic quadrant. Gartner adds new markets every year to two years to keep up with new market trends based on where businesses are headed.
As more businesses stop meeting face-to-face, software covering contract life cycle management will become even more critical in the upcoming years. Gartner’s decision to cover this newly emerging market shows that the industry will become more important in the next few years.