Email archiving vendor claims that Gartner Magic Quadrant lacks legitimacy in US lawsuit
October 25th, 2009 by Daniel Young | Filed under Technology.Gartner is defending a law suit in the US against a company that is challenging the legitimacy of its Magic Quadrant rating system. The company – ZL - has been listed in the ‘niche’ quadrant in every email archiving industry report since 2005. Gartner is arguing that the quadrant is ‘clearly opinion’.
More from ZDNet, including all legal submissions, here.
This seems like a very long shot for ZL. The majority of vendors in their industry sector are ranked as ‘niche’ players. Here is the Email Archiving Magic Quadrant for 2009.
ZL’s is arguing that the quadrant favours large vendors but this seems like a weak argument given that Gartner clearly states that the ‘ability to execute’ is one of two criteria for the rating.
In my experience, vendors enjoy a love/hate relationship with Gartner – loving them when they’re in agreement and hating them when they hold a different view or place a competitor in the lead.
I’ve heard more than one IT exec say that Gartner exists to disagree and I’ve come across one or two analysts in Gartner and other firms who revel – a little too much – in the power (or perceived power) afforded to them over the vendor community.
There is no right answer when it comes to IT strategy as the tools, requirements and approaches are changing and developing all of the time. I don’t think anyone perceives Gartner or its Magic Quadrants as Gospel. For most, its a useful way of segmenting various marketplaces.
I’d bet that there are hundreds of email archiving vendors that haven’t made it on to their Quadrant and I’d be inclined to focus on the positives if I were in a senior position for ZL. Ultimately, I’m sure that Gartner could offer to remove ZL from their research altogether, which would be far more damaging for ZL’s business.
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