As we approach 2025, the number of challenger analyst firms continues to grow, along with the quality and relevance of their research.

This increase means that tech vendor analyst relations teams are becoming more selective about the time and effort they are prepared to dedicate to research from established firms like IDC and Forrester, particularly when evaluating the return on investment.

Although we don’t expect any specific “alternative to Gartner” analyst research request to erode the resources that AR teams dedicate to a Gartner Magic Quadrant or Emerging Market Quadrant, they only have finite resources.

This creates a real and present danger that existing foils to the MQ, such as IDC MarketScapes or Forrester Waves, will get less attention. This will especially ring true in cases where AR teams feel that the lead analyst is not favorable and that even intense participation has not yielded a coveted leader position.

The emergence of credible new analyst reports also makes it difficult for vendors to find enough reference customers – and that’s before they think about review sites like Gartner Peer Insights.

More than 30 analyst firms produce a matrix or quadrant stack-ranking vendors. In 2025, AR teams may decide to spend more time on reports like ISG’s Provider Lens, the Verdantix Green Quadrant (because it’s carved itself a niche and gets lots of reprints) and the Everest Peak Matrix.

You know that an evaluation is starting to trend when it gets a nickname, and AR pros are calling it “the Peak”.

Everest is growing fast, about to displace Forrester as the third-largest firm by analyst headcount. There’s a growing family of Peaks outside the core area of consulting that have the right combination of credibility and vendor recognition.

On top of that, Everest’s CPC analyst feedback sessions with vendors (convictions, provocations and controversies) can be truly excellent and, as a result, are gaining attention and mindshare from busy executives. It’s always good for AR when stakeholders are keen to engage.

We also expect to see movement in 2025 at the very bottom of the mindshare field. We’ll closely monitor how Christian Renaud fares in his almighty challenge of rehabilitating Markets & Markets to tech vendors from a starting point of near zero regarding trust and credibility.

This is the fifth in a series of 2025 predictions for the tech analyst industry from Destrier, a leading independent provider of Analyst Relations advisory services and support to tech vendors. Working across multiple clients in various areas gives us a unique insight into the industry analyst firm landscape – and fuels these predictions.

Follow Destrier on LinkedIn for more predictions in the coming days – and if you’d like to take a deeper dive, contact us.