PAC overtakes Forrester in EMEA Analyst Firm Awards

Pierre Audoin Consultants, the flagship brand of the CXP Group, has squeezed Forrester Research into third place in Influencer Relations’ 2016 EMEA Analyst Firm Awards. PAC’s users, mostly providers of high technology solutions and services, rated the firm’s research and advisory services very highly. Forrester continues to benefit from its unique commitment to leadership boards and other peer networking, and its valuable reprints business.

Gartner heads the top five firms, in which HfS and IDC held their place from last year’s awards. TechMarketView, NelsonHall, Kable, Ovum and ISG are the other firms in the top ten. As a group, these firms lead in research and data, and in the quality of their inquiry calls. However, other advisory firms punch above their weight delivering business leads and influencing purchasing recommendations including Alsbridge, Everest Group and KPMG.

The awards use data from the Analyst Value Survey to see which firms are delivering the most value in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The survey is the only regular survey of analyst firm users across the vendor, enterprise and SMB sector. Around half the respondents in EMEA work for vendors, a third for enterprises and a sixth in the SMB segment. One in 18 was in the Middle East or Africa.

  1. Gartner’s strong leadership reflects highly-valued research and its uniquely smooth system for inquiry calls.
  2. Pierre Audoin Consultants strong performance reflects more than good research. Users tell us the firm has analysts with strong local knowledge who are focused on actionable insights. PAC seems to be increasingly centred on fixing customers’ business problems rather than simply promoting its own research.
  3. Forrester Research may be pipped for third place, but users still find their analysts to be strong and easy to work with.
  4. HfS Research continues to show the impact of the opinionated and engaging writing that Phil Fersht and his team are known for. Its freemium business model is laying strong foundations.
  5. IDC is also well respected for research, although some people don’t quite grasp how to use its fourth platform stance.
  6. TechMarketView is highly rated for research quality and for its ability to facilitate connections between peers. It’s held back by poor inquiry calls.
  7. NelsonHall gets good scores for many parts of its business, and especially research and inquiry calls. Poor events and peer community projects hold it back.
  8. Kable has changed a lot in the last two years. Since its purchase by Progressive, the firm of Datamonitor founder Mike Danson, the firm has broadened out from the public sector into a wider range of vertical markets. It is most highly valued for delivering business leads.
  9. Ovum’s ninth place reflects lower value being delivered, perhaps connected to operational disruptions after the merger into Informa Telecom and Media, and the departure of many analysts over the last year. Users are disappointed with the firm’s research and events, but value its influence on purchasing recommendations.
  10. ISG delivered valuable business leads, but its research is the least valued of the ten top firms, meaning that it also lacks a serious reprints business.

To see the schedule for the remaining awards, click here.

Duncan Chapple

Duncan Chapple is the preeminent consultant on optimising international analyst relations and the value created by analyst firms. As SageCircle research director, Chapple directs programs that assess and increase the business value of relationships with industry analysts and sourcing advisors.

There are 3 comments on this post
  1. October 29, 2015, 10:42 pm

    […] 27 October –  EMEA  Analyst Firm Awards 2016 […]

  2. November 10, 2015, 3:47 pm

    […] Everest Group stays at the sixth place because of its influence on business leads and purchasing recommendations, but its weak events business holds it back. […]

  3. January 12, 2017, 1:34 pm

    […] Pierre Audoin Consultants has pushed up into the top ten on the back of notable strengths across four areas: inquiry calls, advisory services, peer networking and strongest of all purchasing recommendations. It is held back by a lack of valuable events. It’s also worth noting that, this year, the AVS tracked PAC separately from its sisters in the CXP Group: BARC and Le CXP. Adding these three together, the CXP Group firms collectively would stand in sixth place.   […]