So, let’s dive a little deeper into the recent Unified Communications Magic Quadrant.  Bern Elliot, a vice president and senior analyst at Gartner, and co-author of the UC Magic Quadrant noted “The vendors would like to broaden the footprint they have within their existing customers and expand into new markets, whereas users, in many cases, would like to have the vendors interoperate effectively so they can get a high degree of functionality, and preserve and migrate their existing investments.”

Bottom line, it is Elliot’s opinion that the major vendors are fighting to be the whole pie, but that customers gain more benefit from a buffet or cafeteria approach combining different vendor components and leveraging existing hardware/software investments.

Toward that end, Elliot suggests that vendors focus more on interoperability and playing well with others and less on trying to dominate and be the all-in-one end-to-end solution. Fair enough. I will extend that concept by saying that, among the major vendors, I believe Microsoft provides the superior balance betwen delivering an innovative and comprehensice unified communications experience, while integrating well with a variety of platforms and enabling customers to integrate Microsoft offerings with existing communications investments.

I have thought for some time that organizations like Gartner, Forrester, and others have an inflated view of their self-worth. The analysts prognosticate based on trends and circumstantial evidence and the industry in question is expected to react to the analyst statements and predictions.

To the extent that customers actually accept the analyst reports as credible information they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Customers who have never heard of ACME Unified Communications (don’t check the Magic Quadrant- I made it up) are more likely to purchase products or services from it if it is ranked prominently in the Magic Quadrant, thereby justifying its rank in the Magic Quadrant after the fact.

A blog post I read recently drilled even deeper to explore the value of the Magic Quadrant.  The blog post points out that ”unified communications as an industry is fueled by, driven by, and revenue generated by a set of companies Gartner just never sees. Just as small and mid-sized business drive much (I believe most) of our economy, they drive much (or most) of this industry. Where’s Truphone? MaxROAM? Calliflower? Tungle? IfbyPhone? Junction Networks? Voxeo? Jaduka?”

It seems like the Magic Quadrant is little more than marketing fodder for the companies fortunate enough to make the Magic Quadrant. It gives vendors recognition to quote in marketing collateral and media (such as me) a convenient source of (allegedly) credible data to quote from, but seems to offer little in the way of true value for customers trying to understand the products and services available in a given industry.

What do you think? Do analyst reports like the Gartner Magic Quadrant have any value? Do you use them in making vendor / purchasing decisions? If not, are there other sources you consider more credible and reliable that would recommend instead?