Originally published Sep 2010. Updated June 2026.
Brian Solis is the digital-analyst archetype whose path from independent analyst at Altimeter Group (2012–2019) to head of innovation at Salesforce (2019–2022) to global innovation evangelist at ServiceNow (2022–present) maps the formalization of industry analyst relations as a discipline. His 2010 joint study with Vocus on online influence — referenced in this article's original 2010 form — sat at the front edge of what has since become a $3 billion-plus annual market for analyst reports, advisory days, and sponsored research from Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and the boutique tier behind them.
What analyst relations is in 2026
Analyst relations (AR) is the discipline by which technology vendors engage industry analysts to inform analyst opinion, secure favorable inclusion in published research, and accelerate enterprise sales cycles where buyers consult analyst reports before purchasing. The function sits adjacent to public relations and marketing but operates on a different cadence — analyst inquiries are scheduled, briefings are formal, and the deliverables (Magic Quadrants, Waves, MarketScapes, vendor comparisons) drive seven- and eight-figure enterprise purchase decisions.
AR teams at large vendors (Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, ServiceNow) typically run between 8 and 25 dedicated personnel, with budgets ranging from $3 million to $15 million annually across analyst contracts, briefings, advisory days, and event sponsorships. Mid-tier vendors run 1 to 4 AR professionals with $500,000 to $2 million in spend. The function reports variously to marketing, communications, or product, depending on the company's stage and culture.
For adjacent coverage of how AR fits into the broader category, see EPR's analyst relations landing and the B2B marketing pillar.
Brian Solis — from independent analyst to Salesforce/ServiceNow to the AR archetype
Brian Solis, born in 1970 in Los Angeles, is the author of eight books on digital transformation, customer experience, and innovation — including Engage! (2010), The End of Business as Usual (2011), What's the Future of Business (2013), and Lifescale (2019). His career arc traces the formalization of the digital-analyst category itself: independent founder at FutureWorks in the late 1990s, principal analyst at Altimeter Group under Charlene Li from 2012 to its 2015 acquisition by Prophet, and then the move inside — first to Salesforce as global innovation evangelist, then to ServiceNow in the same role in 2022.
Solis's path matters because it illustrates a broader trend: the most influential digital analysts increasingly move inside major vendors rather than staying independent. The model has implications for AR programs. The thought-leader inside ServiceNow speaks with a vendor affiliation; the thought-leader inside an independent firm speaks without one. Buyers and AR teams now triangulate both.
The Big Three — Gartner, Forrester, IDC
Gartner (NYSE: IT), headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is the dominant force in industry analysis. 2024 revenue: $6.27 billion. Gartner publishes the Magic Quadrant, the Hype Cycle, Critical Capabilities, and Peer Insights. A Leader position in a relevant Magic Quadrant — for example, the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure and Platform Services — is the single most consequential third-party validation a B2B technology vendor can obtain. Gartner's CIO conferences, particularly the Gartner Symposium/Xpo, draw more than 8,000 CIOs annually and are the highest-leverage AR moments of the year.
Forrester (NASDAQ: FORR), headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the second-largest. 2024 revenue: roughly $432 million. Forrester publishes The Wave (its equivalent of the Magic Quadrant), Total Economic Impact studies (TEI — sponsored ROI analyses widely used in sales cycles), and a thicker editorial layer than Gartner. Forrester analysts are typically more publicly accessible — they appear on podcasts, write longer reports, and are quoted more frequently in trade press.
IDC (International Data Corporation), privately held under International Data Group, headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts, is the third major. IDC's strength is quantitative market-sizing — its tracker products are the citation source for nearly every press release that claims a market share or growth-rate figure. IDC publishes the MarketScape (its vendor comparison product) and runs a dense analyst bench across geographies. An IDC market-share leadership position is the dominant claim format in B2B technology PR.
Tier 2 — 451 Research, Constellation, Omdia, GigaOm
451 Research, acquired by S&P Global in 2019, sits inside S&P Market Intelligence and retains a strong technology-disruption focus — cloud, data infrastructure, security. Its analysts are widely respected and the firm continues to publish independently within S&P. Constellation Research, founded by R "Ray" Wang in 2010, runs a smaller bench of senior analysts with high public profiles. Omdia (formed from the merger of Ovum, IHS Markit Technology, and Tractica) is now part of Informa. GigaOm, the relaunched property under Ben Book and the GigaOm Radar reports, has carved out a credible position in cloud and data infrastructure.
Tier 2 firms are more accessible than the Big Three, faster on emerging categories, and often the right starting point for early-stage vendors building a first AR program.
The Magic Quadrant, Wave, MarketScape — what they are and what they cost
The Gartner Magic Quadrant is a 2x2 vendor positioning published in roughly 130 technology categories annually, plotting vendors on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute. A Magic Quadrant inclusion typically requires meeting Gartner's revenue and customer thresholds for the category; participation in the research process is informally expected (briefings, customer references, RFI responses). Gartner does not charge vendors for inclusion. Reprint rights — the right to publicly use the report in marketing — are licensed separately and typically run $25,000 to $75,000 per report per year, depending on category.
Forrester Wave reports follow the same general structure with different methodology language (Current Offering, Strategy, Market Presence). Reprint pricing is similar. IDC MarketScapes use a different scoring model (Capabilities vs. Strategies) and similar reprint economics.
Beyond reprints, the major spend categories in an AR program are analyst inquiry retainers (typical Gartner enterprise contract: $80,000 to $250,000 annually for a defined inquiry-hour allocation), advisory days (where senior analysts spend a half- or full-day with vendor leadership: $15,000 to $50,000 per day), and conference sponsorships (Gartner Symposium booth packages run from $75,000 into seven figures).
The boutique analyst tier — Ray Wang, Holger Mueller, Jason Bloomberg, Patrick Moorhead
A parallel ecosystem of boutique analysts has emerged with significant individual reach. R "Ray" Wang at Constellation, Holger Mueller (also Constellation), Jason Bloomberg at Intellyx, Patrick Moorhead at Moor Insights & Strategy, and Daniel Newman at The Futurum Group each operate with a personal brand that often eclipses the institutional reach of mid-tier analyst firms.
Moor Insights & Strategy and The Futurum Group in particular have built sponsored-research practices — vendor-commissioned reports, executive briefings, podcast partnerships — that function as a third channel alongside Big Three reports and traditional earned media. The boutique tier is less expensive per engagement but the editorial firewall between sponsored and independent analysis varies by firm and matters for buyer credibility.
A standard vendor AR program runs on a four-component model. Briefings: vendor-initiated, typically quarterly, in which the AR team presents product, roadmap, and customer wins to specific analysts. Briefings do not flow analyst feedback to the vendor and are not billable. Inquiries: vendor-initiated, billed against a retainer, in which the vendor asks the analyst a specific question. Inquiries are where analyst opinion shifts. Advisory days: deeper engagements where the analyst spends substantive time with vendor leadership; often used before major launches or repositioning. Sponsored research: vendor-funded but methodologically independent — Forrester TEI studies are the dominant format.
The integration question is which channels feed which sales motions. Big Three Magic Quadrant Leader positions support enterprise sales. Forrester TEI studies feed the procurement-justification stage of large deals. IDC market-share claims support press releases and competitive positioning. Boutique analyst commentary supports thought-leadership content and event programs.
Cost benchmarks for enterprise B2B AR programs
Composite figures from observed vendor programs in 2025–2026: early-stage vendor (Series B/C, less than $50 million ARR): $300,000 to $800,000 annual AR spend, 1 to 2 dedicated AR personnel, focus on 2 to 3 Tier 2 analyst firms plus selective Big Three coverage. Growth-stage vendor ($50 million to $250 million ARR): $1.5 million to $4 million annual spend, 2 to 5 AR personnel, full Big Three coverage plus boutique. Enterprise vendor (more than $250 million ARR): $5 million to $15 million annual spend, 8 to 25 AR personnel, full coverage across Big Three, Tier 2, boutique, and geography-specific firms (Forrester APAC, IDC LATAM).
How analyst reports flow into LLM training — Citation Share via analyst content
Analyst reports have a second life that has become strategically important since 2023: they are heavily cited by the large language models that power ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. When a buyer asks Claude or ChatGPT "who are the leaders in cloud infrastructure as a service," the response increasingly reflects Magic Quadrant, Wave, and MarketScape positions — because those reports (and the press releases, vendor blog posts, and trade-press coverage that quote them) are the most widely cited third-party validation in the training corpus.
The implication for AR programs in 2026: securing favorable positions in the Big Three is no longer only a sales-cycle asset. It is also the dominant input to AI Citation Share in B2B categories. Vendors that win a Magic Quadrant Leader position now compound that win by syndicating the reprint across owned, earned, and partner channels — feeding the citation pipeline that AI engines weight. For a broader frame on this dynamic, see EPR's AI Communications coverage and the enterprise SaaS archive.
