We’ve been publishing evaluative research at Forrester for over two decades, with a methodology designed to uncover and showcase meaningful differences among the top vendors in the market. As you can imagine, we’re no strangers to heated vendors — including those that have threatened to stop doing business with us, pursued legal action, or slandered our integrity on public platforms when our evaluation does not position them as a leader.
We don’t back down. Forrester’s business is built on integrity, honesty, fairness, and the courage to tell it how it is. And our success depends on the independence and objectivity of our research. Our methodologies are unbiased, transparent, and publicly available, ensuring consistent quality across markets, technologies, and geographies.
The Forrester Wave™, the flagship deliverable of our evaluative research, adheres to a rigorous methodology. They’re authored by expert analysts skilled at making judgment calls. We interview customers of vendors we’re evaluating (as opposed to relying on surveys) to get their in-depth thoughts on the technology and/or services. And we always show our work. If you want to know the reasons behind a vendor’s ranking, you can read the scores and the scales behind those scores.
We cover over 2,500 vendors in our Wave and Landscape research portfolio. Approximately half of those vendors have a commercial relationship with us, and half do not. We cover them consistently, regardless of whether there is a commercial relationship. And we don’t flinch when vendors that are disappointed with their rankings turn up the heat.
Why? It’s a matter of trust.
Our clients depend on us for trusted, unbiased guidance. It’s why we get up every morning and passionately do the work we do.
And trust is more important than ever with the advent of artificial intelligence, which can gather baseline information to help tech decision-makers but runs the risk of giving them the wrong information. AI can’t explain why a vendor is or isn’t included in an evaluation. AI often uses dated information. AI hasn’t spoken to customers who use the products that are being evaluated. And AI won’t give you a human expert to work with you to put the research in context to your specific needs.
If you are a Forrester client, you already know the value of our evaluative research and guidance. If you’re not and want to learn more, visit this page. And if you’re interested in reading more about our methodologies, I encourage you to visit these pages:
