{"id":12613,"date":"2025-05-13T10:37:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qad.com\/blog\/?p=12613"},"modified":"2025-05-13T10:37:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:37:49","slug":"erp-shortlist-secrets-decoding-industry-analyst-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qad.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/erp-shortlist-secrets-decoding-industry-analyst-reports","title":{"rendered":"ERP Shortlist Secrets: Decoding Industry Analyst Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”12629″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]You are looking for new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, but you don\u2019t know where to start. It\u2019s a big investment much like buying a house or car, so you need to get it right. Where do you start? Many manufacturers looking for new ERP software start by researching vendors online. Industry analysts such as <\/span>Gartner<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>IDC<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Forrester<\/span><\/a> play an outsized role in this research by publishing well known reports that rank vendors in the ERP market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Five Best Practices for Reading an Industry Analyst Report<\/span><\/h2>\n

1. What are your business requirements?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Before you start, know what your requirements are for your <\/span>ERP software<\/span><\/a> from a business point of view. What size is your manufacturing business? Is it a midsize company or large company? Does your business have more than one factory? If so, do you have geographic considerations? What vertical industry are you in? These are just a few of the critical factors that must be considered early on in the process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. What are your technical requirements?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Beyond your business, do you have technical requirements that your company needs to consider such as a lock-in to a certain cloud hyperscaler such as AWS, Azure, or another? Do you want to use AI or other specific capabilities? Do you have legacy requirements and customizations to consider? Do you have the skills and experience in-house or do you need implementation help and services? What is the typical implementation like? Will you be comfortable with their timeline? Finally, you need to be comfortable with the pricing model and terms of their typical subscription agreements.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. How do you find the right industry analyst report?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Now that you know your requirements, it is time to look at the industry analyst reports. You can find the reports on the analyst firm websites. If you aren\u2019t a subscriber, you may even be able to access them from vendor websites if they purchased reprints to post the reports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Industry analyst reports are an analysis at a single point in time. You should read them carefully to understand several things:<\/span><\/p>\n

Industry analyst reports are like comparing apples and oranges<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

Each report is different. Each report is based on a set of criteria set by the analysts writing the report using a methodology that is set by the firm. The criteria and analysts may change year to year even at the same firm. Market conditions vary yearly and even the same analyst may determine different criteria than they considered important last year. The criteria may even change during the writing phase.<\/span><\/p>\n

Determine the audience of the report<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

When you review the report criteria, it is important to understand the audience of the report. Does the report focus on the broad ERP market for large multinational companies or does it focus on <\/span>manufacturing ERP<\/span><\/a>? A big indicator is the title of the report, but look deeper to the criteria to understand the report audience and focus.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does the graphic really do?<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

Most people have the tendency to go to the big fancy graphic and stop there to put the leaders on their short list. That approach may miss the right vendor for your manufacturing business. Each firm uses a different type of image \u2013 from quadrants to waves to other \u201cscapes\u201d \u2013 but they all feature a different way to distinguish the vendors in a ranked manner. The vendor that best matches your business and technical requirements could be ranked somewhere else in the report. They may not even be mentioned in the report.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What do the graphic categories mean?<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

The analyst reports rank vendors against each other in different categories ranging from Gartner\u2019s leader, visionary, challenge and niche players to IDC\u2019s leader, major player, contender and participants. Here\u2019s a quick run-down of Gartner\u2019s definitions from their <\/span>published methodology<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n