Gartner's Magic Quadrants

Gartner, Inc.’s, Magic Quadrants are graphical representations of vendor performance in a market segment. The vertical axis of the quadrant indicates the vendor’s ability to execute on its strategy and the horizontal axis indicates the vendor’s completeness of vision. Each of the four squares of the quadrant are named to characterize the vendors placed in those areas: lower left square is labeled Niche Players, lower right square is Visionaries, upper left square is labeled Challenger, and upper right square is Leaders. Gartner defines the four segments as follows:

• Leaders are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market
• Visionaries have a clear vision of market direction and are focused on preparing for that, but they can still improve in terms of optimizing service delivery
• Challengers execute well today, but have a less-defined view of market direction and, therefore, may not be aggressive in their preparation for the future
• Niche Players focus on a particular segment of the client base, as defined by characteristics such as size, vertical or project complexity. Their ability to outperform or innovate may be impacted by this narrow focus

To review Gartner Magic Quadrants for IT Go to CSC Global (English)