Listening to Our Community
In the decade-plus that we’ve been publishing the Analyst Power 100 list, one truth has become increasingly clear: analyst influence isn’t one-dimensional. The ways analysts impact the market are as diverse as the technology landscape itself.
Today, I’m excited to announce a significant evolution of our Power 100 Analyst rankings. After extensive feedback from AR professionals and analysts alike, we’re expanding from a single list to three distinct Power 100 lists, each highlighting a different dimension of analyst influence.
This transformation wasn’t developed in isolation. It represents the culmination of years of feedback from both AR professionals and the analyst community. We consistently heard that a single ranking couldn’t adequately capture the diverse ways analysts impact the market. Our customers wanted more targeted ways to identify analysts based on specific program objectives, while analysts themselves noted that influence takes different forms depending on their focus areas. We conducted numerous feedback sessions, analyzed usage patterns, and gathered insights through surveys to ensure these enhancements would deliver meaningful value. This customer-inspired innovation reflects our ongoing commitment to evolving our solutions based on your needs and feedback.
Why Three Lists?
A More Nuanced, Data-Driven Approach
AR professionals have consistently told us that they need more targeted ways to identify analysts based on their specific program goals. Similarly, analysts have noted that influence takes different forms, and a single ranking can’t capture these nuances effectively.
The expanded Power 100 now recognizes three distinct types of analyst influence:
1. End User Advisors
End User Advisors significantly impact buyer decisions and shape market perceptions through their research and guidance to technology buyers. They’re the analysts AR professionals turn to when they need to:
- Increase their opportunities to be shortlisted
- Secure third-party validation that supports sales cycles
- Connect with analysts who directly influence enterprise buying decisions
2. Market Amplifiers
Market Amplifiers create impactful public content and drive industry conversations through their thought leadership and public presence. They’re essential when AR teams want to:
- Amplify thought leadership and increase market visibility
- Connect with analysts who shape broader industry conversations
- Extend the reach of messaging through influential voices
3. Vendor Advisors
Vendor Advisors provide strategic guidance to technology vendors and help shape their positioning in the market. They offer invaluable:
- Competitive intelligence and market insights
- Strategic positioning guidance
- Expert advice when entering new markets or launching products
Our enhanced methodology uses comprehensive data from multiple sources including research publications, media mentions, social engagement, and direct interactions. Each list employs different weighting factors to highlight specific types of influence.
We’ve also moved to a quarterly update cadence, which normalizes for seasonal variations in analyst activity and provides a more reliable view of sustained influence rather than temporary spikes.
How AR Professionals Are Using the Enhanced Lists
Early feedback from AR teams already indicates that the expanded Power 100 helps solve common challenges:
Discovering analysts in unknown coverage areas: When entering new markets, AR professionals use the Vendor Advisor list to quickly identify analysts who can provide strategic market insights without months of research.
Justifying analyst firm investments: Teams leverage all three lists to identify which firms have the greatest concentration of influential analysts across different impact areas, making budget decisions more data-driven.
Avoiding blindspots in analyst coverage: During strategic planning, AR teams use the End User Advisor report to proactively engage analysts working closely with buyers, preventing surprises when prospects mention engagements with analysts they weren’t tracking.
Aligning with specific program goals: The three-list approach helps AR professionals focus limited time and resources on the analysts who drive the specific outcomes their business needs.
What This Means for Analysts
For the analyst community, these expanded rankings provide better recognition of your unique strengths and influence areas. Many influential analysts will appear on multiple lists, though typically scoring higher on one list than others based on their primary focus areas.
The enhanced approach helps AR professionals engage with you more effectively by better understanding your specific expertise and influence type, leading to more productive relationships.
Explore the Enhanced Power 100
We invite you to explore all three lists on our website. For ARchitect users, you’ll find the new rankings integrated directly into the Influencer database, with new columns for each list type and enhanced filtering capabilities.
The enhanced Power 100 lists represent our ongoing commitment to providing the analyst relations community with the most accurate, useful insights possible. We’re excited to see how these expanded rankings help drive more targeted, effective analyst engagement across the industry.
