* Magic Quadrant report sheds light on the user provisioning market in the context of the greater IdM/IAM arena
Last time out I talked a bit about Gartner Group’s recent Magic Quadrant for user provisioning. I suggested you read the report, and I want to reiterate that request. Not, I hasten to add, to see who’s “winning,” but to better understand the whole user provisioning market in the context of the greater IdM/IAM arena. Gartner’s analysts, led by Earl Perkins (research vice president in the security and privacy team) spend a large part of the report talking about provisioning itself.
Of course, my favorite part of any MQ is the thorough analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the players covered in the report. That’s where the real guidance comes from that can help you pick the right vendor(s) for your project. And, as we can’t emphasize too much, it isn’t necessarily those in the leaders quadrant that should get your attention. Discussing the four quadrants, the report states:
* Leaders should not be the default choice for every buyer; rather, clients are warned not to assume that they should buy only from the Leaders quadrant. Leaders may not necessarily offer the best products for every customer project, and may even prove to have a higher TCO than some nonleading vendors. Leaders provide solutions that offer relatively lower risk, and provide effective integration with their own solutions as well as with competitors’ solutions. Every vendor included in the Leaders quadrant is there because it meets legitimate business or company needs.
* Challengers in this Magic Quadrant all have strong product capabilities, but often have fewer production deployments than Leaders do. Business models vary, as do overall product strength and breadth, marketing strategy, and business partnerships. This has kept some Challengers from moving into the Leaders quadrant
* Visionaries invest in the leading-edge features that will be significant in the next generation of products, and that will give buyers early access to improved security and management. Visionaries can affect the course of technological developments in the market, but they lack the execution influence to outmaneuver Challengers and Leaders. Clients pick Visionaries for best-of-breed features, and in the case of small vendors, they may enjoy more personal attention.
* Niche Players may address subsets of the overall market, and often do so more efficiently than Leaders. Clients tend to pick Niche Players when stability and focus on a few important functions and features are more important than a ‘wide and long’ road map. Customers that are aligned with the focus of Niche Players often find their offerings to be ‘best of need’ solutions.
Read the report and decide who is the best fit for you.
