For years I've done BI enablement consulting and have regularly referenced the Gartner Magic Quadrant when commenting on trends and opportunities within the BI space, so I decided to take a deep dive into the last 20 years of the Quadrant.
I found some very interesting trends and insights to say the least. Ever wondered why some BI platforms stay on the Quadrant well past what feels like their prime? Or why some big names seemingly vanish? Here are 4 of my key findings.
1. EVERY VENDOR, YEAR BY YEAR
This seems self explanatory, but from 2005 to 2024, big platforms (Microsoft, AWS, Google, Salesforce, Oracle, SAP, Alibaba, IBM, SAS) dominated the Magic Quadrant. Some of them were homegrown but many were via acquisition:
ProClarity → Microsoft (2006)
Cognos → IBM (2007)
Hyperion → Oracle (2007)
Business Objects → SAP (2007)
Tableau → Salesforce (2019)
Looker → Google (2020)
2. ENTRY IS ROUGH
My next bit of analysis focused on where new platforms start their Gartner Magic Quadrant journey. As expected, new tools are generally not given high status on the Quadrant. See a few insights I found below:
Ten of last 12 new BI tools started in the Niche category
Tableau had the highest debut as a Challenger
Qlik's low rating in its debut is interesting given its current market share
The visual below displays where all tools on the 2024 Quadrant debuted, with the exception of the tools that were on the MQ prior to 2004 (Microsoft, SAS, SAP, IBM, MicroStrategy, Spotfire).
3. NO RECENT CHANGES
The years 2010 thru 2012 saw an explosion of new BI tools with 10 new companies entering the Quadrant, but as of 2024 - only Tableau remains.
The least amount of change has been in the last two years with no new companies being added to the Quadrant. With so many changes in the industry happening, my guess is that there will be some new names this year. My best guesses are:
Sigma Computing - now marketing themselves as a BI platform instead of just a BI tool with their write-back functionality. They've also been strong with integrating into modern cloud data architecture so I would expect to see them on there this year. Probably not as a Leader, but as a Niche Player (where most platforms start).
Databricks: Databricks continue to expand beyond traditional CDW and data science use cases with their AI BI tool. The tool is integrated with the Databricks Lakehouse and positioned as a natural extension of their unified platform. Similar to Sigma, it's likely that if they do end up on the Quadrant this year it will be as a Niche Player.
4. WHO’S NEXT TO FALL?
Churn is natural in all business cycles, and the current field of BI tools is no different. Churn generally happens most with Niche players, though occasionally a Visionary gets the boot. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on the following tools to be the biggest candidates to be left off this year's list:
Sisense: Its 2022 mass layoffs disrupted development momentum - its placement in the Magic Quadrant reflects this.
Spotfire: Split out from TIBCO in 2023. Feels slower in innovation - if any.
Incorta: More focused on their lake-house vision. Feels a bit out of place overall. They’ve got three straight years as a Niche Player but little progress in the magic quadrant.
What do you think? Drop your hot takes below!
