This guide explains what analyst relations is and how AI is changing it, and sets out how to run a programme that earns its budget. We wrote it for B2B technology companies, drawing on the work of our analyst relations agency.
Analyst relations is the work of building relationships with the industry analysts who research and evaluate your market. Gartner, Forrester and IDC are the best known, although there are hundreds of firms. Between them, analysts advise buyers and publish the rankings and shortlists that shape how each market is described, which gives a small group of people a great deal of influence over how your company is seen.
The relationship runs in both directions, because analysts talk to your buyers and competitors every week and can give you one of the few honest outside views of your market. A well-run programme does four things for the business.
Perception
shapes how the market reads your credibility
Demand
puts you on more shortlists
Intelligence
gives you an outside view for strategy
Sales
supports live deals
What analyst relations is worth.
Analysts sit close to the buying decision, which is where most of their value comes from. Forrester's 2026 research found that buyers check what they learn with peers, product experts and industry analysts, and that they are more likely to engage with a vendor based on information from industry experts than from AI tools. Buyers read analyst reports less often than they used to, but analyst views still reach them through reviews, press coverage, sales conversations and, increasingly, AI answers.
Where the return shows up
Credibility comes from recognition by an analyst, which carries a weight with buyers that your own marketing can't buy.
Pipeline grows because analysts advise buyers directly and sourcing advisers run live selections, so being well understood changes which shortlists you reach.
Positioning gets sharper because analysts see every competitor in your category and will tell you plainly where your story is unclear.
Product direction improves when analyst feedback tests roadmap decisions and finds gaps early, while they're still cheap to fix.
The view from the practice“
In the middle of information overload, industry analysts are trusted advisers. They influence buying choices and shape growth.
Claire Williamson · Managing Director and Head of AR · Resonance
Analyst relations and AI.
Buyers now ask AI assistants for their shortlists, and that changes how analyst opinion reaches them. Forrester found that 94% of business buyers use AI somewhere in the buying process, while in Gartner's 2026 survey 45% had used generative AI during a recent purchase.
The assistants mostly can't read the research
Analyst research sits behind paywalls, and the firms guard it closely. Forrester and Omdia block AI training crawlers from their reports, and although Gartner lets ChatGPT's search agents read its Peer Insights review pages, its research stays locked. When an assistant answers a question such as "who leads this market?", it therefore learns the analysts' view second-hand, from press releases that quote them, licensed reprints on vendor websites, news coverage, analysts' own posts and reviews. In Agentcy's data, 81% of AI answers that cited gartner.com were citing a Peer Insights page.
The firms have their own assistants
The largest firms now run assistants of their own, such as AskGartner and Forrester AI, which answer client questions using only the firm's research and notes. When an analyst has understood your business and written about it clearly, their firm's assistant passes that view on to every client who asks, although it has little to say about companies the analysts barely know.
What to do about it
Brief analysts clearly and often, because their notes now feed an assistant as well as a report.
Make recognition easy to find in the open, through quote-approved press releases, licensed reprints and plain-text pages that say what the analyst said.
Build your Gartner Peer Insights reviews, since they're the part of Gartner that an AI assistant can actually read.
Put your buyers' questions to the assistants yourself, and check which analysts and pages they cite in reply.
Behind the paywall
paid research and the firms' own AI assistants
In the open
press releases, licensed reprints, coverage and reviews
The firms, and who to pick.
No company can work with all of the hundreds of analyst firms, so pick the analysts who influence the decisions you care about, whatever the size of their firm.
The broad houses
Gartner, Forrester and IDC cover most technology markets with large analyst teams, and they publish the ranking reports and market data that buyers use. Omdia, now part of Informa TechTarget, and Frost & Sullivan also cover a wide range.
Specialist firms
Specialist firms go deep in a single domain, such as Datos Insights and Celent in financial services, Ampere Analysis in media and telecoms, and RSR in retail. Their narrow focus usually means sharper analysis.
Regional firms
For insight into a single country, a regional firm can carry more weight than the global names, as TechMarketView does in the UK, BARC in the DACH region and ITR in Japan. Regional analysts are often decisive in public sector bids.
Boutiques
Smaller firms such as ABI Research, Aragon Research, CCS Insight (now part of FDM) and Constellation Research work closely with vendors, and they tend to amplify a story as well as advise on it.
Sourcing advisers
Sourcing advisers such as ISG, Avasant and Everest Group shortlist vendors for live buying decisions. For many of our clients, these are the relationships that produce the most pipeline.
Early-stage markets
Gartner now publishes Emerging Market Quadrants, some of them only for start-ups, with much shorter questionnaires than a Magic Quadrant. They're a useful route to recognition in a new category.
Building a programme.
Analyst relations is a process with medium and long-term goals tied to the business, and it rewards companies that keep going for several report cycles.
/01
Start with why
Decide what the programme is for, whether that is awareness, shortlists, product feedback, competitor intelligence or a better read on why prospects buy. A programme without a clear purpose tends to drift.
/02
Choose the analysts
Pick a short list of analysts and work with them in depth. We use our AIIM framework to choose them, looking at past interactions, how they see you now, what they've written about your market and which reports they own.
/03
Close the knowledge gaps
Find out what analysts believe about you and what they don't yet know. Then fill the gaps with evidence they can use, and deal with any misconceptions directly.
/04
Plan the year
Map your announcements and customer stories to the themes and evaluation criteria your analysts care about, and time your briefings around their report timetables.
/05
Prepare for evaluations
A Magic Quadrant or Wave means meeting the inclusion criteria, completing the RFI, giving a strong demo and checking the factual review. Customer input now comes from Peer Insights and the firm's own surveys, so build your reviews well before the cycle starts.
/06
Measure
Report against the goals you set in step one, such as what analysts now understand about you, where you sit in the key reports and the deals they influenced.
Working with analysts.
Each format does a different job, and the right mix depends on your goals and budget as well as on how well the analyst already knows you.
Briefings
In a briefing you tell the analyst about your products, customers and direction. Briefings are usually free and open to companies that aren't clients.
Inquiries
In an inquiry you ask the analyst for advice and hear how they really see you, which requires a paid subscription with that firm.
Strategy days
Strategy days are longer paid sessions on your roadmap and plans, useful when you need analysts to understand where the company is heading.
Written updates
Regular written updates on customer wins and new data keep analysts current between briefings.
Document reviews
A document review gets you an analyst's feedback on a white paper, case study or piece of product material before it's published.
Events and informal time
Time together at events, away from a slide deck, is where much of the trust in a relationship gets built.
Keeping the relationship.
Target the right analysts, because influence over your buyers counts for more than the size of the firm.
Be useful by giving analysts data and customer proof they can cite, which makes you a source they come back to.
Answer quickly and fully when an analyst asks, since your reply is the impression you leave.
Take the long view, because trust builds over years and the programmes that deliver are usually the ones still running three years in.
How Resonance runs AR.
We start from the business goals and set measurable objectives for the programme. We studied the criteria behind the major ranking reports and reduced them to the six things analysts consistently assess, and we score every interaction against them on what was earned and what was learned. That way the weak spots show up while there's still time to fix them.
We also run PR, AI visibility and demand programmes, so what we learn from analysts feeds straight into the rest of your marketing. If you'd like us to run your programme, our analyst relations agency page explains how we work, including ranking report support and fees.
BusinessCorporate strength and trajectory
Go to marketHow you sell and through whom
ProductCapability and roadmap
CustomersCustomer proof and reviews
VisionWhere you say the market is going
MarketYour read of the competitive field
Where most programmes startAfter a year of focused work
Analyst relations (AR) is the work of building relationships with the industry analysts who research and evaluate your market, at firms such as Gartner, Forrester and IDC. Analysts advise buyers and publish rankings like the Magic Quadrant and the Forrester Wave, so their view shapes how a market is described. AR makes sure they understand your business and gives you their outside view in return.
Why does analyst relations matter for B2B technology companies?
Analysts sit close to the buying decision. Forrester's 2026 research found that buyers check what they learn with peers, product experts and industry analysts, and are more likely to engage with a vendor based on information from industry experts than from AI tools. Analyst recognition also reaches buyers indirectly, through reviews, press coverage and AI answers.
How does AI change analyst relations?
AI changes analyst relations in two ways. Buyers now ask AI assistants for shortlists, and because those assistants mostly can't read paywalled analyst research, analyst views reach them second-hand through press releases, licensed reprints, coverage and Gartner Peer Insights reviews. The analyst firms also run their own AI assistants, such as AskGartner and Forrester AI, which answer client questions from the firm's research. Both reward companies that analysts understand clearly.
Do ChatGPT and other AI assistants use Gartner and Forrester research?
For the most part they don't use it directly, because the research sits behind paywalls and Forrester and Omdia block AI training crawlers from their reports. Gartner does let ChatGPT's search agents read its Peer Insights review pages, which is why Peer Insights appears in AI answers far more often than Gartner research. In Agentcy's data, 81% of AI answers that cited gartner.com were citing a Peer Insights page.
How do you get into the Gartner Magic Quadrant?
First you have to meet the inclusion criteria for that market, such as thresholds for revenue, customer numbers and product capabilities. Invited vendors then complete an RFI, give a product demo and take part in a factual review before publication. Customer input now comes from Gartner's own surveys and Peer Insights reviews, and vendors no longer choose their references. Inclusion is free, although licensing a reprint to share the report costs money.
What is the difference between an analyst briefing and an inquiry?
A briefing is your chance to tell the analyst about your business, and it's usually free. An inquiry works the other way round, since you ask the analyst for advice, and it needs a paid subscription with that firm. Most programmes use a mix of the two.
Does Gartner Peer Insights affect the Magic Quadrant?
Peer Insights reviews inform the Magic Quadrant, although they don't decide it. Since April 2021 Gartner has used Peer Insights reviews and its own surveys in place of vendor-supplied customer references in Magic Quadrants. Gartner says the number of reviews alone won't move your position, but the reviews do shape how analysts understand your customers' experience.
Which analyst firms should a B2B technology company work with?
Work with the firms your buyers listen to. Start with the analysts who cover your category at Gartner, Forrester or IDC, then add sector specialists and regional firms in your key markets, along with the sourcing advisers who run vendor selections.
How long does analyst relations take to show results?
Results take months to appear. Analysts form their view over several briefings and ranking reports run on yearly cycles, so a programme started now usually shows up in the evaluation after next.
How do you measure analyst relations?
Measure it against the goals you set at the start, which usually cover what analysts now understand about you and your position in the reports you care about. Add the deals analysts influenced and what you learned.
Free AR health check
Is your programme earning its budget?
A 45-minute review of your analyst relations programme, followed by a written report on the gaps and the opportunities, including how the AI assistants describe you.