Inclusion Policy

About the ISG Research Buyers Guide & Its Inclusion Policy

The ISG Research Buyers Guide is an assessment and research of how well software providers’ offerings address buyers’ requirements for a particular category of software. The Buyers Guide, which we have prepared for more than two decades, is structured to replicate an RFI/RFP process by incorporating all criteria needed to evaluate, select and deploy technology and maintain relationships with software providers.

We have designed the Buyers Guide to deliver objective independent research and guidance to organizations looking to assess and evaluate their applications and technology for business and IT needs. The structure of the Buyers Guide reflects our understanding that the proper evaluation of software providers and products involves far more than just examining product features, potential revenue, or customers generated from marketing and sales. Instead, the guide provides an extensive evaluation of software in seven key categories. Five are product-related: usability, manageability, reliability, capability, and adaptability. Two are customer experience-related categories: validation and total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO/ROI). 

The Buyers Guide is not an abstraction; ISG Research uses a carefully crafted research and best practices-based methodology called the Value Index to represent how organizations actually assess software providers. We believe it is important to take this approach since making the wrong decision can raise the total cost of ownership, lower the return on investment, and hamper an organization’s ability to reach its performance potential. This approach can reduce the project’s overall duration and eliminate the risk of placing it on a shortlist of providers that are not the best fit for your organization. 

All software providers that offer relevant products and meet the inclusion requirements are invited to participate in the evaluation process, at no cost to them. If a provider does not respond to or declines the invitation, a determination is made whether to include it in our analysis based on our defined set of inclusion criteria. These criteria are designed to ensure we include in our evaluation providers’ geographic operations, customer base, and revenue as well as all relevant aspects of the products’ fit for the category being evaluated. If a provider is actively marketing, selling, and developing a product as reflected on its website that is within the scope of the Value Index methodology, it is automatically evaluated for inclusion. We have adopted this approach because we view it as our responsibility to assess all relevant software providers whether or not they choose to actively participate.

To ensure the accuracy of the information we collect and that the Buyers Guide reflects the concerns of a well-crafted RFP, we require participating software providers to provide evaluation data across all seven categories. ISG Research then validates the information, first independently through our knowledge base of product information and extensive web-based research, and then in consultation with the software providers. 

The Buyers Guide is designed to be independent of the specifics of packaging and pricing and whether the products are priced or sold as part of a suite or bundle or individually. To represent the real-world environment in which businesses operate, we include software providers that offer suites or packages of products, as the relevant individual modules or applications must still be evaluated by those responsible for those business processes. We take no position on the offering approach of the products or packages being offered; where options exist, organizations using the Buyers Guide will need to decide whether they choose a suite of products or individual applications that best meet their requirements. 

We urge organizations to do a thorough job of evaluating software providers and products that are referenced in any Buyers Guide and use our in-depth analysis and evaluation methodology. The Buyers Guide can also be used to evaluate existing suppliers and also provides evaluation criteria for new projects; applying it can shorten the cycle time for an RFP and selection process.

ISG Research has designed the Buyers Guide to provide a balanced perspective of software providers vand products that are rooted in an understanding of business drivers and needs. This approach not only reduces cost and time but also minimizes the risk of making a decision that is bad for the business. Using the Buyers Guide will enable your organization to achieve the levels of efficiency and effectiveness needed to optimize your processes and systems.