Market analytics leader Gartner has published its eagerly-awaited 2022 Magic Quadrant report for Data and Analytics Service Providers.
Vendors in this space offer a wide range of solutions, which aim to enhance business intelligence, data management, and data science. Some service providers specialize in one of these areas, while others provide a wide range of offerings.
Thankfully, Gartner introduces the proposition of many industry-leading providers, isolating the strengths and cautions of each. In doing so, it identifies market leaders within the space.
In this year’s report, Gartner has evaluated the D&A offerings of 18 global providers, isolating 12 market leaders in the process.
The Definition of a Data and Analytics Service Provider
As Gartner suggests, a Data and Analytics Service Provider offers technologies to manage data for operational and analytical purposes. By harnessing these, enterprises can improve business processes, outcomes, and decision-making.
Thanks to this potential, D&A technologies often play an integral role in digital transformation and acceleration programs. As a result, they are rapidly rising in prominence across the CX world. After all, as Gartner’s research indicates, 69% of companies have accelerated digital business initiatives in the wake of COVID-19.
However, in recent times, the field has become increasingly fragmented, with many game-changing innovations hitting the market. Larger, full-service providers have acquired these nifty propositions and are expanding their offerings and evolving their strategy.
Getting to grips with how they are doing so, the 2022 Magic Quadrant for Data and Analytics Service Providers divides vendors into one of four segments: Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Players. Here, we review them all.
Leaders
Leaders in the Magic Quadrant demonstrate a complete vision, which influences the direction of the Data and Analytics Service Provider market. They also boast a proven ability to execute, innovate, and deliver leading platform features. Paving the way in terms of overall viability, this year’s leaders are:
- Accenture
- Deloitte
- EY
- KPMG
- IBM
- TCS
- PwC
- Infosys
- Capgemini
- Cognizant
- Wipro
- Atos
Accenture
Accenture is on a mission to “put data at the core of business change”. In doing so, the vendor enables enterprises to use their data in new ways, and at new speeds. Such pace impressed Garter, as the analyst praised the provider’s ability to accelerate transformation projects. It also commended Accenture for its acquisition strategy, integrations, and technology capabilities. In doing so, Gartner ranked the provider first for both its ability to execute and completeness of vision.
Deloitte
Deloitte is highly regarded for its deep industry expertise. Combining this knowledge with robust AI capabilities, the company specializes in design, testing, and deploying complex business and technology transformations. Gartner applauds Deloitte for this while pinpointing partner innovation and flexibility as further distinguishable strengths. Such flexibility refers to pricing and deployment, with Gartner lauding the speed at which companies can implement Deloitte’s ReadyAI solution.
EY
EY combines issue-led and technology-enabled approaches to help brands make data-driven decisions and thrive in the digital-first reality. These decisions pave the way for better business transformation, an area that Gartner identifies as a particular strong suit of the EY solution. The market analyst also highlights decoupled data and application layers as well as talent acquisitions and development as further fortes.
KPMG
KPMG helps businesses to establish trust in D&A by equipping leaders with the necessary knowledge and technologies to solve complex business problems. Gartner notes that many clients appreciate the advisory service that KPMG offer, in tandem with its technical analytics framework. Referred to as “Connected. Powered. Trusted.”, this framework guides business transformation efforts. Such an innovative approach is a significant strength of the KPMG proposition, alongside its asset-based delivery.
IBM
IBM is an industry heavyweight, renowned for its far-reaching enterprise technology expertise. Yet, the service provider couples its advanced solutions portfolio with an underlying focus of creating user-friendly experiences. In doing so, the provider achieves a “human-centric” and “technology-centric” dualism across numerous domains. As Gartner suggests within the report, this differentiates its D&A proposition.
TCS
Providing enterprise data management, reporting, and AI tools, TCS empowers businesses with a single source of truth that informs transformation strategies. Harnessing the power of the cloud, TCS creates an open ecosystem that enables users to integrate a suite of assets and maximize the power of AI. Gartner underlines TCS Decision Fabric as a prime example, which is a series of industry-specific cognitive solutions that speed up digital transformation efforts.
PwC
PwC is another market leader with well-documented expertise in the space. As such, the company knows how to successfully play the “strategic partner” role, creating a holistic D&A strategy – known as “The New Equation” – to do so. Such an approach is a central component of PwC’s market proposition, helping the service provider deliver sustained outcomes. It also invests heavily into its platform ecosystem, doubling the number of analytics apps within the D&A solution to 4,000 in the past year.
Infosys
Infosys blends data and insights to guide better decision-making through its D&A solution. Pinpointing its robust data management capabilities, Garter believes that Infosys provides an ideal technology suite for clients eager to modernize their D&A landscape. With ever-evolving assets and services, a growing skills ecosystem, and a track record of investing in innovation, Infosys continuously strive to do more with data and transform the business.
Capgemini
Offering end-to-end scalable D&A services from across Capgemini Group, the provider puts the spotlight on data science to develop a unified portfolio of innovative solutions. Communicating with one another, these solutions enable companies to leverage expertise more easily across various departments. Such a capability is significant when enhancing CX. Lower cost of ownership is another benefit of the Capgemini proposition, which Gartner emphasizes, in addition to the thought leadership of its team.
Cognizant
Cognizant increases agility by delivering quick insights to users through intelligent, data-driven decision-making. Gartner notes this as a significant feature of the Cognizant portfolio as the provider stresses the importance of harnessing analytics to education decisions and achieving positive outcomes. The vendor packages these tools within Cognizant Data and Intelligence Toolkit. Alongside this, Cognizant provides deep industry expertise to increase the chances of rollout success.
Wipro
Delivering a data discovery platform, Wipro holds the D&A capabilities to create new business models and revenue streams for its clients. The internet of things (IoT) powers some of these capabilities alongside advanced analytics and machine learning. Such AI-driven functionality enables an asset-based approach, which Gartner comments. The market analyst also identifies business-led transformation and a focus on talent and innovation as notable strengths.
Atos
Atos delivers advanced computing, analytics, and automation models to modernize data architectures. Alongside this, the service provider has several strategic alliances with cloud technology providers to create a highly sophisticated, all-encompassing D&A ecosystem. Another impressive feature of the Atos solution is its approach to verticalized data and analytics, providing industry-specific solutions in sectors such as healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.
Challengers
Challengers in the Magic Quadrant have a proven track record of meeting client expectations when bringing their D&A strategies to life. While they perhaps lack the vision to disrupt the market, these providers have established a healthy presence within the field and offer dependable, enterprise-scale solutions. This year’s challengers are:
- NTT DATA
- Genpact
- HCL Technologies
NTT DATA
NTT DATA offers business intelligence capabilities to connect the enterprise. The service provider also boasts predictive analytics solutions, built on advanced machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) proficiencies, alongside a track record of successful deployments. However, Gartner cautions that its consultants could offer more proactive support, share new ideas, and give additional outside-in perspectives. These may push innovation further and increase competitiveness.
Genpact
Genpact prioritize data engineering and management, laying a robust data foundation for business transformation success. To do so, the company strives to get to grips with business processes and combines this understanding with D&A expertise. Therefore, the result is highly customized to the needs of individual clients, and Gartner recognizes the positive impact this often has on customer satisfaction. Nevertheless, the analyst does suggest that the process-centric approach is perhaps a slight cause for concern as it may hinder creativity.
HCL Technologies
HCL Technologies aim to equip and support clients to create an experience-centric culture, institutionalize platform thinking, and move towards an integrated operating model. Its approach to D&A facilitates this, providing integrated digital consulting, an array of technologies, and digital application offerings. However, Gartner highlights inconstancies in business strategy, consulting skills, and project management as potential cautions.
Visionaries
Visionaries in the Magic Quadrant are innovation-centric, providing differentiated D&A solutions that offer enterprises exciting and potentially powerful solutions. As such, these providers are often acquired by larger vendors, which perhaps have a superior ability to execute enterprise-wide deployments.
In 2022, Gartner has not placed any Data and Analytics Service Providers in the visionary quadrant.
Niche Players
Niche players in the Magic Quadrant frequently deliver ROI to clients, particularly when they come with a well-defined D&A strategy. However, they sometimes lack the innovation culture, product features, and market presence to rival their larger contemporaries. This year’s niche players are:
- Tech Mahindra
- DXC Technology
- EPAM
Tech Mahindra
Teetering on the edge of visionary status, Tech Mahindra offers a diverse D&A portfolio with tools for data management, insight generation, and more. Clients harness these tools and take advantage of the service provider’s technical expertise for end-to-end system integration. However, most of these clients are based in the Asia/Pacific region, with a limited market share across other continents. As such, Gartner suggests that the vendor currently lacks the broader brand recognition to be a market leader.
DXC Technology
DXC Technology supports brands to “envision, design, and modernize” their data environments. In doing so, clients can industrialize and scale D&A initiatives by utilizing an array of innovative asset-based services. Gartner views such services as a significant strength within the DXC Technology proposition. Yet, the analyst emphasizes the need for further AI-led innovation to solidify the service provider’s existing offering.
EPAM
EPAM takes a business outcome-orientated approach to support transformation programs, create new platforms, and streamline operations. The vendor employs its automation and agile engineering capabilities to do so and enhance global customer experiences. Unfortunately, Gartner underlines limited strategic consulting skills as a considerable obstacle that may stunt the growth of its geographic expansion strategy.
What Lies Ahead for Data and Analytics Service Providers?
With digital transformation initiatives transforming customer experiences across almost every industry, D&A strategies will only grow increasingly complex. Therefore, teaming up with a reliable, innovative service provider is crucial.
However, the space is moving quickly, with new AI-powered technologies revolutionizing how enterprises manage and assess data. As such, the 2023 report will undoubtedly add much more food for thought.
Perhaps industry stalwarts such as NEC and EXL will return to the mix? Other leading D&A service providers – such as SAP, Oracle, and Teradata – may also throw their hats into the ring.
Yet, for now, we will instead tip our hats to this year’s market leaders: Accenture, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, IBM, TCS, PwC, Infosys, Capgemini, Cognizant, Wipro, and Atos.
Eager to uncover who Gartner recently named as leaders in Enterprise Conversational AI Platforms? Then, read our rundown of the report: Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Conversational AI Platforms 2022
