- Breadth of industry knowledge (e.g., healthcare, manufacturing, government, etc.)
- Depth of knowledge about a specific product, service, or offering
- Reputation of the analyst / firm
- Good communication skills (e.g., well-written reports, ability to articulate complex subject matter, etc.)
- Visual tools / graphic representations of vendor offerings
- Previous experience or relationship with the analyst
- Lack of vendor influence
- Analyst has a developed network of vendor and client relationships
- Accurate competitor rankings / evaluations
- Strategic review of our business / plan / goals
- Offers contract reviews of cloud providers
- Offers good value for their services
- Proactive engagement from the analyst firm
- Reports that can be easily consumed by a variety of audiences
- Provides content catered specifically to business executives
- Offers in-depth predictions about where the market is heading
- Thoroughness / completeness of their research
- Provides actionable reports with practical guidelines
- Stays up to date on new emerging technologies
- Provides information that is customized / tailored to my specific industry and business needs
- Offers cloud provider customer reviews / references
- Global footprint / knowledge
- Regional specific knowledge
- Provides information to assess my organization’s partnering decisions
- Depth of industry specific applications (e.g., healthcare, manufacturing, government, etc.)