Gartner Magic Quadrant 'pay for play': 'We don't know the result until we see the report' says SAP after fifth year at the top

'Very fair' process of fact checking drives Gartner report, says SAP ERP manager

SAP's continually high placement in Gartner's Magic Quadrant is down to a "very fair" process of fact checking and customer consultation, in which the vendor doesn't know the result "until [they] see the report", SAP has told Computing.

"We don't know the result until we see the report, so we give them customers and partners to interview," Hagen Hertwig, head of packaging and demo excellence for GPO solution management and ERP solutions at SAP, told Computing.

"So they verify from customers and partners directly - it's very much 360 based, and about what our customers and partners are saying. Our part is to show Gartner how we are improving the architecture and technology, and what the next part is," he said.

However, Hertwig also added he doesn't "know about other players and why they might be [in the Magic Quadrant]" when discussing the five-year success of SAP's S/4 edition for Business All-in-One, which finds itself topping the "leaders" section in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Single-Instance ERP for Product-Centric Midmarket Companies.

Reflecting on NetScout's recent minor victory in court (where a move from Gartner to have the case dismissed was denied) when directly accusing the analyst house of fixing its Magic Quadrant with a "pay for play" model, Hertwig expressed ignorance of the story.

"I didn't even know this had happened," he told Computing.

"But you know, I'd look at the facts, and if you look at the facts on software revenue, architecture and look at technology architectural achievements - the facts - I think it's fair to say we're somewhere up there."

But Hertwig covered his statement by continuing:

"I don't know about other players - why they might be there. Nothing as clear as we are, but I think we for years are leading this, so I would say - I'm not so sure [about these allegations]: Gartner is very fair, and I cannot imagine they're doing anything [untoward], to be honest. [But] I cannot judge."

Hertwig said, by his experience, Gartner's approach to calculating its Magic Quadrant is that SAP "supplies them with the facts, they check the facts, they call the customers and draw their conclusions".

Hertwig added that he believes "everybody who is leading" a Magic Quadrant has an "established relationship" with an existing customer base, and this is a heavy contributor to success in the report.

Computing also asked what other money changes hands between Gartner and SAP, particularly in the areas of ongoing consultancy services which Gartner may perform for SAP.

"Gartner has the consultancy company and the research company," said Hertwig.

"And these are completely different. We are interacting only with the research. There might be other areas [at SAP] that have engagement also with the consulting side of Gartner, but not here in mid-market."

However, Hertwig also admitted that his division is happy to disclose details of the business to trusted Gartner analysts as a matter of course.

"We've been interacting, for years, with more or less the same analysts from Gartner's side and have trusted relationships with them, so we're also open to sometimes disclose what is working or not working.

"I think it's a kind of style we've established with folks from Gartner. It works well at the moment and it's quite nice."