The tech analyst grift is collapsing as enterprises stop trusting paid reports

DavidLinthicum · x · 2026-08-29

Veteran architect David Linthicum argues the traditional tech analyst model is falling apart.

Key points:

The business was structurally conflicted: vendors paid huge fees for visibility and favorable rankings while reports posed as independent research, sometimes with vendors essentially writing their own evaluations.
Enterprises stopped treating the reports as primary decision inputs two to three years ago — deployments failed, products underdelivered, and glowing quadrant ratings proved catastrophic in production.
Companies now build their own evaluation frameworks, run extensive pilots, and talk to peers instead.
Yet vendors still spend millions on analyst relations; when both sides pull back, the model collapses.
Real analysis survives with independent practitioners and vendor-free communities; big firms must rebuild credibility or admit they sell reputation management.

More from Companies & People