What is an IDC MarketScape?

Making analyst research useful takes coordination across leadership, product, marketing, sales and customer teams. In a managed programme, Kea takes responsibility for that coordination: setting priorities, managing preparation and follow-through, and making sure everyone understands their role. Your team supplies the expertise, validates the evidence and owns the business decisions.

An IDC MarketScape is useful when it helps someone make a better decision. For a technology vendor, that might mean clarifying the offering, improving delivery or preparing sales for a difficult question. Start with what was assessed, then decide what the findings mean for your role.

What is it?

An IDC MarketScape assesses a specific vendor offering in a defined technology or services market. It combines quantitative and qualitative research with a graphic showing Capabilities and Strategies.

The categories are Leaders, Major Players, Contenders and Participants. Bubble size represents relative market share; check the individual legend for its scope. The written report supplies the detail behind the position.

What is it not?

It is not a verdict on every product, service, country or industry a vendor serves. A strong assessment of one offering does not establish the same result for the entire company.

It is not a substitute for checking the delivery arrangements, capabilities and commercial terms a particular buyer needs. A large bubble is not proof of a better fit.

How relevant is it for a B2B technology vendor?

Its relevance depends on the overlap between the assessed offering and the business you are trying to win. Read the full title: geography, industry, customer segment and service category can all change how useful a report is.

Ask sales and delivery where the research matches real customer questions. If the overlap is strong, use those questions to guide preparation and enablement. If it is limited, explain the boundary before using the recognition in a campaign or board discussion.

Who gets included, and why might you be absent?

IDC applies inclusion criteria to the offering being assessed. Read the vendor inclusion section of the exact study rather than assuming that all providers, or all offerings from a provider, are covered.

Check the market, geography and required offering characteristics. Verify any stated scale or revenue requirement using the definition and period in that study. Do not import a threshold from another MarketScape.

When you are absent, establish which conditions apply and which reasons are confirmed. The next step may be a business improvement, better evidence or a clearer explanation of where you compete. An established analyst relationship alone does not establish eligibility.

How should a salesperson read it?

1. Check the full title, scope, date and vendor inclusion criteria against the proposed purchase.
2. Read the vendor profile, including strengths, challenges and the situations in which the offering is relevant.
3. Separate capabilities the buyer can use now from plans about future direction. Check both against the proposed engagement.
4. Use the chart as context, then prepare evidence about the actual product, service, geography and delivery team involved.

What should you focus on?

Focus on the distance between the assessed offering and what the customer will actually receive. A broad services assessment, for example, still leaves questions about the people, partners and support available for an individual engagement.

Pick the findings most relevant to your target customers. For each, record what you can prove today, what needs improvement and who owns the next step. Build customer proof that answers the delivery question.

What should you say, and what should you avoid?

Avoid: “IDC rates everything we do as leading.”
Say: “This assessment covers a specific offering and market. Here is how it relates to your requirement.”

Avoid: “Our bigger bubble means we are better.”
Say: “Bubble size describes relative market share. Let’s examine the capabilities and delivery evidence you need.”

Avoid: “The report guarantees a successful deployment.”
Say: “The assessment helps frame the decision. We still need to agree the delivery plan, responsibilities and success measures.”

What should you do next in your role?

The same report supports different decisions. Start with the responsibility you own, then agree the action with the people who can make it happen.

VC or Portfolio Team

For an investor, a MarketScape can add a structured external perspective on a company’s offering and competitive position. It can make a business more visible in a relevant market and sharpen comparisons with portfolio alternatives or potential investments.

Before the evaluation: Ask management to identify the precise study that overlaps with the growth thesis. Check which offering, geography and customer segment it covers, and which expansion assumptions lie beyond that scope.

After publication: Compare the profile with management’s claims about capabilities and strategy. Select an issue that could affect growth and ask for an operating milestone and evidence. Investigate competitors within the same scope before drawing comparisons.

Who to involve: The CEO, operating partner, product or delivery leader and AR owner.

You are on track when: Portfolio discussions distinguish demonstrated capabilities from expansion ambition. Recognition in one market is not carrying the entire investment argument.

CMO or Marketing Leader

For marketing, the opportunity is targeted exposure and a credible account of the offering’s strengths. Precision matters: an industry or services assessment is useful to an audience that can recognise its relevance.

Before the evaluation: Identify the customer segments the study could help you reach. Check that the campaign’s claims refer to the offering actually assessed. Assemble customer examples relevant to those segments.

After publication: Build messaging around specific findings and buyer needs. Keep geography, offering and edition visible. Coordinate approved external materials with sales guidance so the campaign does not broaden the recognition beyond its scope.

Who to involve: Product marketing, AR, communications, demand generation and the relevant business-unit leader.

You are on track when: The audience understands what the assessment covers and can connect it to its own requirement. Sales can substantiate the message in the next conversation.

Product or Product Marketing Leader

For product and product marketing, the capabilities and strategies framework can help separate current delivery from future direction. The written assessment is a starting point for investigating where the proposition needs work.

Before the evaluation: Map the assessed offering to real product capabilities or service delivery. Check the people, partners and customer outcomes behind broad claims. Keep future plans clearly identified.

After publication: Test important strengths and challenges with product, delivery and customer teams. Decide whether to improve the offer, strengthen evidence or explain a boundary more clearly. Give the resulting work an owner.

Who to involve: Product management, product marketing, service delivery, customer success and AR.

You are on track when: The buyer-facing proposition matches what can be delivered in the relevant market. Planned improvements are not described as available capabilities.

Founder or CEO

For a founder or CEO, the study can help examine whether strategic ambition is supported by the business you operate today. It is particularly useful when growth depends on expanding an offering, entering a geography or serving a new customer segment.

Before the evaluation: Confirm that the study matches a strategic priority. Appoint a sponsor and make evidence owners available. Decide how to explain a limited scope or non-inclusion before it becomes an internal surprise.

After publication: Review which observations validate the direction and which expose a constraint. Connect material findings to investment, delivery capacity or positioning decisions. Test expansion plans beyond the assessed scope separately.

Who to involve: The executive team, business-unit and delivery leaders, and the AR programme owner.

You are on track when: Leadership has a specific response to the findings and can explain how it supports customer and growth priorities.

AR or Communications Leader

For AR and communications, the task is to keep the programme anchored to the exact offering being studied. A strong company narrative still needs evidence that fits the assessment.

Before the evaluation: Confirm research ownership, inclusion requirements and the actual process instructions. Map each requested claim to a validator and supporting evidence. Coordinate deadlines and internal review.

After publication: Explain the profile to leadership and customer-facing teams. Record strengths to preserve, challenges to address and questions requiring clarification. Maintain a clear record of submitted evidence and later developments.

Who to involve: IDC’s designated research or process contact and the product, delivery, finance and customer owners inside the business.

You are on track when: The team can trace what it submitted and show who owns the response to each important finding. Future engagement builds on that record.

Sales or GTM Leader

For sales and GTM leaders, the value is a better-informed customer conversation about the proposed purchase. A MarketScape can help sellers anticipate questions about capabilities, strategy and delivery; it does not settle suitability on its own.

Before the evaluation: Gather the questions buyers ask about geography, industry expertise, implementation and support. Identify proof for the offering and delivery model you actually sell.

After publication: Create a battle card that names the study scope, relevant findings, likely concerns, supporting evidence and the specialist who can help. Practise explaining why a worldwide assessment still requires local delivery verification.

Who to involve: Sales enablement, product marketing, solution consultants, delivery leaders and AR.

You are on track when: Sellers can connect the report to the customer’s use case and explain its limits. They use a finding to open a useful question, rather than to end discovery.

What should you do before the evaluation?

1. Fix the scope. Record the offering, geography, customer segment and edition. Confirm the applicable inclusion requirements and the process for clarifying them.
2. Validate delivery claims. Check what is available, where it is delivered, who provides it and what customer evidence supports the claim. Keep plans separate from operational capability.
3. Coordinate contributors. Assign product, delivery, finance and customer owners to relevant inputs. Make review and approval responsibilities visible before deadlines create pressure.
4. Prepare the commercial handover. Decide which buyer situations the research will help address and what additional proof sales will need for an individual engagement.

Use an evaluation evidence register to make preparation repeatable. The register is your working method; map it to the actual research instructions when they are available.

What should you do after publication?

1. Read the profile in scope. Review strengths and challenges alongside the assessed offering. Avoid extending the conclusion to other business units or geographies.
2. Turn findings into work. Identify a delivery improvement, an explanation that needs tightening and a strength worth preserving. Set an owner, evidence requirement and review date for each priority.
3. Equip sales for the actual engagement. Match research findings to the proposed use case, implementation and support arrangements. Bring delivery experts into conversations where broad claims are insufficient.
4. Close the loop. Gather customer questions and check whether the guidance helped sellers answer them. Update proof when the offering or delivery arrangements change.

Put the guidance into a sales card people will actually use. Then ask buyers where analysts made a difference so the team can distinguish observed influence from an assumption.

Who should you involve, and where does Kea fit?

Start with the analyst or team covering the exact offering and market, then confirm the designated contact for study requirements and process questions. Inside the company, bring in business-unit and delivery owners early. They can explain which claims apply across the company and which depend on a particular service, geography, partner or customer situation.

Kea maps the relevant research and people, agrees ownership with your team, coordinates preparation and brings the findings back into business decisions. The output should be a plan people can use: priorities, evidence gaps, accountable owners, a working timetable and clear follow-up. The research firm retains control of its assessment.

If you need the whole programme managed, use AR-as-a-Service. If an internal owner needs experienced help with an evaluation or a specific gap, use AR Support. If leadership, product and GTM need to agree the story and responsibilities first, start with an AR Workshop.

Four myths to put to rest

Myth 1: Recognition covers the whole company.

Keep the claim within the offering and market assessed. Test other products and services separately.

Myth 2: The biggest bubble is the best provider.

Bubble size describes relative market share. Suitability requires a closer look at capabilities and the buyer’s needs.

Myth 3: Every credible vendor must appear.

Inclusion is scoped. Investigate the requirements before treating absence as a judgement on the company.

Myth 4: The category tells sales everything it needs.

The written profile and customer evidence are where a useful conversation begins. The team still needs to answer the buyer’s specific questions.

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