If you are looking for a guide to the “who’s who” of Enterprise Content Management, the Gartner Magic Quadrant is it. The vendors are measured on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute. Each vendor is plotted within a quadrant and categorized as either a; Niche Players, Visionaries, Challenger, or the coveted Leaders position. Recently I wanted to look at something a little different, the trend over years. What I found “may” be interesting.
First, let’s look at the Magic Quadrant. Gartner performs analysis of vendors in a given space though both presentations and demonstrations. Their requirements are based on information Gartner hears from the customers. How each vendor meets those needs is then calculated to plot where each vendor lands based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute. While Gartner doesn’t share the individual rankings in their report, one can assume that vendor’s position within the quadrant is relative and validly represents their score. In this case, that one who assumed was me.
During the report period, nine vendors held positions in the Leader Quadrant. In 2005, there were six leaders. Three of those were acquired; Hummingbird by OpenText, Stellent by Oracle, and FileNet by IBM. The other tree leaders, EMC, IBM, and OpenText, would remain in the Leader Quadrant though the reporting period. They were joined in the Leader Quadrant by Oracle in 2007, Microsoft in 2009, and Hyland in 2011. But I wanted to see a little more detail. I wanted to see trends.
To get a view of the trend, I decided to copy and match the scale of Magic Quadrants from 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012 in a graphics program. I pasted each chart overlaying 
Climbers
Two vendors went from Visionaries in 2005 to Leaders in two and four years, respectively. Oracle and Microsoft visual representation were that of climbers. Looking at their history, this tracks with both Oracles acquisition of Stellent and the growth in Microsoft SharePoint. Interestingly both had a slight fishhook slide towards the left from 2011 to 2012. Also looking at the overlays, Microsoft had the furthest point along the Ability to Execute axis.
Sliders
Two vendors went had slight slips along the Ability to Execute with a stronger slip along Completeness of Vision. Still both maintained relative position with the other leaders. EMC and OpenText visual representation was that of sliders. Also looking at the overlays, EMC had the furthest point along the Completeness of Vision axis.
Settlers
The real interesting visual representation was the last two vendors in the leader quadrant. They seemed to circle around a specific center-point along the two axes. IBM and Hyland had the visual representation of settlers. Again an odd revelation, IBM had the furthest combined point along both axes.
Summary
Was there a value in this exercise? I’d like to think so. I believe that there is significance in the relative position of the vendors in the quadrant. That being the case, the movement report-to-report would indicate a trend over the period. What’s interesting the six vendors paired up into three general trends. I believe is representative of the stabilization of the ECM space over the last seven years.