What It Takes To Be A Leader

By now, you may know about Commvault's position as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery Software. It's important for customers and partners to understand the impact of this for a few reasons. First, customers require a reliable vendor when it comes to protecting their most important asset - their data. Commvault has consistently been positioned as a leader in backup and recovery for six years running - all while competing with larger vendors, with more market share and revenue.

So why does Gartner consistently position Commvault as a leader? Our differentiation is clear: One code base; one product from which customers can intelligently grow and scale their backup needs, regardless of infrastructure; and Commvault has the industry’s most innovative solutions, at the best and most flexible price point. Plus, we do it all of that at scale and with no vendor lock-in.

A position this solid doesn’t just happen. A year-round engagement strategy with Gartner is in place to pull this off. That includes regular briefings with our executives, product experts, pricing team, marketing gurus and BU’s. In addition, as Gartner commences work on updating this report each February, we put forth a massive response to the Magic Quadrant questionnaire that covers all areas of the business - from technology and roadmap, to routes to market, pricing and marketing. It’s an intense process that requires coordination across all of our business leaders - oh, and we have about two weeks and a 50 page limit to articulate the underlying value of our ability to execute and our vision. Then we strategically select a list of customer references that can back up what we say.

From Gartner’s perspective, it's also evaluating vendors throughout the year - not just on vendor submissions. That means everything Commvault does - every launch, every customer engagement, every communication - all helps to contribute to the company's position. Gartner's view is also heavily influenced by its more than 1,700 inquires with end users on related topics. For this MQ alone, Gartner interviewed 131 customers provided by the vendors and read more than 500 pages of vendor submissions! That’s a lot of information on backup!

Let’s just say a lot of work, by many people, goes into maintaining - and furthering - our leadership position. That said, Commvault wouldn’t have a leg to stand on in communicating our customer value and technology differentiation if we didn’t have the industry’s MOST innovative technology and best services and support. Those folks make my job easier.