The Skills Connection is an analyst relations consultancy founded in 2009. Its team of former senior Gartner analysts has a combined 145 years of direct Gartner experience and has worked with more than 650 technology vendors on analyst engagement including assessments such as the Gartner Magic Quadrant and the Forrester Wave. The firm is headquartered in Roslyn, New York, with an office in High Wycombe, United Kingdom.

We have an NPS score of +83.

Other analyst relations firms advise vendors on how to speak to analysts and to facilitate these meetings. We were the analysts. We wrote Magic Quadrants, one of our team invented The Hype Cycle, others helped develop the methodologies for IDC MarketScapes, FutureScapes and MaturityScapes. We scored vendor submissions, sat in review sessions, fielded inquiry calls from enterprise buyers, and decided which vendors deserved to be shortlisted and why.

That institutional knowledge does not come from reading Gartner's published methodology. It comes from having lived it for decades.

Since 2009, we have worked with more than 650 technology firms across the full spectrum of analyst assessments (e.g. Magic Quadrant, Wave, MarketScape, Leadership Compass, Peak Matrix, SPARK Matrix), engagement programs and go-to-market positioning challenges. Our clients range from early-stage SaaS companies engaging analysts for the first time to large enterprises defending a hard-won Leaders’ position.

THE TEAM

The depth of the team’s knowledge and experience is what makes The Skills Connection genuinely unique. This is not a one-person boutique or a rebranded PR agency with an analyst relations practice grafted on. Delivery is all done by senior, former analysts.

Details of all the team members can be found at https://theskillsconnection.com/who-we-are/

WHAT WE DO FOR ANALYST ENGAGEMENT

Analyst Assessment Services

We are best known for preparing technology vendors for Gartner Magic Quadrant (MQ), Gartner Emerging Market Quadrant (EMQ), Gartner Startups Market Quadrant (SMQ), Forrester Wave, IDC MarketScape, and other structured analyst assessments.

Our 2026 survey of over 100 vendors found that 90% of vendors find analyst criteria do not precisely align with their solution. Being a perfect fit is the exception. Knowing how to present your real capabilities compellingly within a complex assessment framework is the skill we have spent 17 years developing and delivering to clients.

These are project-based activities following our proven Tune-Up methodology.

84% of clients, who engaged us to improve their assessment rating, report that we helped them to shift positively in their Magic Quadrant or Wave.

Analyst Engagement Strategy

Assessments are periodic. Analyst influence on your enterprise pipeline is continuous. Enterprise buyers talk to analysts through inquiry calls throughout their lifecycle of interest with any technology, often before a formal RFP has even been issued. If analysts don't understand your story, don't trust your evidence, and can't articulate your differentiation, your name may never reach the buyer.

For newer technology initiatives this can also lead to getting recognition from the likes of Gartner as a Cool Vendor or IDC as an IDC Innovator – both extremely valuable sources of trusted, third-party validation.

97% of our customers say that they would recommend The Skills Connection (and often do).

COMMON QUESTIONS

Do you only support Gartner Magic Quadrants?

No. We support clients with assessments from across the analyst spectrum

Do you only support assessment work?

Not at all. Most of our clients work with us year-round on effective engagement with analysts. Assessments are often a part of that, whether Cool Vendor, SMQ/EMQ or full MQ, Wave etc.

Why The Skills Connection versus an AR or PR agency

Our focus is the story you tell and the evidence to tell it. Our senior analysts immerse themselves in your business and solution and have the credibility with your executives and SMEs to build that story and align messaging from across your organization

What will the process demand from us?

Effective engagement needs product, customer success, marketing and leadership input. The essential elements are the story and associated evidence, which we help you identify, construct, collate and orchestrate to get true ROI from your analyst engagement

Do you work alongside existing AR teams?

We work alongside AR teams and other AR agencies in a number of our clients. These AR professionals typically have strong relationships and institutional knowledge. What we bring is the analyst-side perspective and skillset to help assemble the right content to move the needle.

WHY THE SKILLS CONNECTION IS DIFFERENT

It’s simply that we are a team of former senior analysts and research executives with an average tenure of 11.5 years at Gartner alone, and over 16 years across different analyst firms. We have robust and proven processes, but for us these are table stakes. We focus on content using senior, experienced analysts who understand your technology, solutions and vision and know exactly how to root out the right information and take that insight and communicate it effectively to the analyst channel to drive real impact and measurable results.

Why work with us

We are a team of former senior IT analysts. Each delivery team member has an average tenure of 16 years as an analyst, of which 11.5 years was specifically at Gartner

1. We have done the job of analyst and research managers. we know exactly what information analysts need, in what form and when. We help our clients to get effective results but also be ultra efficient in the way they do this
2. We have an NPS score of +83 and an average clients core of 9.4/10 and have worked with over 650 tech companies in the last 17 years. 97% of our clients would (and do) recommend us. They do this because we get results.

Please note that all our work is done under strict non-disclosure. For this reason we are unable to share a client list but, as noted above, anonymous client feedback, direct from clients, can be found at www.techvalidate.com and individual references are always possible. Information can also be obtained from the Marketing CoE.