Forrester’s 1Q 2025 Earnings – Slip Slidin’ Away?
New issues added to a long list of unresolved issues
AR Intelligence Snapshot
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
Paul Simon, Business Strategist (and songwriter)
Forrester's First Quarter 2025 earnings provided yet more worrying data for AR leaders and technology vendor executives tracking the firm's influence with enterprise buyers. For the tenth consecutive quarter, all core metrics that signal an analyst firm's market impact have deteriorated, here are two of several examples:
Research contract value – down QoQ and YoY
Sales headcount – down QoQ and YoY
What is worrisome is the lack of specifics about how Forrester will be addressing its plethora of issues. For example, rebuilding the sales quota bearing headcount (QBH) force as it continues its steady and long decline. When a Wall Street analyst asked “…what the headcount growth plans are planned as we move through the rest of the year.” CSO Nate Swan replied:
…we have the headcount growth in our second half plan. …
Contrast that vagueness with Gartner CFO Craig Safian’s answer to a similar Wall Street analyst question during Gartner’s 1Q25 earnings call:
What I would say is we've got dialed into our outlook right now is mid-single-digit growth (in quota-bearing headcount) in both GTS and GBS.
That means the GTS sales QBH will grow in the 148 to 222 range. Forrester’s QBH growth target is a question mark. Plus, the longer it takes to start seriously hiring QBH the more subscription contracts that will be slip slidin’ away.
As to the outlook for 2025, it is grime with all key metrics down, down, down, down, and down.
Dig Deeper
Which ones and to what extent did Forrester’s key “future influence” metrics declined in 1Q25?
What business challenges that Forrester introduced in recent earnings calls were not updated in this call?
What new business issues did Forrester point out as headwinds for 2025?
How did DOGE’s Federal contract cancellations and employee firings impact Forrester in 1Q25?
AR Intelligence Conclusion: Forrester Could be Slip Slidin’ Away – Vendors Should Take Note
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