When OpenAI exploded onto the scene in November 2022, the impact on Gartner wasn't quite as you present it. According to the vendor mindshare data published by Gartner (aka inquiry analytics), Gartner analysts fielded fewer than 10 end-user inquiries on OpenAI in Q4 2022 - then 400-plus in Q1 2023 and a peak of 800-plus in Q2 2023.
Analysts may have been fielding inquiries from other vendors, but these inquiries are not included in the analytics data published by Gartner.
The TL;dr - there is often a delay between a technology trigger, like the launch of ChatGPT, and end-user tech buyers actually getting to speak with an analyst about it.
Hi Simon, Thanks for the thoughtful post. Gartner inquiry analytics does not capture the full picture. At the end of March 2023, Gartner said it had done 20,000 inquiries on generative AI. And that is probably an undercount. In many cases, an end user will set up an inquiry on a topic, e.g., call center software, which the client service folks tag in the inquiry tracking system. During that inquiry on "call center software" other topics can up and in this case "hey, whaddya think about genAI and call centers?" If the analyst doesn't update the inquiry tracking record with the appropriate tag, then it won't show up in the analytics.
When OpenAI exploded onto the scene in November 2022, the impact on Gartner wasn't quite as you present it. According to the vendor mindshare data published by Gartner (aka inquiry analytics), Gartner analysts fielded fewer than 10 end-user inquiries on OpenAI in Q4 2022 - then 400-plus in Q1 2023 and a peak of 800-plus in Q2 2023.
Analysts may have been fielding inquiries from other vendors, but these inquiries are not included in the analytics data published by Gartner.
The TL;dr - there is often a delay between a technology trigger, like the launch of ChatGPT, and end-user tech buyers actually getting to speak with an analyst about it.
Hi Simon, Thanks for the thoughtful post. Gartner inquiry analytics does not capture the full picture. At the end of March 2023, Gartner said it had done 20,000 inquiries on generative AI. And that is probably an undercount. In many cases, an end user will set up an inquiry on a topic, e.g., call center software, which the client service folks tag in the inquiry tracking system. During that inquiry on "call center software" other topics can up and in this case "hey, whaddya think about genAI and call centers?" If the analyst doesn't update the inquiry tracking record with the appropriate tag, then it won't show up in the analytics.
Which is why something like Gong should be used to track these vs. some analyst and/or client service people doing it by hand!
That is a great point! I am stuck in the old CRM paradigm where everybody is required to do data entry. We should be automating more this.
Trivia note - I wrote Gartner's first inquiry tracking application as a proof-of-concept back in 1992 / 1993 using Lotus Notes.