Research should be independent.
Here’s how we protect it.

QKS Group works with technology vendors through memberships, advisory engagements, and reprint licenses. Some of the companies we work with are also evaluated in our research. We believe the important question is not whether a commercial relationship exists. It is whether that relationship can influence the research. At QKS Group, our commercial and research processes are kept separate, and our assessments remain independent of commercial decisions.

One research view for everyone

Vendors and technology buyers have access to the same published research and evaluation criteria

Research decisions stay separate

Commercial teams do not approve, influence, or change research assessments.

Every vendor can receive an unfavourable assessment

A commercial relationship does not guarantee a positive position or outcome in our research.

The Ledger

What you can buy from QKS Group, and what you cannot

Understanding a research firm’s independence starts with understanding the boundaries around its commercial relationships. Here is a clear view of the services QKS Group offers, and the areas that remain outside commercial influence.

Purchasable

What you can buy

Membership

Access to QKS Group analysts and the broader research portfolio.

Scoped advisory engagements

GTM validation, competitive intelligence, business case validation, technology sourcing, and other defined advisory services.

Reprint licences

The right to use published QKS Group research externally, subject to applicable licensing terms.

Analyst time

Research inquiries, analyst sessions, and briefings beyond the standard research cycle.

Custom research

Commissioned studies that are clearly identified and published as commissioned research.

Not for sale — at any price

What you cannot buy

Your position in a SPARK Matrix™

Commercial engagement does not determine a vendor’s position or movement in a SPARK Matrix™.

Inclusion in or exclusion from research coverage

QKS Group determines which markets and vendors are covered through its research process.

A paid research briefing

Briefings are available to vendors participating in covered markets and are not treated as a research fee.

Removal or softening of an unfavourable finding

Commercial engagement does not determine the language or conclusions of an assessment.

A recommendation to a buyer

No vendor can pay to be included on an enterprise shortlist or receive a buyer recommendation.

Research Governance

Who reviews the research, and who stays out of the decision

Research quality depends on having a clear process and clear ownership at every stage. At QKS Group, research moves through defined review points, with responsibilities separated between research, analysts, and commercial teams.

Criteria Set & Published
Research Director’s Office

Evaluation criteria are established and published before the assessment process begins.

Evaluation
Covering Analyst

The covering analyst conducts the evaluation using the published criteria and available evidence.

Fact-Check & Debrief
Analyst + Vendor

The vendor has an opportunity to review factual information, provide clarification, and address inaccuracies.

Sign-Off
Research Director’s Office

The research team reviews the completed assessment before final approval.

Publication
Research

The final assessment is published by the research team.

Fees are not tied to research outcomes. There are no success fees, bonuses, or commercial conditions linked to a vendor's research position or rating. Commercial engagement does not create an obligation to produce a favourable finding.

The same process applies to every vendor

The evaluation, fact-check, and review process applies whether or not a vendor has a commercial relationship with QKS Group. Commercial engagement does not create an alternative research process.

Coverage follows the research agenda

The markets and vendors covered by QKS Group are determined by our research agenda and methodology. A commercial relationship does not guarantee inclusion in a research study, nor does the absence of one prevent consideration.

Disputes route here, never to sales. Bring evidence — a fact we got wrong, a capability we assessed as unproven that you can prove — and it goes to the Research Director's office. Your account manager Disagreements go through the research process, not the commercial team.

If a vendor believes a finding is factually incorrect, it can provide evidence to the research team for review. The research team evaluates the evidence and determines whether a correction is warranted. Where QKS Group identifies an error, we correct the published research and clearly communicate what was changed. help you, and will not try; that is the point. If we were wrong, the correction is published and we say what changed.

The Test We Apply To Ourselves

If we can't tell you no, you aren't buying advice

Before any engagement is offered commercially, it has to pass one test: can it return a verdict the client does not want? If it cannot, it isn't research — it's a document with our logo on it, and we won't sell it.

GTM Validation Advisory

A vendor pays us to test their growth strategy. The assessment can conclude the strategy will not work — and says so, in the deliverable they paid for.

CAN RETURN: "DON'T FUND THIS"

Business Case Validation

A vendor pays us to validate their ROI claim. The analysis can conclude the evidence does not support the number they've been marketing.

CAN RETURN: "YOUR ROI CLAIM FAILS"

Technology Sourcing Advisory

A buyer pays us to advise on a shortlist. The advice can be that none of the shortlisted vendors — including ones who are our clients — fit their requirement.

CAN RETURN: "NONE OF THEM"

A verdict you can only receive in one direction is not a verdict. It's a purchase.

The Other Line

We advise. We do not execute.

The independence question usually focuses on money. The subtler risk is authorship — the point at which an analyst stops assessing a company and starts working for it.

The moment we write your strategy, we can no longer assess it. So we don't write it.

QKS does not author vendor roadmaps, build go-to-market plans, craft positioning, or co-create the materials a vendor takes to market. We tell you what the market looks like, where buyers are going, what the evidence supports, and where your claims fail. What you do with that is your company's decision, made by your people — which is the only arrangement under which our next assessment of you means anything.

The same line runs on the buyer side: we advise on the decision, we do not run the implementation. An advisor who is also the systems integrator has an opinion about which system you should integrate.

Both Sides Of The Room

Vendors and buyers arrive here with opposite fears

This page is linked from every commercial page we publish — the vendor pages and the enterprise pages alike. That is deliberate. The two audiences read the same document, because a firewall that needs a different explanation for each side is not a firewall.

The vendor asks

"If we pay you, does our rating improve?"

No. Ratings are identical for clients and non-clients, and no commercial team sees an assessment before it publishes. If money moved the rating, the rating would be worthless — and so would the reprint you wanted to license.

The buyer asks

"Is the research you're showing me bought by the vendors in it?"

No. Vendors buy access, advice, and the right to reprint what we published. They cannot buy what we published. Every vendor in our research was evaluated whether they paid us anything or not — most paid nothing.

Both answers have to survive the other audience reading them. That constraint is the most useful discipline in this business, and it is why the doctrine lives on one page instead of being tailored on six.

The verdict has to be able to go against you. Otherwise it isn't a verdict — and you shouldn't pay for it.

That sentence is the whole of our commercial model, and every page on this site is downstream of it. If you find us falling short of anything stated here, tell us — that is what the Research Director's office is for.