Four in a Row: Customers Give Alation the Top-Rank in Dresner’s 2020 Wisdom of Crowds^® Data Catalog Market Study

For the fourth consecutive year, Alation has been recognized as the top-ranked data catalog in Dresner Advisory Services’ 2020 Wisdom of Crowds® Data Catalog Market Study. Beyond being another great accolade for Alation, the Market Study has a legacy and methodology that give it special significance.

Dresner Advisory Services was the first analyst firm to delve into the importance of data cataloging for business intelligence (BI) users. Beyond being ahead of its time, the study is also unique in that the results are based on actual user feedback. As a data cataloging company laser-focused on user experience, this makes being top-ranked even more important and helps to validate the user experience we have worked hard to implement.

Over the course of the four years since Dresner Advisory Services published its very first data catalog market study, the data cataloging market has grown increasingly crowded. Still, Alation has consistently ranked at the top of the Market Study. And during the time since Dresner Advisory Service’s published that first seminal market study, Alation has also been recognized as a leader in the Forrester Wave for Machine Learning Data Catalogs; a three-time leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Metadata Management Solutions, and been selected as a Gartner Peer Insights Customer’s Choice for Metadata Management Solutions.

Beyond Gartner and Forrester, Constellation Research has put Alation on its ShortList for Data Cataloging for four years in a row and named our customer at American Family Insurance as a finalist in the SuperNova Awards for digital transformation efforts for their use of Alation. That same customer would go on to win a Leadership in Digital Innovation award from Ventana Research for their ability to implement an ambitious data literacy initiative that leveraged the Alation Data Catalog as its foundation. Alation has also been named to a litany of top lists by the likes of CRN, Solutions Review, InformationWeek, and more.

Still, the direct feedback from BI users makes Dresner Advisory Services’ Market Study unique. Understanding what they value and their concerns,  and how each has changed over time provides a window into the work of BI users. For example, while the data catalog feature set continues to expand, the ability to search and navigate relevant content is still the premier value of a data catalog while at the same time governance has grown in importance. More than 80% of respondents indicate that governing content creation and sharing is important or critical to their organizations today. And at the same time, respondents continued to value data catalogs with a data dictionary, the ability to catalog multiple databases, and integration with self-service prep tools, like Trifacta and Paxata, both Alation partners.

These priorities and concerns are in line with the evolution of Alation’s data catalog as a platform approach. We continue to make it easy for data consumers to find and understand data regardless of where it resides while expanding our technology partner ecosystem, and deepening our support for governance and compliance.

As always, Dresner Advisory Services has compiled an insightful report worth reading for BI users, and IT and analytics leaders alike. To read this year’s Dresner Advisory Services’ Market Study on data catalogs, download the full report here.