August 6, 2026 · AR Intelligence: Live #10
The August Quick Shots focused on two forces reshaping the analyst industry: the growing importance of proprietary data in the AI era, and what Gartner and Forrester’s Q2 earnings actually tell us about their trajectories.
Futurum, Verdantix, and Info-Tech illustrate three very different ways analyst firms are building proprietary data advantages. The common thread is increasingly important: as AI changes how research is created and delivered, the quality and exclusivity of the underlying data may matter more than the AI itself.
Meanwhile, Gartner and Forrester’s earnings offer a useful reality check on some of the louder narratives surrounding the industry. Both firms are showing interesting signs beneath the headline numbers, but they are also making increasingly different bets about how clients will access research in an AI-mediated world.
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Recording date: August 6, 2026
Host: Carter Lusher (LinkedIn)
The proprietary data arms race: Why Futurum’s ETR acquisition matters, and what Verdantix and Info-Tech reveal about alternatives to buying data.
New information flows: How analyst AI changes the path from vendor content to analyst insight to client consumption.
Gartner Q2: What its new engagement metrics may be telling us, and why the definitions matter.
Forrester Q2: Where stabilization appears to be taking hold, and where important questions remain.
Two AI distribution strategies: Gartner and Forrester are beginning to make notably different bets on where research should live.
There is a common thread running through both halves of this month’s Quick Shots: AI is changing the economics and information flows of the analyst industry, but not necessarily in the ways the simplest disruption narratives suggest.
Proprietary data is becoming more valuable because AI can make previously difficult-to-use information accessible at scale. At the same time, Gartner and Forrester are experimenting with different approaches to engagement and distribution that could reshape how clients consume analyst insight.
For AR teams, that creates a practical question that is becoming harder to ignore: Where does your information enter these new systems, and how does it ultimately reach the people making technology decisions?
That is the question I’ll be following closely as these new information flows develop.
Slides: Presentation slides referenced during the session are available upon request — inquiry@LusherAdvisory.com
Save the Date: Quick Shots - September 2026 Edition
Thursday, September 3, 2026
8:30 am PDT | 11:30 am EDT | 4:30 pm BST | 9:00 pm IST
One nice surprise this week: Lusher Advisory: AR Intelligence reached #22 on Substack’s Rising in Technology bestseller list.
Thank you to everyone who subscribes, reads, comments, and shares the research. It’s exciting to see this community continue to grow.
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