If AI Can Sound Like an Analyst, What Replaces the Analyst Firm?
Will I have a job in 2 years?
Let’s get uncomfortable for a second.
I’ve made my living on expertise; helping enterprise IT buyers make better decisions through insight, analysis, and experience. I’ve worked as an advisor, analyst, architect, and everything in between.
But I’m going to say this out loud:
If a buyer can ask an AI agent for a quadrant, a feature matrix, or a roadmap… what happens to the analyst firm?
Here’s the short answer:
The research layer is already being replaced.
We used to pay analyst firms to summarize markets, compare products, and offer generic recommendations.
Now? A well-prompted LLM can do that in seconds and make it sound like a Gartner VP wrote it.
That’s not theoretical. It’s real. And it’s happening faster than analyst firms want to admit.
So what replaces the analyst firm?
Three things:
1.
Judgment-as-a-Service
AI knows what happened. It doesn’t know why it matters to you, right now, in your environment.
The new analyst is the one who can:
Ask better questions than AI.
Weigh risk, not just summarize features.
Tell you what to do when there’s no clear answer.
2.
Peer Validation Networks
It’s no longer about who published the report, it’s who’s in the room when the conversation happens.
Events like Tech Field Day, dinners like CxO Salons, or even trusted LinkedIn voices are replacing formal PDFs.
Buyers want to know:
“Who else is buying this? What did they learn the hard way?”
Vendors are skipping the analyst and building direct relationships with practitioners. And buyers trust it more when they can see the sausage being made.
3.
Agentic Interfaces to Insight
What used to be a whitepaper is now a chatbot.
Imagine this:
A CTO Advisor GPT trained on my takes from 20 years of enterprise infrastructure
Layered with vendor strategy briefings, live test results, and boardroom experience
Tuned for real-world roles—CIO, platform engineer, procurement leader
The insight doesn’t die.
It just gets delivered through a new interface.
So Where Do I Fit?
I’ve stopped trying to be the guy who “knows everything.”
I use AI to help me get to the answer faster. But my job is to make sure it’s the right answer—for the people making the decision.
That’s not research. That’s judgment.
That’s not content. That’s context.
The analyst firm isn’t dead. But the old model is.
The future? It’s a trust network powered by AI, run by people who’ve made the hard calls and carry the scars to prove it.
And if you’re in enterprise IT, trying to figure out where your next decision lands?
I’m still in the room. Let’s talk.