A Virtified Loop is an evaluation of a product (offering) and a vendor (provider) for a specific use case. The offering and provider are evaluated and each is given a score from 0 (lowest) to 9 (highest).
Virtified defines an offering as a product or service.
We have standardised on the term 'offering' so as to be inclusive of hardware and software products as well as the gamut of IT services (e.g., managed, hosted, hyperscale cloud). Wherever possible, a Virtified Loop will specify a version for the offering.
Virtified defines a provider as the entity that supplies the offering.
We have standardised on the term 'provider' so as to be inclusive of hardware and software vendors as well as IT service providers. A provider may also be a not-for-profit organisation or other community of individuals (including an upstream open source project).
Virtified defines a use case is the generalised application (use) of an offering to meet specific needs.
A use case weighting represents the importance of an evaluation criteria for a specific usage of the offering.
For each use case, the technical criteria is given a multiplier based on Virtified's determination of the importance of the capability (including zero, which reflects a feature deemed unnecessary for the general requirements of the use case).
A Virtified Loop does not:
Evaluate a market. It evaluates an offering for a specific use case.
Why? Customers explore markets but they buy offerings.
Have a particular publishing cadence. Each Virtified Loop can be re-evaluated and updated at any time.
Why? There are many possible reasons but the mostly likely would be the release of a major new version of an offering or a significant change to the provider.
Evaluate generic factors such as vertical alignment, sales presence, marketing.
Why? These factors are best done by the buyer in the specific context of their needs.
A Virtified Loop does:
Evaluate a specific offering from a specific provider for a specific use case.
Represent a fully independent assessment by an experienced IT industry analyst.
Focus primarily on objective measures and demonstrable evidence from the public domain.
Formally solicit review from the provider prior to publishing.