Should You Trust Frost & Sullivan Awards?

Frost & Sullivan awards are common in the security industry. In the last decade, Frost has named dozens of video surveillance companies award winners. Winners have marketed their awards heavily in press releases, presentations and marketing.

Awards are important. Awards should help us make better decisions and identify the best choices. Therefore, trust in the award granter is crucial. We need to be confident that awards are based on merit.

[With 50 responses, the poll is now closed. The poll is not scientific.]

Frost & Sullivan Awards

Frost & Sullivan grants awards to video surveillance companies multiple times per year in a variety of categories. They describe their selection process:

"Frost & Sullivan analyst team tracks end-user requirements and market dynamics within the industry. The process includes interviews with suppliers, end-users and industry experts. The product lines are compared with customer base demands, and the top-ranking provider is then presented the award."

In a interview with Frost & Sullivan, I was told that award recipients did not pay for awards and that comparison/evaluation data is not released to ensure the confidentiality of manufacturers.

Problems with Frost & Sullivan Awards

After interviewing various award recipients and examining the public documents, I saw 4 critical problems:

• Vendors tell me they pay to use the awards
• No criteria or justification is ever provided
• The award categories are often dubious
• Frost & Sullivan stated goal is to help manufacturers

Conclusion

Awards are important and trust is crucial. If we are going to have awards that claim to judge and identify the best companies or products in the industry, we need to be confident that the judges are doing so fairly and with the interest of the community.

Frost & Sullivan and the award recipients should be clear about their financial relationship and the process of selection so that industry professionals can assess these awards appropriately.