Scores are an editorial layer on top of the factual profiles. They are not endorsements and they are not paid placements. Each company is scored on 7 dimensions using a 1–5 scale. Everything behind a score is public: company websites, documentation, press releases, and LinkedIn data. Higher scores require stronger public evidence.
Evidence rules
- Official company documentation beats secondary commentary when the two conflict.
- Self-reported claims are allowed, but they are treated as claims and scored conservatively when they cannot be independently checked.
- Missing public evidence does not automatically mean a bad product. It lowers transparency first, and may lower security or quality if critical details are absent.
- Scores are category-relative. A 4 in BI tooling does not mean the same thing as a 4 in demand response hardware.
- The reviewer sees calibration context from the wider directory, not one company in isolation. A 5 is meant to be rare within the peer set.
- Each score note links back to the specific public pages that support it. Where evidence is thin, the score stays conservative.
Enterprise scope rule
For large public companies and conglomerates, the review is scoped to the relevant product line or business unit. That keeps Siemens Building X, ABB Ability, or EcoStruxure comparable with specialist vendors. Parent-company headcount, funding, and public-market status are never used to inflate product-level comparisons.
What does not count
Vendor demos, paid analyst access, private customer references, and unpublished implementation detail do not influence a published score unless the same evidence is public. Scores change when the public evidence changes.
Interoperability
How easily the product can ingest, export, or coordinate data with third-party systems, protocols, hardware, and partner platforms.
- 1: Little public evidence of open interfaces or third-party integration.
- 3: Common integration paths are available, but depth or documentation is uneven.
- 5: Well-documented APIs, broad protocol coverage, and proven third-party integrations.
Scale
Operational footprint relative to the category: markets served, customer base, deployments, supported accounts, devices, or data volume.
- 1: Small or early footprint.
- 3: Established in a few markets or customer segments.
- 5: Large multi-market footprint with clear evidence of production scale.
Stability
Likelihood the product and company remain dependable over time, based on tenure, ownership, customer traction, and organisational continuity.
- 1: High uncertainty around ownership, viability, or execution continuity.
- 3: Reasonably established, but with some unanswered durability questions.
- 5: Long track record and strong ownership or market position.
Functionality
Breadth and depth of workflows the product appears to support for its target category, not as a generic software score.
- 1: Very narrow feature scope.
- 3: Covers the core category jobs well.
- 5: Deep category coverage with advanced workflows and adjacent modules.
Security
Publicly documented security posture, certifications, access controls, hosting model, and regulated-market readiness.
- 1: Very limited public security evidence.
- 3: Standard enterprise controls are visible, but details are partial.
- 5: Strong public security posture with meaningful certifications or regulated-market evidence.
Quality
Evidence of product maturity and execution quality: references, analyst recognition, docs quality, implementation depth, and category fit.
- 1: Thin evidence of product maturity.
- 3: Credible product with normal maturity signals.
- 5: Strong evidence of mature product execution and sustained customer value.
Transparency
How much of the product, company, and commercial model is understandable from public evidence, including docs, architecture, pricing, and limitations.
- 1: Very little verifiable public detail.
- 3: Enough public detail to evaluate the basics.
- 5: Exceptionally clear public documentation and evidence.