Gartner recognise CCaaS providers as strategies that provide similar functionalities to on-premise contact centre networks. The main difference is the fact that CCaaS allows the easier adoption of cloud-based applications, a stronger focus on CapEx subscriptions, and better access to stronger service capabilities.
In order to help their customers choose the best service providers, Gartner has created their own CCaaS magic quadrant, analysing 11 vendors, and organising them into the positions of “Leader”, “Challenger”, “Visionary”, or “Niche Player”.
The Leaders
The “leaders” in the Gartner CCaaS magic quadrant are difficult to define because the market is still maturing. For Gartner, the vendors who could offer a multichannel and a strong service capability were the ones that came out on top. The leaders for 2017 included:
Five 9
Based in California, Five9 offers the multi-tenant Virtual Contact Centre on its own cloud platform. Though the company’s focus started with small contact centres, they’re progressively moving towards larger accounts. While Five9’s premium support offering allows it to address the needs of complicated contact centre solutions, the company lacks the experience and resources required for global CCaaS deployments.
NICE InContact
Located in Utah, inContact was acquired by “NICE” in 2016, and today the new company offers the inContact CXone solution, using the Nice inContact customer interaction management platform. NICE inContact benefits from strong recognition in the CCaaS space, particularly for midsize contact centres. However, some Gartner clients feel there’s a lack of account management attention from this brand.
Genesys
Founded in California, Genesys offers multi-instance and multitenant CCaaS based on various platforms. Genesys provides CCaaS support for a range of customers and complex brand deployments, and it’s also responsible for supporting one of the largest installed bases of agents on the Gartner magic quadrant. However, some clients have expressed frustration about the quality of the Genesys CCaaS deployments.
The Challengers
The “challengers” in the Magic Quadrant are those with larger installed bases of customers, and more recognised strength in serving specific niches. They don’t always have the same brand awareness as leaders. This year’s challengers are:
8×8
Based in California, 8×8 offers the 8×8 Virtual Contact Centre, based on their own multitenant software platform. 2017 also saw the launch of the SMB-focused ContactNow solution. The brand has seen strong uptake of it’s offering from companies who want to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on corporate IT departments. However, 8×8 has limited experience supporting larger contact centre environments.
Serenova
Located in Texas, Serenova offers the CxEngage multitenant solution for CCaaS through a purpose-built platform. Though Serenova has experience supporting customers of varying sizes, it’s particularly adept with larger deployments. However, because the brand relies on technology partners to deliver solutions like analytics and predictive dialling, it falls behind some of the leaders in the magic quadrant.
The Visionaries
The Visionaries in the Gartner Magic Quadrant have a strong multi-channel approach and powerful service abilities, complete with a strategy for marketing, sales, and business development. This year’s visionaries are:
BroadSoft:
Based in Maryland, BroadSoft is a software tech provider offering the “CC-One” application to service providers. BroadSoft can analyse and exploit structured and unstructured data to offer more advanced business-intelligence driven solutions for contact routing in Realtime. However, BroadSoft isn’t well known as a provider for CCaaS at this time, it’s still focusing on developing the correct brand awareness.
Talkdesk:
Founded in California, Talkdesk is an application specialist offering CCaaS through its purpose-driven multitenant platform. Talkdesk offers a scalable solution, alongside tight integration with the Salesforce CRM, including single sign-on, automated workflows, and historical reporting. However, the company doesn’t natively support various contact centre technologies, such as SMS routing, and workforce management.
The Niche Players
Finally, the “Niche players” in the CCaaS magic quadrant are those that focus directly on a specific area of the market, delivering unique solutions to certain verticals. Niche players are more likely to be relatively new market entrants. This year’s niche players include:
Aspect:
Based in Arizona, Aspect is a software technology provider offering three CCaaS services: The Aspect Via Multitenant platform, the United IP platform, and the “Zipwire” service. Aspect’s offering delivers a range of rich and effective CCaaS functions, including workforce optimization, omnichannel self-service, and dialler capabilities. There’s also a common real-time and historical reporting solution across all capabilities. However, supporting three different products in CCaaS could spread Aspect pretty thinly, and some Gartner clients are concerned about its ability to commit to its midmarket offerings.
West:
Located in Nebraska, West UC offers multi-instance and multitenant CCaaS solutions across partner-based and proprietary technology platforms. The most notable solution available is Cloud Contact Pro, based on the UK acquisition of Magnetic North in 2015. West offers services across a range of platforms, but this might cause uncertainty among customers as to whether support and product investments will be maintained on Genesys and Cisco platforms.
Evolve IP:
Found in Pennsylvania, Evolve IP provides the Evolve Contact Suite on its own software platform. Though focused primarily on midsize and small contact centres, Evolve can also scale to larger deployments. It also offers services as stand-alone or packaged options too. Evolve IP provides both UCaaS and CCaaS functionality on a native basis, with support for extension-to-extension dialling, shared presence, and instant messaging. However, the company lacks the experience of supporting global CCaaS deployments.
TeleTech:
Finally, TeleTech, based in Colorado provides the “Humanify Customer Engagement as a Service” solution based on the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution for the contact centre. TeleTech generally services the mid-size to large contact centre market, with strong system integration and consultative sales capabilities through the acquisition of eLoyalty. However, TeleTech doesn’t always meet the conneeds of small to midsize contact centres.
