CCaaS is now the "dominant mode" of operations for new contact centers and expansions of older service operations – as per Ventana Research.
Yet, in its Contact Center Suites Buyers Guide 2023, the analyst suggests that tech decision-making in the space is less a question of on-premise vs. the cloud these days.
Instead, buyers purchase tech primarily after assessing how it can adapt to their existing processes and future plans.
After that initial assessment, there are many platform providers to mull over.
After all, many new vendors have entered the market from various, sometimes surprising, directions. Meanwhile, more established vendors have come under pressure to adapt.
Recognizing this, Ventana Research created a 59-page evaluation, dissecting the contact center suites of 22 prominent CCaaS providers. Here’s how they performed.
Ventana Research’s Inclusion Criteria and Methodology
Ventana Research only evaluated CCaaS vendors that operate in more than one country and have an install base of over 50 customers.
The analyst also specified that providers must have a good standing "financially and ethically."
Alongside these considerations, Ventana placed an emphasis on agent management, requesting that each vendor offer the following capabilities:
- Agent desktop support
- Agent performance management
- Automation and self-service
- Data and integrations
- Interaction handling analytics
- Interaction routing (voice and digital)
- Remote workforce support
- Workforce and quality management
These capabilities must appear on the vendor’s website and be generally available.
Ventana then asked providers who met the criteria to complete a comprehensive questionnaire – which it broke down into the following categories:
- Adaptability
- Capability
- Manageability
- Reliability
- Usability
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) / Return on Investment (ROI)
- Validation of the Vendor
Alongside that, the analyst asked for product verification via documentation and/or demos.
After gathering all this info, Ventana applied weighted analytics to rank the 22 vendors on their contact center suites and spotlight high-level insights into each of their platforms.
Below are some of the top takeaways.
NICE and Genesys Lead the Way
As in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS, NICE and Genesys claimed the top two spots in the overall rankings.
The two vendors also scored highest across six of the seven primary categories.
Indeed, NICE ranked first for capability, reliability, usability, and TCO/ROI. Meanwhile, Genesys achieved the best grades for adaptability and validation.
Manageability proved the only category in which these vendors didn’t take the top spot, with Content Guru claiming pole position.
While it may not have the market presence of NICE or Genesys, Content Guru often scores well in industry reports across such criteria – with expertise in complex enterprise CCaaS deployments.
Verint Races Into Third Spot
Despite only releasing its Open CCaaS Platform in June, Verint has raced into the top three of Ventana Research’s overall rankings.
A significant part of this is the considerable emphasis on agent management, an area Verint has much expertise in as a stalwart WEM solutions provider.
Indeed, the analyst singles out its workforce management suite as a central strength.
Nevertheless, its agent desktop also drew plaudits, helping Verint to rank in second place for the overall capabilities of its contact center suite.
Alongside this, Ventana Research spotlighted the “large resources” the vendor dedicates to customer commitment and support as a critical differentiator.
Salesforce Makes the Top Ten
As Service Cloud breaks the boundaries of CRM, more industry observers consider it a CCaaS solution – with a voice channel, omnichannel routing, digital engagement tools, and more.
Still, Salesforce does little to advertise it as such, perhaps frightened to hamper its relationships with leading contact center platform providers.
Yet, under this cloak, Salesforce works with many service operations as their core contact center vendor – and the CRM leader seems to be playing this role well.
Indeed, the vendor ranks eighth overall in Ventana’s report, with Salesforce’s integration ecosystem and customer experience receiving commendations.
Nonetheless, to break into the upper echelons of the market, Ventana recommends improvements to its platform reliability. Diving deeper into the study, the analyst states:
It could develop the processes and procedures to ensure business continuity.
LiveVox and Emplifi Impress Ventana
While leading vendors include many familiar names, LiveVox and Emplifi defied their smaller market presence to impress in the overall rankings, placing fifth and ninth, respectively.