Deciphering Gartner’s 2015 Magic Quadrant and Why It Matters

Earlier this week, Gartner issued their 2015 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure (CCI).  Genesys once again is recognized as a Leader.  In fact, it is our seventh consecutive year as a leader and seventh time positioned furthest in Completeness of Vision among Leaders.

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Genesys.

If you’re unfamiliar with Gartner Magic Quadrants, they evaluate vendors on both completeness of vision and ability to execute. The visualized results consist of placement within one of four quadrants that classify vendors as visionaries, niche players, challengers, or leaders.

So what does this mean for potential CCI buyers in the market?

So what does it actually mean to contact center and IT executives who are evaluating contact center solutions and trying to make sense of it all?

From our perspective it means a lot.  And it should for you as a prospective buyer of contact center solutions as well. Below are five ways we see that you can use the Contact Center Infrastructure Magic Quadrant as a valuable tool to help you make the right choice when it comes to upgrading your customer experience solutions:

1. Understand the Vision for the Market: Getting to know the vision of the CCI vendors makes sense when evaluating and future-proofing the solutions from the various vendors listed. Knowing the state of the technology is important when creating RFPs, mapping out possible solution scenarios, and understanding how they align to your company’s strategy for customer experience. It is worth spending the time to understand where the market and the vendors listed feel the market is headed and how you can take advantage innovations both today and years from now.
2. Gain Useful Insight for Prospective Buyers – Gartner Magic Quadrant reports help buyers make decisions that best meet their technology and services needs or solve their specific problems. Whether it is understanding the value of using a single vendor for “best of suite” versus multiple providers, or exploring new areas such as the cloud, Gartner provides unique and valuable insight to help buyers make smart decisions.
3. Learn the Difference Between Contact Center Infrastructure and CRM – Contact centers are typically the center of all of customer engagement interactions. So it’s critical to know the different functionalities in the Contact Center Infrastructure (CCI) and the CRM Customer Engagement Center (CEC) market.  According to the Gartner report, CCI solutions can route multi-channel interactions, but “voice and telephony tend to play an important role.” In contrast, CEC solutions “tend to focus on channels other than voice,” according to the report.  Learning this single difference in platforms could be the key to your customer experience infrastructure.
4. Get the Latest Market Trends and Industry Direction – Gartner leverages its vast knowledge on what is happening in the market when compiling its Magic Quadrant reports. They are an industry leader in informing buyers with a high-level view of the market, and the latest areas of innovation or consolidation. If you want to understand what direction a market or technology is heading, Gartner provides the latest view.
5. An Objective View of Competing Vendors – The Gartner Magic Quadrant reports carry out a rigorous competitive analysis of those vendors in the market. Before vendors can even participate, they need to qualify by meeting a pre-determined set of criteria – including breadth and depth of product. They also interview all participating companies, talking to their customers and challenging their views. If you want to know more about the competitive landscape, Gartner Magic Quadrant reports are a good place to start.

But don’t take my word for it — find out for yourself!

Download the Gartner 2015 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure here for more information.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.