The most confusing and unpredictable year that many of us have ever had is finally drawing to a close. All eyes are on 2021 to deliver a more positive stream of experiences. In the unified communication, collaboration, and customer experience landscapes, vendors are working hard to generate excitement for the year ahead.
All the while, companies are adapting to the changes that 2020 brought. In the last week, we’ve seen the arrival of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS, new updates to Cisco Webex, and countless other exciting transformations.
Here are the top stories from the last 7 days.
Exploring the Gartner CCaaS Magic Quadrant for 2020
Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report is always one of the most highly-regarded tools in the market for assessing technology vendors, with every company fighting to gain a spot in one of those sought-after quadrants. This year, the CCaaS (Contact Centre as a Service) Magic Quadrant sparked some controversy after Gartner chose to combine 2 reports into one.
Usually, Gartner creates two separate CCaaS reports, with one focusing on Western Europe, and the other on North America. For 2020, Gartner consolidated the quadrants, and introduced the concept of the “four pillars of customer service” for assessing brand performance. Here’s who made the last for the MQ for CCaaS in 2020.
Five9 Challenges the CCaaS Magic Quadrant
Changes to the way that Gartner makes its Magic Quadrant decisions are sure to spark arguments somewhere in the vendor landscape. This year, Five9 lost its position as a Leader in the CCaaS Magic Quadrant, after Gartner chose to combine the reports for the North American and Western European markets. The company spoke out as a result, suggesting that Gartner had made the wrong decision.
Five9 has held onto a leadership position with the Magic Quadrant for several years thanks to it’s exceptional approach to contact centre technology, but it’s lack of presence in Western Europe meant that the company dropped down to the Challenger segment this year. Here’s what Five9 and their CEO, Rowan Trollope, had to say about the change.
Save 48% on Microsoft Teams Enterprise Pricing
Microsoft Teams is clearly one of the most popular tools in the market for collaboration these days, with more than 115 million daily active users. The UC Today team has been active on Microsoft Teams for a while now, and Rob Scott, our Publisher, discovered a way to cut costs for Microsoft Teams Enterprise with Business Voice.
Rob recently released a blog explaining exactly how you can also cut the costs of your Microsoft Teams package if you’re a small business in search of the perfect combination of collaboration tool functionality and business calling. Check out the full step-by-step guide here.
Cisco Webex Releases New Updates
As collaboration tools continue to thrive at the heart of the business landscape, the key vendors in the marketplace today are constantly updating their services with new functionality. Cisco Webex recently announced a selection of valuable changes to the Webex platform for November within the Webex blog. These updates include the arrival of new in-meeting mute warnings that tell you when you’re speaking with mute activated, and background noise removal.
Among the various new updates to the Cisco Webex experience are a variety of solutions intended to improve user experience. For instance, you can remove background noise in your meetings with a click of a button now and switch the theme on Webex Teams from light to dark mode. Check out all of the latest features here.
Exploring VR for Collaboration
Virtual reality is a novel and exciting concept for many people these days. It’s a chance to step into a brand new world and interact with digital content like never before. Lately, as face-to-face interactions have grown less common, companies have started to recognise that virtual reality might have benefits for the communication and collaboration space too.
With a virtual reality service, companies could facilitate better, more meaningful moments between team members. When a physical shared space isn’t available, VR opens the door to a digital landscape where team members can interact with information, connect with their colleagues, and feel more engaged in their work. Read through our article on VR’s potential in collaboration to learn more.
What were your favourite stories from the last week? Have we missed a report that you think is important? Let us know by joining the conversation on social media.
