It's that time again!
Every year, we eagerly await the results of Gartner's Magic Quadrant report for UCaaS and Meeting Solutions. You can see our overview of the UCaaS report here, and now we have the Meeting Solutions overview too!
According to Gartner, Meeting Solutions are any real-time applications for collaboration that help to promote better teamwork in the professional landscape. This year, the following companies were added to the report:
- Avaya: Now exceeding the required threshold for UCC revenue
- Enghouse (Vidyo): Enghouse acquired Vidyo
- Pexip: Merger with Videxio upgrades Pexip's Meeting portfolio
- TrueConf: Revenue now exceeds the required limit
- ZTE: Was excluded from 2018 because of export issues, but back this year
Gartner has removed Arkadin from the report after determining that its latest offerings aren't in line with the MQ inclusion criteria.
Meeting Solutions Leaders 2019
The "Leaders" in the Gartner MQ for Meeting Solutions are those that have the highest ability to execute and completeness of vision. This year, the leaders have stayed the same, echoing the choices from 2018, which included:
- Cisco
- Zoom
- Microsoft
- LogMeIn
Cisco
Cisco delivers a wide selection of Meeting Solutions for today's teams, including access to video endpoints that can support everything from boardrooms to huddle rooms. The Cisco Meeting Server even supports on-premises deployments, while Cisco Webex Teams delivers exceptional options for workstream collaboration via SaaS. Gartner noted that Cisco's range of endpoint and application options allow the company to provide a more fully integrated solution than any other vendor in the report. Additionally, Cisco also benefits from a comprehensive vertical industry program, addressing a selection of specific use cases and compliance requirements.
Microsoft
Microsoft delivers its Skype for Business solution for premises-based, hybrid, and dedicated managed service deployments. There's also access to Microsoft Teams for SaaS. According to Gartner, Microsoft's range of deployment options make it a highly flexible choice for today's organisations. There's even a free version of Microsoft Teams to help get businesses started. Additionally, Microsoft is excellent at addressing the needs and concerns of enterprise buyers and teams in a range of workforce roles.
Zoom
Zoom is a leading Meeting Solutions vendor that offers hybrid, SaaS, managed service, and dedicated deployment solutions to companies around the world. Zoom's wide selection of deployment options, including a freemium package, gives today's companies complete flexibility when choosing their rollout strategy. What's more, Gartner notes that Zoom's rich selection of features and expanding partner community makes it an excellent choice for organisations from all environments.
LogMeIn
LogMeIn provides a range of Meeting Solutions for today's businesses, including join.me, GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToConnect and many more. Additionally, Gartner drew attention to the company's selection of popular partner endpoints for conference rooms too. The LogMeIn brand focuses on delivering fantastic meeting workflows, evidenced by extensive integrations with scheduling, third-party productivity, and sales solutions. What's more, LogMeIn operates meeting solutions that have remained highly popular among a range of enterprises today.
Meeting Solutions Challengers 2019
The Challengers in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions are defined by their excellent ability to execute and their powerful positions in the marketplace. Once again, the Challengers have remained the same between 2018 and 2019, including:
- Adobe
Google's meeting room solutions include Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet for SaaS, as well as a range of partner-branded and Google's own endpoints. According to Gartner, customers of Google benefit from the company's ability to design flexible workflows across a range of G Suite products, as well as Google's close connections with software and vendor partners. Additionally, Hangouts Meet is included as standard with the G Suite, which makes it a good choice for people with a strong Google portfolio already.
Adobe
Adobe's Meeting Solution offering comes in the form of Adobe Connect, which is designed for premises-based, managed service, and SaaS deployments. Adobe focuses heavily on customers from specific verticals like financial services, healthcare, and government, making it appealing to highly regulated industries. Additionally, Gartner notes that Adobe Connect's feature parity and critical partnerships for hosting make it a powerful choice for today's organisations supporting workers in the remote, mobile and desk environments.
Meeting Solutions Niche Vendors 2019
The Niche Vendors mentioned by Magic Quadrant are those with limited completeness of vision and ability to execute, but plenty of potential to grow. These vendors have a lot of great technology to offer, but they may be limited in reach and size. Last year's niche vendors were:
- Huawei
- PGi
- Arkadin
- Lifesize
- StarLeaf
This year, we have:
Huawei
Huawei offers a variety of proprietary conference room endpoints and infrastructure solutions for premises-based companies, and an eSpace cloud-based SaaS platform too. Huawei includes a lot of product features that other companies can't provide, including support for virtual breakout rooms, automated translation of meeting transcripts and native support of room systems using digital signage displays. Huawei also has a strong track record of adjusting to the changing needs of the market according to Gartner.
