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Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service Applications
Written by: Johan Jacobs via gartner.com
Gartner's Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service Applications shows a market for
mostly mature technologies with buyers increasingly focusing on mobile, video and social
channels, while expanding content in the knowledgebase for self-service.
Market Definition/Description
The CRM Web Customer Service Applications Magic Quadrant is based on the Web customer
service framework, and consists of eight primary building blocks (also see "CRM Web
Customer Service Application Framework, 2012"):
Knowledgebase for self-service — Web-based self-service supported by a knowledge
management engine and database through which to perform advanced content delivery. The
key focus is to achieve at least an 85% relevance of response (see Note 1).
Email response management — Email management environment with natural language
understanding, optical character recognition (OCR), email routing, virtual email agents,
automated email categorization and escalation, keyword spotting, and text emotion detection.
Web chat — Online Web text-based interaction with a live agent or speech-based interaction
with a virtual assistant. The Web chat sessions are routed in a similar manner to voice calls,
and a group of text chat agents will engage with the client when receiving an incoming Web
chat request.
Collaborative browsing — Simultaneous browsing of a website to assist with shopping cart or
forms completion. Often referred to as assisted forms completion, this activity will allow an
agent to respond to a customer request for online assistance or click-for-help request.
Virtual assistant — Interaction with a virtual entity (humanoid) via a Web-based or mobile
device interface. Interaction types are text-to-text, text-to-speech, speech-to-text and speech-
to-speech.
Video services — Single directional outbound video services from an agent to a customer,
and video-based guided assistance using how-to videos stored in the knowledgebase or a
social media channel.
Mobile customer service with SMS — Service notification and requests via mobile device or
smartphone using data and an SMS channel, and the embedding of a URL into an SMS text.
Also providing mobile customer service applications or engagement on channels such as
mobile Web chat and mobile virtual assistants.
Social services — Harvesting of content from social networks and updating the
knowledgebase with the content to allow better resolution of recurring problems across all
interaction channels.
In addition to the primary components, there are three other components that are important for
managing the Web customer experience:
Multichannel analytics — The use of business intelligence and analytical tools to obtain
comprehensive insight into the usage of, and customer interaction across, all channels
deployed
Multichannel feedback management — Using survey tools to obtain customer feedback
across all the above channels following interaction within a Web customer service channel
Multichannel interaction recording — Recording of Web searches, email chains, Web chat
transcripts, collaborative browse sessions and/or SMS interactions for quality purposes
The market size for Web customer service is currently estimated at $1 billion, up from $900
million in 2011 and up from $820 million in 2010.
Magic Quadrant Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service Applications
Source: Gartner (February 2013)
Vendor Strengths and Cautions
Anboto
Anboto is a privately owned provider of Web customer service based in Bilbao, Spain. It is
primarily focused on the European market. Gartner estimates the vendor's annual revenue at
between $5 million to $10 million. Anboto has won a number of industry awards and is rapidly
building an expanding customer base as a result of sales and infrastructure investments, as
well as opening an office in Redwood City, California. This Niche Player provider of Web
customer service uses a sophisticated algorithm to conceptualize the knowledge delivery
based on a five different analytical processes (morphologic, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and
functional), averaging an above 90% relevance of response in its self-service responses. The
Anboto solution is exclusively cloud-based, with a software as a service (SaaS) business
model, and pricing includes a setup fee and monthly pay-per-use charge, with the cost of
maintenance also based on use.
Strengths
All the Anboto channels are on the same integrated platform, with all the products integrating
with the same knowledgebase that has a single administrative dashboard for knowledge
maintenance.
Under the same analytics tool, a client can check the interaction channel analytics, as well as
the recorded surveys of all the different channels.
The Social module allows the use of the Anboto Virtual Assistant for Customer Service and
Sales from a Facebook page. This allows clients to interact with the virtual assistant without
leaving the social network. The virtual assistant shares a knowledgebase with the Web version,
so there's no need to maintain different knowledgebases for different channels.
Cautions
In addition to the vertical focus on finance, transportation and healthcare, Anboto needs to
expand its focus to other growth verticals, such as retail and public sector.
Due to its primary focus on Spain and Europe, Anboto has a limited capability to sell and
provide support in other international venues. Recently established offices in the U.S. should
help business expand into wider geographies.
Anboto has a mobile customer service development platform in the native Web customer
service suite, but further development is required for SMS delivery. The library of packaged
mobile applications is also not as comprehensive as some of the other providers in the Magic
Quadrant.
Artificial Solutions
Artificial Solutions is a Visionary provider of Web customer service focused primarily on the
European market. Gartner estimates the vendor's annual revenue at $10 million to $14 million.
The Teneo customer interaction suite has become well-established and mature in the past 12
months, and it forms the core of Artificial Solutions' offering. Artificial Solutions has a flexible
licensing structure that is either based on SaaS or perpetual licensing. The licensing is not
based on hardware infrastructure or the number of licenses, but on the traffic that is generated
through the system, which is measured by the volume of interactions. Clients pay an initial fee
for the software and then per interaction.
Strengths
At the core of the Artificial Solutions' offering is a knowledgebase that is managed and
accessed through the Teneo Interaction Engine. It is able to receive and send data from and to
external systems, in addition to its own knowledgebase, thereby extending the capability of the
overall solution.
Artificial Solutions is able to stream how-to videos either within the Teneo platform or via social
networks. The video content is accessed via the knowledgebase and can be played through a
Web page in response to a service query placed through the virtual assistant, or the link can be
emailed or displayed in a Web chat.
Teneo can search through aggregated social media content for keywords. Using natural
language, it can understand the sentiment behind comments and respond appropriately,
whether that means providing helpful information, a link to a website or a telephone number.
Cautions
Artificial Solutions does not have any Web chat nor collaborative browsing capabilities. For
these functions, customers will have to engage with partners, such as NTRglobal or
LivePerson. There are currently no plans to add these channels to the native platform.
The email response management solution can analyze the content of an incoming email, but it
cannot open email attachments and process the content in the attachments.
Due to the mainly European focus, Artificial Solutions is limited in its ability to support and sell
its solution in other geographies.
Avaya
Avaya is a $5.547 billion company selling a comprehensive set of communications software
and services. With approximately 400 employees dedicated to the development of Web
customer service solutions, Avaya provides multichannel and Web self-service solutions for
internal and external customer use. The Avaya Aura Contact Center Suite forms the platform
for most of the Web-customer-service-related channels and is sold on a per-server basis, with
licensing required for agents. Avaya also offers an enhanced software licensing program that
provides pricing economies based on scalar user license fees, an increased level of flexibility
for software license moves and software version investment protection. Avaya has moved to
the Visionary quadrant following the release of Avaya Aura, but it still lacks the functionality of a
deep, rich knowledge management solution, integrated with the other channels, and this will
restrict further movement at this time.
Strengths
Avaya provides a variety of collaborative capabilities using automatic synchronization, where a
customer and agent can have their browsing synchronized and customer page sharing is
available through page push, which helps customers fill out forms and through which
predefined or ad hoc pages can be pushed to customers. No customer download is required
for enabling these activities.
The Avaya Social Media Manager scans and processes events from external social and
community sources. It gathers potential interactions from social channels, analyzes social work
items, selects appropriate events for agent review and then assigns the social work items for
action.
The vendor provides real-time video sessions between agents and customers, supporting both
one-way and two-way video chat. Video collaboration also includes the ability for agents to
show customers how-to videos.
Cautions
The knowledgebase self-service tool is provided in the form of an FAQ solution and has good
search facilities, but it is only available in one of the Avaya Web customer service solutions.
Avaya indicates that it can integrate with a number of virtual assistant solutions. The vendor
has also revealed plans for growth and acquisition in this area.
Avaya has no emotion detection built into its core routing platform, but does offer emotion
detection in its Social Media Manager product.
eGain
eGain is a $44 million company based in San Francisco. The eGain solution is available in on-
premises, hosted and SaaS deployments. The vendor's biggest strength lies in its extensive
knowledge management capabilities, which are tightly integrated with and support all the
various Web customer service interaction channels. The eGain solution is hosted in California
and England, providing multicontinent opportunities. A variety of pricing options allows
businesses to purchase what they need in terms of applications (one or more at a time) and
deployment options (cloud or on-premises). The pricing options include user-based and
session-based, with user-based pricing in the range of $80 to $120 per user per month for
cloud deployments, and pricing in the range $1,000 to $1,500 per user for on-premises
deployments, depending on the application, with additional purchase volume discounts. Other
pricing options, such as session-based and offer-based pricing, are available, depending on
the application. Annual maintenance costs for on-premises deployments are typically 12% to
15% of the license fee, and there are no maintenance costs for hosted deployments.
Moreover, eGain offers an investment model called SLaaS (for solution as a service), which is
a month-to-month, cloud-based deployment option encouraging risk-free innovation.
Strengths
eGain's SLaaS agreement requires no contract of any kind and customers only pay for what
they want to use. The fast, cloud-based implementation provides an ideal platform for
customers to pilot a wide variety of Web customer service channels before deciding on what to
deploy.
The eGain knowledgebase is the best among all the providers evaluated and provides for all
five of the following levels of search: keyword matching, natural language, semantic
understanding, intent-based search and case-based reasoning. This federated search
approach allows customers to obtain very high accuracy when performing searches of internal
or external sources.
The vendor is one of the few providers in the Magic Quadrant that not only has a highly
functional solution for Web customer service, but also has an equally efficient multichannel
solution to support Web commerce and sales-based activities.
Cautions
The eGain platform is 100% pure Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and it
implements service-oriented architecture (SOA). There is no Microsoft .NET solution available
or planned for the future.
The vendor has increased its investment in distribution, recently adding local teams in
Germany, France, Singapore and South Africa. It will need to educate customers in these new
markets and adapt its product strategy to effectively serve local needs.
eGain APIs have been significantly enhanced with REST APIs for its knowledge platform. This
presents a new opportunity for partners to develop value-added solutions, embedding
knowledge in business processes. However, the vendor's partner network will need training
and certification to take full advantage of this capability.
Eptica
Eptica is a $9 million Niche Player vendor of Web customer service solutions. The Eptica Web
customer service suite provides a single platform for email response management, Web,
social, chat and mobile, supporting multiple brands, suppliers and languages. Eptica's central
engine comprises a self-learning knowledgebase, semantic and natural language processing,
an interaction workflow engine, and analytics. Interaction detection, routing and business rules
enable the management of multitier customer interaction between the customer, the service
provider and the enterprise. Both on-premises and SaaS options are available from the vendor,
and licensing options are charged for on a concurrent user basis, based on the number of
connected agents. There are also knowledgebase usage volume limits that are charged for
based on the number of interactions. Maintenance is paid at 20% of the list price; however,
with concurrent user pricing, this could be difficult to calculate.
Strengths
Eptica Self-service enables video customer service through the use of how-to video
knowledgebase articles. Video can be stored in the knowledgebase content library, and a link
is contained within the self-service text to a YouTube video.
The Eptica Facebook Interaction Portal provides integration and management of inquiries from
Facebook users. All Facebook interactions (and Twitter messages) are also recorded within
the customer's individual contact history. Agents process Facebook questions through the
Eptica Email Management interface in the same way they process inbound emails.
Drill-down reporting is provided as standard within the Eptica Web customer service solution,
providing customer insights into all multichannel interactions, including social media channels.
Cautions
Eptica's primary focus is in Europe and Asia, and the vendor currently has no plans to extend
its operations to the U.S.
Eptica does not have a virtual assistant solution, and customers will have to engage a third
party to fill this gap. The vendor also does not have any plans on its road map to develop a
virtual assistant.
Eptica's Web customer service solution is built entirely on the Java EE platform, and there is no
.NET option available. Customers with this architecture standard will have to invest in
integration efforts to run the solution.
Genesys
Genesys is a $600 million company. It uses a three-tiered SOA approach to Web customer
service. The various channels are managed by the following servers: E-Mail Server, Chat
Server, SMS/MMS and Social Messaging Server, Web API Server, Interaction Server,
Universal Routing Server (URS), Stat Server and Classification Server, as well as Training
Server, which is focused on providing a seamless customer experience. Genesys provides on-
premises, CPU and subscription-based licensing and charges by the seat or named user, and
has an application fee for social media. Maintenance is calculated as 16% to 20% of the net
license price.
Strengths
With Genesys Mobile Engagement, customers can use a mobile application to connect directly
to an agent, who then receives session information, customer history, preferences, location
and other contextual information for the mobile interaction.
The vendor uses Conversation Manager to gather and execute on key customer information,
and to manage cross-channel conversations.
The Genesys social solution has the following key capabilities: Monitoring to automate the
process of listening, and to analyze the action ability and sentiment of a social media message;
prioritizing to determine the service level and priority of the social media interaction;
and engaging, which aligns the social media interaction with the ideal available resource to
service the interaction.
Cautions
Genesys has disclosed an ambitious road map to develop its own knowledge management
capability, which, until last year, was primarily provided through an OEM arrangement. There is
risk in any development road map, so enterprises are cautioned to understand how and when
the Genesys suite meets their specific knowledge requirements.
Genesys does not have a virtual assistant solution, but has partnered with Oddcast to provide
functionality in this area.
The private equity and venture capital firms that own Genesys have high expectations for
growth, so the vendor will be aggressively pursuing new markets. As it pushes itself beyond its
traditional market segments, it may stretch its go-to-market delivery capabilities. Enterprises
should evaluate the level of support they will require from partners or from Genesys for the
overall solution.
Interactive Intelligence
Interactive Intelligence is a $210 million company and currently has six data centers around the
world. At the core of all Web customer service interactions is the Customer Interaction Center
(CIC) server, which routes, monitors, records and reports on all interactions. The on-premises-
based licensing includes a server fee for every locally installed switchover pair, and a user- or
workstation-based perpetual access license to handle email and Web chat. Licenses can be
upgraded from single to multichannel. Separate licenses are needed for the Interaction
Recorder, Interaction Optimizer, Interaction Analyzer and e-FAQ. Communications as a service
(CaaS) licensing provides a monthly agent fee, with an add-on monthly charge for multiple
channels. Maintenance is 18% of list price for standard maintenance for premises-based
software, and CaaS pricing includes all software maintenance.
Strengths
The 2011 launch of Interaction Analyzer provided the ability to perform real-time keyword and
phrase spotting during interactions as it monitors the conversation stream between an agent
and customer. Future releases will also include a contextual overview of each conversation.
During a Web chat session, prewritten responses (such as greetings, closings and commonly
asked questions, as well as responses from e-FAQ) can be dragged and dropped into the chat
window to speed up chat times and standardize interactions.
The Interaction Recorder solution provides the ability to record Web chats and emails, and to
score them for quality assurance purposes. Recording also includes the option to screen
record the agent's activity while working on an email or Web chat.
Cautions
The e-FAQ solution is the vendor's answer to a knowledgebase solution; however, during the
past 12 months, no new functionality has been released for this product. Currently, it lacks the
advanced features one would find in a full self-service knowledge management deployment.
Interactive Intelligence does not have a virtual assistant solution available nor does it have a
collaborative browsing solution; it partners with LiveLOOK for the latter.
Interactive Intelligence has some limited video services available and has developed
integrations with Microsoft Lync, IBM Sametime and Polycom to provide video queuing. With
regard to knowledge management, videos can be accessed via the e-FAQ solution, but no
searchable scripts can be created from the video content.
Kana (Enterprise)
Kana is a $100 million company, following some strategic acquisitions. Kana Enterprise
provides both an on-premises and a cloud-based context-aware SOA with three architectural
tiers: service experience (focusing on the user interface and experience), orchestration
(focusing on knowledge, email, Web chat and other channel services) and integration (focusing
on creating a unified integration layer between all the channels). Pricing for on-premises
products is module- and agent-based, and pricing for the SaaS offerings is subscription-based
by seat or usage. Standard maintenance is offered at 20% of the net license fee, and premium
maintenance is offered at 25% of the net license fee. SaaS offerings include maintenance in
the usage price.
Strengths
The Kana Enterprise knowledgebase supports the embedding of how-to video content and
distributing it at the right point in the service experience — posting a video to a social
community, playing a video during a Web chat or co-browse session, or sending a URL link to
the video in an email.
Using text analytics for natural language and accommodating "Internet speak" (such as
misspellings and acronyms), Kana Enterprise's social listening capabilities allow enterprises to
listen to discussions and content on social communities. There is also an ability to detect
customer sentiment and highlight pervasive issues, and agents can respond directly to social
media posts if needed.
Kana Enterprise provides multichannel analytics to derive insights from customer interactions
(email, chat, phone), feedback (Web forms, surveys) and social media (Facebook, Twitter,
blogs). Business rules can take multiple actions, like escalating the case, or sending out an
email resolution or a knowledgebase article.
Cautions
Storing video by recording the voice into searchable text and the provision of an SMS gateway
is still a gap in the Kana Enterprise edition.
The recent acquisition of Ciboodle, focused on rounding out the vendor's social CRM footprint
and providing a mobile platform, could create some challenges around integration of Ciboodle
and its product lines in the short term.
Complete availability of all the Kana Enterprise channels and functionality in the cloud remains
a road map objective. Although some components are available as SaaS, others are not. The
entire product can be hosted, but more development is needed to migrate the entire solution to
support a SaaS model.
Kana (Express)
Kana Express is a new solution from Kana, following the acquisition of Trinicom. Prior to the
acquisition, Trinicom was an approximately $10 million company, but since its incorporation
into the $100 million Kana organization, there have been a number of enhancements to the
solution and an increase in the geographic availability of the product. Kana Express is available
as an on-premises or a cloud-based solution and is ideally suited for the midsize to large tier
organization looking for Web customer service interaction channels. Kana Express licenses are
charged for the number of used modules (channels) and transaction bundles (unique
visitors/contacts). For on-premises deployments, the maintenance fee is 20% of the license
costs. For SaaS offerings, there is a subscription-based model based on user modules and
transaction volumes.
Strengths
Kana Express has the ability to embed video in the knowledgebase either as URL links to
YouTube-stored content or as video knowledge in the knowledgebase.
The product currently has two social media monitoring platforms, and has the ability to add the
results of listening activities as contacts/cases for agent attention. The knowledgebase has
also been integrated with the front-end community, creating the possibility for knowledge
content to be delivered directly to the social network or forum in which the questions are being
asked.
Kana Express' analytics module delivers drill-down and slicing-and-dicing functionality over all
the primary information domains: customer, organization, interactions and the knowledgebase.
Cross-domain analysis is also possible to gain insights into user behavior.
Cautions
Kana Express currently does not have a collaborative browsing capability, but this is planned
for the next release.
Kana Express has a very well-established market share in the Benelux region, but is not well-
known outside of it. Kana will have to invest in training and the development of the broader
sales force to accelerate the go-to-market pace in the rest of the world, where Kana Enterprise
is better-known.
The product has no multichannel recording capability. Organizations that have a legal
requirement to record Web-based customer interactions (such as financial services) will have
to engage with third-party solutions for recording them.
Moxie Software
Moxie Software is a privately held company that provides a Web customer service solution built
on a .NET platform and employs approximately 200 people across the world. Customers can
select from either an on-premises or cloud-based solution. The vendor provides a full,
multichannel customer communications suite that is powered by a built-in knowledge
management solution. Moxie Software's licensing and pricing model is per user for on-
premises solutions and subscription-based per user for the cloud model solutions for both the
enterprise and small business markets. Maintenance is calculated at 20% of list price.
Strengths
Moxie Software's Web customer service solution is designed on a publish/subscribe
framework. Customer Spaces from Moxie Software allows changes made to the user interface,
agent roles/permissions or content layer to be immediately pushed out to the agents without
requiring relogin.
The social media response module offers the ability to listen to social media channels, filtering
out unwanted content and returning only the discussions and comments that require a
response, and doing sentiment analysis as part of the process.
The Moxie Software suite provides detailed recordings of all incoming communications and all
interactions across the Web self-service channels. Track-and-store communications chains
give agents a complete view of the entire customer history across all channels, putting the
current interactions in context, and provide the ability to view related messages and other
interaction histories across a particular incident or group of incidents.
Cautions
Moxie Software does not serve the small or midsize business market; the solution is better-
suited for midsize and large enterprise sales and service centers.
The vendor does not provide OEM virtual assistant capabilities, but can integrate with other
providers' solutions. It has a partnership with VirtuOz, with integrations into its chat and
knowledge solutions, but Moxie Software does not provide support or contracting and licensing
for this third-party product.
The Moxie Software solution has the capability to store videos as knowledge articles that can
be delivered via a self-service search or referenced via a URL. However, there is still no
capability to record the soundtrack into text to create a searchable knowledge article that can
start the video replay at the point where the information is required.
Oracle-RightNow Technologies
The Oracle RightNow CX Cloud Service solution employs a three-tier architecture: database,
application/Web server and client, with communication from the client to the server taking place
via SOAP services and HTTP. The solution supports a multitenant, hosted environment,
enabling support of multiple clients on the same database, as well as multiple versions of the
software to run within the hosting environment. Oracle RightNow CX Cloud Service is priced on
a subscription model offering four desktop packages: Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Contact
Center or Stand-Alone Chat. The suites follow a seat-based pricing model and Oracle
RightNow Web Experience follows transaction-based pricing based on sessions consumed.
The Oracle RightNow Social Experience is offered through a fixed-fee annual price for a stand-
alone community. Oracle RightNow Engage for social follows transaction-based pricing based
on the number of emails sent.
Strengths
Oracle RightNow's mobile Web customer service solution extends the Web self-service
channels and knowledge for use with mobile devices and smartphones using either of the
following mobile interaction points: Mobile browser interactions of a customer within a Web
browser within the device; mobile applications with purpose-built applications specific to the
operating system within the mobile device; and mobile Web relying on the processing of the
server to deliver content.
Oracle RightNow has no video chat capabilities, but does support the use of how-to videos in
the knowledgebase for delivery either as direct push interactions with customers during a Web
chat or via the URL of the video embedded on a website or in an email link.
Oracle RightNow Social Monitor Cloud Service, Oracle RightNow Self Service for Facebook
and the Oracle RightNow Community offerings for social listening, analytics and response
provide social media capabilities for customers seeking custom social service solutions.
Cautions
Some of the objectives that Oracle RightNow is focusing on require collaboration with other
Oracle businesses. Some of those collaborations will likely take time to bring to fruition/bring to
market. Be prepared to discuss release targets/road map if you are looking to utilize
capabilities that span Oracle RightNow and other Oracle products, like Siebel.
The Virtual Assistant offering is new to the market and does not yet have references. Oracle
RightNow lacks a productized offering for SMS, relying instead on partners to fill the gaps in
that area. If outbound/inbound messaging is key to your customer interaction strategy, then
you might want to consider other suitable vendors.
The RightNow solution is only available in a SaaS model and no on-premises option exists.
Customers looking for an on-premises solution will have to select another provider.
Since the acquisition, fewer clients have called us with inquiries related to Oracle RightNow
than was the case before the acquisition. We believe this reduction is because there is a
slowdown in Oracle RightNow deals being considered, at least among Gartner clients. We
acknowledge that Oracle RightNow has been specifically called out by Oracle management as
a growing area in Oracle’s last three quarterly investor calls, and it could also be that clients
have fewer questions because they know Oracle.
Presence Technology
Presence Technology is a $9 million company based in Barcelona, Spain. It focuses on a
value-added reseller (VAR) strategy as its primary means of growth and expansion for both its
on-premises and SaaS offerings. Licensing is mostly focused on one license per concurrent
agent interaction across the various channels. For recording, it is one license per port, with two
different license levels, based on the recording activation. Rental, pay-per-use, hosted and
SaaS pricing models are based on the same principles. Maintenance fees are calculated as a
percentage of the license cost and range from 12% to 22%. Presence Technology has also
embedded the Voxeo Prism unified communications application server into every channel,
which will mean some additional expenses for every license.
Strengths
Presence Technology supports video chat and, to date, deployments have primarily been
through a video kiosk enabled with client-side cameras and the ability to video chat with call
center agents. All video interactions are recorded and stored as interaction history.
The Presence Social Media Gateway (SMG) supports Twitter and Facebook (bidirectional) as
the primary social media channels. The social media monitoring also includes multilevel filters
for routing interactions to the necessary agents for action. Social media responses can be
automated based on results of the integration with the partner knowledgebase, where
appropriate.
The Presence Messaging SMS module includes a set of monitors and reports to supervisors
managing the SMS channels. It allows the embedding of URLs into outbound SMS
communications, focused on reducing call backs to the contact center.
Cautions
Presence Technology has a limited ability to provide Web customer service solutions for global
deployments.
The vendor does not have a knowledge management solution; it partners with KBpublisher to
fill this gap.
Presence Technology does not have a virtual assistant solution; it partners with Artificial
Solutions to fill this gap.
SAP
SAP is a €12,500 million company providing an open application and integration platform. The
Web customer service solution is based on the SAP Java EE platform, which is part of the SAP
NetWeaver stack. SAP partners with eGain for a number of channels that are not native to the
SAP solution. The vendor prices its solutions on a CPU core basis for business-to-consumer
(B2C) customers and on a named-user basis for B2B customers. Maintenance fees are
calculated as a percentage of the license costs. SAP provides standard support packages and
a customer-specific support agreement.
Strengths
SAP not only focuses on Web customer service, but also provides a wider multichannel
customer service solution, including contact center (SAP Business Communications
Management and SAP CRM Interaction Center), e-service (SAP Web Channel Experience
Management), mobile (SAP Mobile Platform) and social (SAP Social Customer Engagement
OnDemand).
The SAP Web Channel Experience Management platform and the SAP Mobile Platform focus
on providing business processes via the Web or consumer mobile devices.
SAP continues to heavily invest in its solution portfolio, and multichannel customer service is
an ongoing strategic investment for SAP.
Cautions
SAP does not offer a complete solution set for Web customer service as native functionality. A
number of components are only available through a partnership with eGain, requiring
customers to sign separate vendor agreements. This could result in a higher total cost of
ownership, compared with some of the other more specialized Web customer service vendors.
SAP does not offer an on-demand option for Web customer service. However, in the next
release of SAP Social Customer Engagement OnDemand, the addition of email and chat
capabilities is planned.
SAP uses its broad partner ecosystem to extend the Web and mobile reach of business
processes beyond what is offered out of the box. Enterprises should be cautious when
choosing a knowledgeable implementation partner.
Vendors Added or Dropped
We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as markets
change. As a result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant or
MarketScope may change over time. A vendor appearing in a Magic Quadrant or MarketScope
one year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we have changed our opinion of
that vendor. This may be a reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed
evaluation criteria, or a change of focus by a vendor.
Added
Anboto was added to this Magic Quadrant.
Dropped
Oracle-Siebel has been dropped from this Magic Quadrant, following the acquisition of
RightNow Technologies by Oracle and the positioning of RightNow as the primary Web
customer service interaction solution for Oracle, in place of Siebel. Gartner no longer considers
Siebel as a multichannel Web customer service solution.
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
Market Traction and Momentum
The vendor can provide customer references that have at least three of the eight primary Web
customer service channels in production for a minimum period of 12 months, to demonstrate a
well-integrated and functional product.
If the vendor reference has social as a Web customer service channel, then a total of four
channels are required, at minimum.
The vendor might have a regional focus, but can sell and support multiple industries across a
wider customer base.
The vendor has generated at least $5 million in business application customer revenue for
Web customer service in the past four rolling quarters.
The vendor must have a minimum of five of the eight components identified as the building
blocks of the Web customer service framework in OEM products and as part of its integrated
solution. The other components can be partnered for or tightly coupled.
The vendor must have its own sales team or use a partner's sales team. Deal management,
pricing and negotiation must be done centrally, and the vendor must provide presales support
to system integrators (SIs) and partners.
Short-Term Viability
The vendor has at least enough cash to fund one year of operations, given current burn rates.
The vendor has sufficient professional services to fulfill customer demand during the next 12
months.
This Magic Quadrant focuses on the Web customer service suite framework and the vendors
in that market. It does not focus on the stand-alone or best-of-breed solutions in any of the
eight framework areas.
Evaluation Criteria
Ability to Execute
Product/Service: A robust Web customer service suite is a combination of several
subsystems or channel functionalities. The implication is that a key evaluation criterion is the
existence of a well-integrated architecture. The Web customer service application should have
out-of-the-box, self-service functionality, which means a strong set of industry- and process-
specific business logic and data. Through process design or functional breadth, the system
must support end-to-end, Web-based customer service processes. Published APIs are critical
to connect (or expose) an application's customer service functionality with that of another
system or process. Vendors are assessed on the ability of their current product releases to
support customer service, as well as their technical support of multichannel and cross-channel
environments. The vendor rating is developed by weighing specific functionality: having its own
integrated knowledgebase for self-service (25%), email response management (10%), Web
chat (10%), collaborative browsing (8%), virtual assistant (10%), multimodal and mobile
services (10%), video services (5%), multichannel interaction recording (10%), multichannel
analytics (7%), and social services (5%). The vendor must have a stable product development
team for all the products it sells. Partnerships were not included in this evaluation; only OEM
solutions were included. Where a partner solution is used in any of the above channels, a
score of zero for that channel is applied.
Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): This refers to the
ability of the vendor to ensure continued vitality of a product, including a strong product
development team to support current and future releases, as well as a clear road map with
delivery dates regarding the direction that the product will take until 2014. The vendor must
have the cash on hand and consistent revenue growth during four quarters to fund current and
future employee burn rates and to generate profits. The vendor is also measured on its ability
to generate business results in the Web customer service market.
Sales Execution/Pricing: This refers to the ability of the vendor to provide global sales and
distribution coverage that aligns with marketing messages. It must also have specific
experience selling its Web customer service offering to the appropriate buying center. The
strength of the management team is also key. In addition, the ability of the vendor to offer
consistent and comprehensible pricing models and structures, including contingencies (such as
failure to perform as contracted, or mergers and acquisitions), is important. The vendor is
measured on its flexibility to support multiple pricing scenarios, such as on-premises and on-
demand licensing (50%), as well as applications offering SaaS (50%).
Market Responsiveness and Track Record: This refers to the ability to perceive evolving
customer requirements and articulate that insight back to the market, as well as to create
products that are ready as demand comes online from customers.
Marketing Execution: This involves the ability of the vendor to consistently generate market
demand and awareness of its Web customer service solution through marketing programs and
press visibility. In Web customer service, the marketing execution ought to be less critical than
some other factors; however, the business reality is that marketing success can fuel future
growth and improvements.
Customer Experience: The vendor must produce a sufficient number of quality clients and
references with varying levels of sophistication to prove the viability of its product in the
marketplace. References are used as part of the evaluation criteria for the vendor's ability to
execute and create a vision for how customers can improve customer service. Included in this
are implementations and support. The vendor must be able to provide internal professional
services resources, or partner with SIs with vertical-industry expertise, Web customer service
domain knowledge, global and localized country coverage, and a broad skill set (such as
project management or system configuration) to support a complete project life cycle. The
critical point on customer experience is to ascertain the degree of change management that
accompanied the implementation. Often, the end user experiences discomfort not from the
new software, but from the change processes that were introduced with the new system. A
score of 10% per successfully engaged reference is allocated for each reference, up to a
maximum of 10 references.
Operations: This involves the vendor's ability to meet its goals and commitments. Factors
include the quality of the organizational structure, such as skills, experiences, programs,
systems and other vehicles, which enables the vendor to operate effectively and efficiently.
This includes management experience and track record, and the depth of staff experience,
specifically in the Web customer service market. The most important factor in this category is
customer satisfaction throughout the sales and product life cycle. The vendor must have
sufficient professional services (in-house or through third-party business consultants and SIs)
to meet evolving customer requirements.
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Product/Service High
Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization) Standard
Sales Execution/Pricing High
Market Responsiveness and Track Record Standard
Marketing Execution High
Customer Experience High
Operations Low
Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria
Source: Gartner (February 2013)
Completeness of Vision
Market Understanding: The market for customer service is highly diverse because of the
multichannel nature of customer interactions and the wide range of processes that need to be
supported. To succeed, a vendor must demonstrate a strategic understanding of current and
future Web customer service opportunities unique to its target market. This may be new
application functionality, evolving service models or in-line analytical capabilities for unique
customer segments. There is also a requirement to demonstrate process integration across
multiple channels (for example, where a customer starts in one channel and finishes in
another). Vendors must also demonstrate a road map with planned delivery dates on how to fill
in the gaps in functionality where it exists.
Marketing Strategy: The vendor can describe its go-to-market strategy as something other
than "growing until it is acquired by a larger company." Even with this as the endgame, it must
be clear how prospects will be protected, or even benefit, from such a strategy. We look for a
well-articulated strategy for revenue growth and sustained profitability. Key elements of the
strategy include a sales and distribution plan, internal investment priority and timing, and
partner alliances.
Sales Strategy: The vendor delivers products and services in line with the needs and
capabilities of the buying centers. For this Magic Quadrant, the product must be appropriate for
large and midsize businesses. This includes preproduct and postproduct support, value for
pricing, and clear explanations of and recommendations for detection events. Building loyalty
through credibility with full-time enterprise Web customer service staff demonstrates the ability
to assess the next generation of requirements.
Offering (Product) Strategy: Specific vision criteria include business process management
(supporting a threaded service task across functional areas, regardless of channel) and
providing for the creation of content about the most likely customer intentions and how to
address them, based on continuously variable business scenarios. "Continuously variable"
means that, depending on the business context of the interaction, the steps and decisions in a
service procedure may vary. The vendor openly communicates to its customers and to Gartner
a statement of direction for the next two product releases that keeps pace with or surpasses
Gartner's vision and our clients' vision of the Web customer service market. The vendor has a
sufficiently broad set of products to ensure the success of the product. Without an advanced
SaaS product plan (realizable within 12 months), a vendor cannot be considered a Visionary.
Vendors must also demonstrate a road map on how to fill in the gaps in functionality where
they exist.
Business Model: To be a Leader through 2014, the vendor will have a SaaS option and an
on-premises application option. Application modules are tightly integrated and have business
process modeling capabilities and advanced workflow. The vendor has a strategy to appeal to
its key vertical industries — that is, it integrates with systems that are unique to an industry,
and delivers packaged functionality and workflow for an industry (such as for the
telecommunications, automotive and consumer goods industries), and B2B and B2C
interactions.
Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor has solutions for specific vertical industries.
Innovation: Innovative vendors will begin to incorporate concepts that extend to consumer
technologies, virtual assistants and customer service functions embedded in mobile devices
and solutions. The vendor understands major technology/architecture shifts in the market and
communicates a plan to use them, including the migration issues it may cause for customers
on current releases. The architecture is built to operate in a SaaS delivery model, and the
application integrates or includes contact center functionality or application links. We examine
how well the vendor articulates its vision to support service-oriented business applications. The
applications must be designed to collect data to supply a feedback loop for corporate
performance management. They will help optimize a predictive customer analytics system.
These predictive analytics alert management when service patterns are detected that might
signal the need to adjust a business strategy or direction, or indicate that the likelihood of a
particular business scenario occurring has changed (for example, customers responding to a
notice on defective parts, an accident or financial news). The vendor will be measured on the
ability of its architecture to support global rollouts and localized international installations. The
vendor must have tools for IT and business users to extend and administer the Web customer
service application and especially the knowledgebase, so that there is not a permanent
reliance on the vendor for support.
Geographic Strategy: The vendor understands the needs of the three largest markets — the
European Union, North America and the Asia/Pacific region — and knows how to build a
strategy to focus on aspects of the overall market, directly or through partners. The vendor
delivers products and services in line with the needs and capabilities of the buying centers. For
this Magic Quadrant, the product must be appropriate for large and midsize businesses, and
for at least three vertical industries.
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Market Understanding Standard
Marketing Strategy Standard
Sales Strategy Standard
Offering (Product) Strategy High
Business Model Standard
Vertical/Industry Strategy High
Innovation High
Geographic Strategy Low
Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria
Source: Gartner (February 2013)
Quadrant Descriptions
Leaders
Leaders demonstrate market-defining vision and the Ability to Execute against that vision
through products, services, demonstrable sales figures and solid new references for multiple
geographies and vertical industries. Clients report that these vendors deliver a high level of
value and return on their commitment. The development team has a clear vision of the
implications of business rules and the impact of Web customer service on customer service
requirements. A characteristic of a Leader is that clients look to the vendor for clues as to how
to innovate in customer service. When asked, their clients reply that this product has affected
the organization's competitive position in their markets and helped lower costs. Leaders
provide functionally diverse and rich Web customer service suites in which a knowledgebase
solution is part of the integrated offering and can be deployed and supported globally, and
have at least six of the eight Web customer service framework components supported as an
OEM solution.
Challengers
The vendors in the Challengers quadrant demonstrate a high volume of sales in their chosen
markets (that is, more than 30% of new business by percentage comes from more than one
industry). They understand their clients' evolving needs, yet may not lead customers into new
functional areas with their strong vision and technology leadership. They often have a strong
market presence in other application areas, but have not demonstrated a clear understanding
of the Web customer service market direction, or are not well-positioned to capitalize on
emerging channels, and might lack depth of full functionality in all the areas of the Web
customer service framework. Challengers typically will also not have all the Web customer
service framework channels available in their own products, and will partner to enrich their
offerings. Challengers often will also not have a knowledgebase product. They may not have a
strong worldwide presence or deployment partners.
Visionaries
Visionaries are ahead of potential competitors in delivering innovative products and/or delivery
models. They anticipate emerging/changing customer service needs and move into the new
market space. They have a strong potential to influence the direction of the Web customer
service market, but Visionaries struggle to meet the needs of all organizations because of
geographic limitations, company size constraints or specific product channel omissions.
Typically, their products and market presence are not yet complete or established enough to
challenge the leading vendors.
Niche Players
Niche Players offer solid solutions for Web customer service, and support only some of the
overall suite functionality and components. They may offer components of the complete
portfolios, but demonstrate weaknesses in one or more important areas, or are starting out in
the Web customer service industry. They could also be regional experts, with little ability to
extend globally. Niche Players are usually not focused on, and cannot support, large
enterprises globally, but extend their services and solutions to small or midsize businesses.
They may offer complete portfolios, but focus only on one size of organization or primarily on
one regional area.
Context There are many niche vendors that are providing solutions for Web customer service channels
(see "The Gartner CRM Vendor Guide, 2012" for other Web customer service vendors not
included in this Magic Quadrant). In analyzing Gartner customer discussions during the past 12
months, we have once again observed that more than 82% of multichannel product buyers
prefer a more comprehensive Web customer service suite, as opposed to a stand-alone single-
channel or point-based product. The most often quoted technology reason is an attempt to
avoid the problems, efforts and costs associated with trying to integrate multiple disparate
channel solutions from a plethora of point-based product solution sets, as well as the
challenges experienced to try to integrate different knowledge vendors' products into Web
customer service channel solutions.
The top business processes that customers need to focus on through 2014 include (also see
"Top Business Processes for CRM Customer Service, 2011 to 2013"):
Case management and problem resolution
Collaborative answer
Workforce optimization
Voice of the customer
Self-service problem resolution
Customer interaction hub
There is very a strong link between Web customer service and the contact center. Whenever a
customer needs the assistance of a human customer service representative, there is a shift
from strictly Web customer service to the CRM customer service contact center (see "Magic
Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers" and Note 2).
The Gartner research focus and scope in 2012 was widened with the addition of a new
channel — social services — to the Web customer service framework and this Magic
Quadrant. This Magic Quadrant is based on the Web customer service framework (see "CRM
Web Customer Service Application Framework, 2012").
The strategy and business case for Web customer service deployments are most often based
on the following business drivers:
The need for a consistent customer experience across all channels and a "one correct answer"
scenario (2011 ranking: 4; 2012 ranking: 1)
Deploying new and additional customer access channels to reach new audiences (2011
ranking: 1; 2012 ranking: 2)
The avoidance of high costs associated with traditional channels (2011 ranking: 3; 2012
ranking: 3)
Procuring a suite solution today that will also cater to future requirements, as opposed to
procuring many point-based solutions (2011 ranking: 2; 2012 ranking: 4)
Increasing governance associated with recording interactions across all the customer channels
(2011 ranking: 5; 2012 ranking: 5)
An interesting observation between the 2010 and 2011 Magic Quadrant research was that
buying behavior today favored the deployment of new channels to reach new customers. In
2012, the key focus is around creating a consistent experience across all the Web customer
service interaction channels. The advances in Web customer service functionality have also
created a growing landscape of possible vendors from which to select solutions.
Not appearing in this year's Magic Quadrant is Oracle-Siebel. As a result of the acquisition of
RightNow Technologies by Oracle (see "Oracle CRM Application Decision Tree for 2012 and
Beyond"), Gartner has not observed any new name sales of Oracle's Siebel Web customer
service solutions in the past 12 months. Appearing for the first time this year on any Magic
Quadrant is Anboto, the Spanish-based Web customer service provider.
Each industry and each business or organization has its own unique customer service
processes and service channels, making it unlikely that a single Web customer service vendor
will dominate any given industry. Organizations often find that their biggest investment when
choosing a Web customer service vendor is the building out of the knowledgebase required for
self-service (see "Investing in Self-Service Knowledge for CRM Web Customer Service"). This
knowledgebase needs to be easily integrated across various Web customer service channels
and, therefore, favors a comprehensive suite approach, versus a stand-alone, best-of-breed
approach.
The positions and commentary in this research are substantially based on the following
sources:
Customer perceptions of each vendor's strengths and challenges, derived from Web-customer-
service-related Gartner client inquiries during the last 12 months
Vendors' supplied references completed an online questionnaire
Reference calls made to vendors' clients
Participating vendors' completed online questionnaires
Participating vendors' conducted an hour-long briefing about their Web customer service
strategy and operations
For the purposes of the CRM Web Customer Service Applications Magic Quadrant research, a
focus has been placed on the social offering provided as part of the Web customer service
suite. This focus on social services within Web customer service complements the extensive
research already published on social customer service and in "Magic Quadrant for Social
CRM."
Like all Gartner Magic Quadrants, the Magic Quadrant for CRM Web customer service
applications is not meant to be used as the sole tool for creating a vendor shortlist. Use it as
part of your due diligence, in conjunction with consultations with Gartner analysts.
Magic Quadrants are snapshots in time; to be fair and complete in the analysis, we need to
stop data collection efforts at a consistent time. In this research, the cutoff date was 23 October
2012.
Market Overview In addition to Web customer service being closely linked with the CRM contact center, the Web
customer service suite market mostly consists of solution providers with a very mature basic
set of functionality. Channels such as Web chat and email response management are well-
proven and often the first to be deployed by customers. What differentiates the Leaders from
the rest is a well-structured and integrated knowledgebase with advanced search functionality
that can handle both structured and unstructured data. This knowledgebase needs to be part
of the integrated solution set, and developed and owned by the provider to ensure ongoing
R&D and seamless integration into the other Web customer service channels. Because the
delivery of "one right answer" is extremely critical in Web customer service channels, the
vendors that fill some channels through partners and external integration often struggle in this
area. Failure to have an embedded knowledgebase will continue to be an inhibitor for vendors
attempting to move into the Leaders quadrant.
The balance of Web customer service suite providers all have functional gaps, with capabilities
that they either don't offer or attempt to fill with partnerships. In the current market phase of
acquisitions, the key challenge with the partnership model is that there is seldom any security
that a strategic partner today will still be a strategic partner tomorrow. This is a severe limitation
and is seen as a threat by buyers often investing millions of dollars in a Web customer service
solution as part of their strategic CRM and channel expansion strategies.
Business leaders continue to see signs of growth, while viewing discretionary investments
cautiously. Vendors providing Web customer service solutions must have convincing business
cases and metrics to demonstrate that their products will have a measurable impact on one or
more key performance metrics of the customer experience. The argument for increased
investment is bolstered by demands to support Web-based customers. Customers expect to
find their own answers and solve their own problems, and when they cannot, they expect to
find answers in peer forums and communities. Virtual assistants, SMS and multimodal
communication are starting to see mainstream adoption and are appearing in a large number
of organizational road maps.
As a delivery model for Web customer service, SaaS is being accepted by many organizations.
However, Gartner has observed resistance to SaaS in several areas, including:
Locations in which there is greater caution due to fears regarding data privacy, latency and
application availability — for example, in Central and Eastern Europe, many parts of Asia (such
as India and China), and South America. There has also been resistance in federal
governments and healthcare organizations in which regulations inhibit penetration of SaaS
solutions
More-complex environments with high call volumes, high transaction volumes and real-time
integration with legacy systems, which can slow performance
As the market matures, the rating scales from one year to another can shift. The result is that a
product that has not improved or declined could still show a shift in position on the Magic
Quadrant that has resulted from a change in the weighting of a criterion between 2011 and
2012.
By 2014, as more applications are built using a cloud-based model, SaaS will emerge as a
critical selection factor at all levels of Web customer service.
NOTE 1 IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE A knowledgebase for self-service is the most important building block, and is composed of a set of Web customer service modules and technologies enabling customers to service their needs via different interfaces. Organizations planning a Web customer service implementation must create a multichannel strategy, implement each channel with a long-term view and build a justification based on the value derived from that channel. Knowledgebases for self-service solutions that are justified only on case load reduction or inquiry deflection will fail. A proper strategy to serve multiple channels and multiple functions with a Web customer service solution is the easiest way to prove the value of a new solution; ROI calculations must focus on potential revenue, as well as on cost deflection. The true value of a knowledgebase for self-service is not possible without a long-term commitment to ongoing fine-tuning and enhancing. The key focus in knowledgebases for self-service is to achieve at least an 80% relevance of response, to ensure constant use and to avoid users' abandoning the Web customer service site. A knowledgebase for self-service consists of the following six categories of knowledge:
Agent knowledge: The contact center agent is a repository of information on corporate products and services, as well as on problem resolution. Capturing agent knowledge into a repository can speed up the delivery of services and the training of new individuals through the use of a self-service knowledge engine.
Corporate knowledge: Corporate knowledge contains the total body of knowledge necessary to deliver on the strategic aims and objectives of an organization. It provides product and service information, and can typically be accessed by any internal corporate Web citizen. Typically, the head of operations will take responsibility for this information, or, in a sales-oriented organization, the head of sales will take responsibility for this information's upkeep and delivery.
Social knowledge: Many people belonging to social networks post information on bulletin boards and blogs. By gathering and analyzing the information written about your corporate products and services, you will become aware of the public perception of your organization. Collect this information and store it centrally for self-service access, because your customers often know more about your products and services than you do. Use social knowledge to expand your corporate thinking, taking into account what is being said about your organization.
Partner knowledge: If you have partners in your supply chain, they are often the ones dealing directly with your customers. Collect and store this information for Web-based, self-service access by other partners within the supply chain, so that you have a common way to resolve problems and queries. Also, use this to bring new partners online in as short a time as possible, and to check on the quality and content of interactions that your partners have with your most valuable asset — your customers.
Search knowledge: Public search engines do not include corporate knowledge unless specific items of corporate knowledge are tagged as accessible to search engine spiders. By opening up some areas of corporate knowledge via a public self-service engine, it is possible to have your internal information listed together with publicly searched results.
Hosted-community knowledge: In developing and deploying theme-based community forums, a group of like-minded people impart valuable information that can be collected, filtered, authored and provided back to the community or other areas for self-service search. Use these community areas to capture knowledge or to provide the community with access to the knowledge repository to store their own specific information, which can be accessed and retrieved only by that community. NOTE 2 THE LINK TO THE CUSTOMER SERVICE CONTACT CENTER In increasing order of complexity, the requirements for the CRM customer service contact center may include one of these four major areas:
Information access: These contact centers focus on low interaction complexity and low process complexity. They can support order placement, complaint management, password assistance or consumer information, service activation, balance look-up, timetables, or ticket purchasing. Basic CRM capabilities are needed for account information, order information and contract details, but there is less emphasis on real-time analytics or offer management. The process supported may not be particularly complex; however, the information must be reliable, readily available and delivered in an easy-to-use graphical user interface. Contact centers in this space often do not show much business value and will eventually be replaced with Web customer service technologies.
Service process optimization: This is a customer service center or advisory center (for example, investing and insurance) with low interaction complexity, but high process complexity. It focuses on the efficiency and repeatability of the process. There may be little value in complex analytics or offer management. The goal of the customer experience is focused on process efficiency, rather than profitability.
End-to-end industry process experts: The contact centers in this context are complex and industry-specific, and often demand that the customer service representative not be forced into following a specific process for some parts of the interaction, but be forced to be compliant in other parts. This is where high interaction complexity meets a range of process complexity. For example, the steps in a loan process must be followed consistently, but the offer, rate and conditions may vary based on customer type, profitability and potential.
Intelligent dialogue/real-time decisioning:The conversations in this contact center require access to richer information about the customer and product or service, as well as sales and marketing goals. These conversations also become more process-intensive and can be driven by business process management software, guided by workflow, analytics and predictive features that can be customized based on personalization rules.
EVALUATION CRITERIA DEFINITIONS Ability to Execute Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor that compete in/serve the defined market. This includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills and so on, whether offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships as defined in the market definition and detailed in the subcriteria. Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): Viability includes an assessment of the overall organization's financial health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood that the individual business unit will continue investing in the product, will continue offering the product and will advance the state of the art within the organization's portfolio of products. Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel. Market Responsiveness and Track Record: Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the vendor's history of responsiveness. Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs designed to deliver the organization's message to influence the market, promote the brand and business, increase awareness of the products, and establish a positive identification with the product/brand and organization in the minds of buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by a combination of publicity, promotional initiatives, thought leadership, word-of-mouth and sales activities. Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, service-level agreements and so on. Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factors include the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs, systems and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis. Completeness of Vision Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor to understand buyers' wants and needs and to translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those with their added vision. Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer programs and positioning statements. Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network of direct and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.
Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to current and future requirements. Business Model: The soundness and logic of the vendor's underlying business proposition. Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of individual market segments, including vertical markets. Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes. Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or through partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography and market.