Here's Who Made Gartner's 2017 Magic Quadrant For Meeting Solutions
'Dynamic' Meeting Market In 2017
There's a dynamic set of meeting solutions currently available in the market stemming from vendors striving to satisfy a diverse set of buyers. The market is full of rich offerings from on-premises deployments to cloud services, and from VoIP telephony to HD video on mobile devices.
Businesses can select from a variety of buying options as well including freemium, best-of-breed, or bundled software and hardware, from the smallest online meeting to the largest webcast, according to Gartner's 2017 Magic Quadrant For Meeting Solutions. Meeting technologies have embraced the web and mobile markets over the past few years, shifting toward broader and ubiquitous access.
Industry leaders include service providers like PGi, cloud-based vendors such as Zoom and BlueJeans Network, as well as unified communications companies including Cisco Systems, Google and Microsoft.
Meeting Solutions Research Methodology
Gartner evaluated vendors with meeting solutions that blend communications, collaboration and content to enable real-time group work from anywhere. To make the list, vendors must be able to provide online presentation delivery, desktop or application sharing, text messaging, basic security, integration VoIP audio, live video feeds and support for mobile devices.
Gartner's Magic Quadrant ranks vendors on their ability to execute and completeness of vision and places them in four categories: Niche Players (low on vision and execution), Visionaries (good vision but low execution), Challengers (good execution but low vision) and Leaders (excelling in both vision and execution).
Here are the 14 vendors that made this year's Magic Quadrant, along with Gartner's assessments of each company's strengths and weaknesses in the space.
Leader: Cisco
Cisco leads the way in the meeting solution market with offers including Cisco Spark, WebEx and Cisco Meeting Server for cloud, on-premises and hybrid deployments, along with a portfolio of endpoints. The San Jose, Calif.-based vendor's product portfolio in the space provides the broadest set of features and supported standards as well as strongest parity between mobile, desktop and meeting rooms. Cisco also has the most significant integrator partnerships on this list. The networking giant is ranked as the leader in both execution and vision on the Magic Quadrant.
Cisco
Strengths: Cisco supports vertical industries more deeply than its competitors do, with offerings for customer care, health care, financial services, education and the public sector, said Gartner. The research firm said reference customers cited Cisco's video quality as a compelling strength advantage.
Weaknesses: Cisco's product strategy includes multiple offerings with overlapping functionality, partial interoperability and different feature sets. For some customers, this can make selecting and purchasing more complex relative to competitors with simpler models, according to Gartner.
Leader: Microsoft
Microsoft offers Skype for Business for hybrid, on-premises, dedicated and managed services deployments. The Redmond, Wash.-based also vendor offers Skype for Business Online and Microsoft Teams as Software-as-a-Service and a dedicated deployment option for U.S. government customers. Microsoft supports vertical industries more deeply than most of its competitors do, according to Gartner, with offerings for customer care, health care, financial services, education and the public sector. The software giant is ranked No. 2 in both vision and execution on the Magic Quadrant.
Microsoft
Strengths: Microsoft's geographic strategy is global and its reach exceeds that of nearly all competitors, enabling sales and support for its meeting solutions through extensive direct and indirect channels as well as partnerships, Gartner said.
Weaknesses: The vendor's product strategy includes multiple offerings with overlapping functionality, partial interoperability and different feature sets. Microsoft provides in-room meeting experiences via Crestron, Logitech and Polycom. Gartner said some customers struggle with deploying and supporting endpoints provided by alternative room systems due to different user experiences.
Leader: Zoom
The San Jose, Calif.-based video and web conferencing specialist offers SaaS, hybrid, dedicated and managed services deployment options for its meeting solutions. Zoom's service offers a robust and growing set of collaboration features with integrated room systems that include a collaborative touch display application and wireless content sharing. Zoom is ranked No. 3 on the Magic Quadrant in both vision and execution.
Zoom
Strengths: Zoom continues to offer a freemium option, which is proving to be a strong draw for new customers. In concert with a high conversion rate to paid usage, this approach is paving the way for the vendor's growth in the meeting solution market, said Gartner
Weaknesses: Zoom's integrated conference room solution, called Zoom Rooms, has a management system that needs to be enhanced to support third-party peripheral updates. Gartner said the vendor is capitalizing on its stronger brand value and negotiating higher pricing than in the past.
Challengers: Google
The internet giant provides Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat as SaaS. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google has improved awareness of Hangouts with a renewed enterprise focus, re-engineering of a streamlined meeting experience and the release of Jamboard -- its digital collaborative whiteboard. Google is ranked No. 4 in execution and among the middle of the pack in vision on the Magic Quadrant.
Strengths: The growth of Google Hangouts is attributed to its presence in Google's G Suite communication and collaboration bundle. Reference customers cited service consistency and reliability as compelling strengths of Google Hangouts, Gartner said.
Weaknesses: Google supports team meetings with only fewer than 50 endpoints. Support for larger meeting scenarios -- such as learning and training, customer care , and broadcasts -- is on the road map for 2018. Hangouts is included with G Suite as part of a horizontal collaboration offering so it has no customization for particular industries.
Challengers: Adobe
For meeting solutions, Adobe offers SaaS, on-premises and managed services deployment options for its Adobe Connect product. Connect is suitable for a full range of advanced enterprise use cases that require a persistent digital office space. The San Jose, Calif.-based vendor is ranked No. 5 on the Magic Quadrant in execution and among the middle of the pack in vision.
Adobe
Strengths: Adobe's industry strategy addresses the specific needs, including customization requirements of the health-care, finance and education sectors, as well as of government clients in the U.S., said Gartner. It benefits from strong partnerships with integrators and from a deep and rich set of APIs, which allow customization and add differentiated value.
Weaknesses: Adobe has fewer licensing and subscription models than its enterprise competitors, lacking bundles with other collaboration products or longer-term agreements. Reference customers expressed concern about the vendor's pace of innovations and improvements, according to Gartner.
Challengers: LogMeIn
The Boston-based collaboration software vendor sells its GoToMeeting, GoToTraining, GoToWebinar, GoToConference and join.me as SaaS offers. LogMeIn provides meeting solutions that are popular among enterprises and line-of-business buyers, and at a scale greater than most of its competitors operate. LogMeIn is ranked among the middle of the pack in both vision and execution on the Magic Quadrant.
LogMeIn
Strengths: LogMeIn satisfies enterprise use cases ranging from small meetings to massive webcasts, without depending on external partners.
Weaknesses: The vendor offers different support levels for its meeting solutions: 24/7 support for its GoToMeeting products and 24/5 for join.me, upgradable to 24/7 for an additional fee. Reference customers cited concerns about its portfolio of endpoint solutions for meeting rooms, Gartner said.
Challengers: West
Omaha, Neb.-based West offers SaaS and managed services deployment models for its InterCall Unified Meeting 5 and InterCall conferencing products. The vendor has a robust set of meeting solution capabilities, with a focus on delivering high audio quality, allowing West to address a wide variety of use cases and meeting sizes. West is ranked among the middle of the pack in both vision and execution on the Magic Quadrant.
West
Strengths: West offers creative bundling and discounting strategies that are attractive to large-enterprise IT application leaders responsible for deploying meeting solutions, Gartner said. Reference customers cite West's strong audio quality and service consistency as compelling strengths.
Weaknesses: The vendor's product set is more limited relative to its competitors in broader meeting solution capabilities such as asynchronous collaboration, meeting planning and task management. Though there is high demand for InterCall audioconferencing services, customers typically choose collaboration capabilities from other providers that West also sells, such as Cisco or Microsoft, according to Gartner.
Challengers: Polycom
Polycom has an extremely rich channel ecosystem that allows it to sell and support its meeting solutions in any region globally, said Gartner. The San Jose, Calif.-based vendor offers hardware-based video endpoints and infrastructure for on-premises deployment; its virtualized RealPresence Clariti infrastructure solution for on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployment; and RealPresence Web Suite for SaaS. Polycom is ranked among the middle of the pack in both vision and execution on the Magic Quadrant.
Polycom
Strengths: Polycom innovates strongly with hardware-oriented solutions. It offers native endpoint integration with Microsoft Office 365, dual-view camera capability and in-room wireless content sharing.
Weaknesses: Compared with other vendors on this quadrant, Polycom lacks several advanced meeting features including always-on meetings, persistent visual arrangement and meeting analytics such as engagement and participation, Gartner said.
Visionary: Vidyo
The Hackensack, N.J.-based video specialist offers SaaS, on-premises, hybrid, dedicated and managed services deployment options for its product suite. Vidyo has a scalable videoconferencing solutions offering a unified user experience across mobile, desktop and conference room endpoints. Vidyo is ranked No. 4 on the Magic Quadrant in vision and among the middle of the pack in execution.
Vidyo
Strengths: Vidyo launched Vidyo.io to further expose its multiparty video APIs and developer support program, which Gartner said will allow its technology to be embedded within mobile apps, WebRTC-enabled browsers, and a variety of business, remote patient engagement and contact center applications.
Weaknesses: The vendor has fewer meeting solution features than most competitors covered in this the quadrant, lacking remote concierge services for large-scale enterprise meetings. Reference customers cite concern about Vidyo's ease of deployment and visibility into its road map, Gartner said.
Visionary: BlueJeans Network
The Mountain View, Calif.-based videoconferencing specialist offers its BlueJeans meeting solution as SaaS. Its cloud-based video platform offers simplicity of use and extensive features across meetings, large events and workflow integrations. BlueJeans is ranked among the middle of the pack in both vision and execution on the Magic Quadrant.
BlueJeans Network
Strengths: In addition to Microsoft's Skype for Business, Workplace by Facebook, and audio enrichment program Dolby, BlueJeans' interoperability strategy includes multiple WebRTC integrations to allow download-free meeting experiences, which has increased the vendor's market presence and relevance.
Weaknesses: BlueJeans Huddle, its branded room system, consists of components from Logitech, Intel and Dolby. The vendor would better serve its customers if it leveraged more plug-ins, applets or external products within its meeting solution, according to reference customers.
Visionary: PGi
Collaboration specialist PGi offers SaaS and hybrid deployment models for its iMeet, GlobalMeet and ReadyTalk products. The Atlanta-based vendor acquired ReadyTalk earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. PGi has a robust set of meeting solution capabilities with a focus on delivering audio quality excellence, allowing it to address a wide variety of use cases and meeting sizes. PGi is ranked No. 5 on the Magic Quadrant in vision and among the middle of the pack in execution.
PGi
Strengths: PGi has a strong global service presence that makes iMeet and GlobalMeet appealing to large and multinational enterprise accounts. With the acquisition of ReadyTalk, it can now effectively address the small- to midsize-business market as well.
Weaknesses: The vendor owns horizontal meeting solutions, but has limited customization options for vertical industry segments in comparison to competitors, Gartner said. Though there's high demand for PGi's audioconferencing services, customers typically choose collaboration capabilities from other providers that PGi also sells, such as Cisco or Microsoft.
Niche Player: Huawei
The Chinese networking and telecom giant offers hardware-based video endpoints and infrastructure for on-premises deployment, and cloud-based videoconferencing service as SaaS. Huawei's extensive hardware-based portfolio is suitable for a wide range of enterprise meeting use cases and room sizes. Huawei is ranked among the bottom of the pack in both execution and vision.
Huawei
Strengths: With considerable investment in vertical industry solutions, Huawei is particularly strong with public safety, education and financial services offerings.
Weaknesses: With its public cloud meeting solution released in June, Huawei trails many of its competitors in the meeting solution space for Video-as-a-Service offers, Gartner said. Huawei also has limited presence in North America.
Niche Player: Arkadin
The Paris-based collaboration specialist offers its Arkadin Anywhere and Arkadin Vision as SaaS. The vendor launched Arkadin Vision in 2017, allowing users to join meetings using audio or video from browsers as well as iOS and Android mobile devices. Arkadin is ranked last place on the Magic Quadrant in vision and among the bottom of the pack in execution.
Arkadin
Strengths: Arkadin, a subsidiary of NTT Communications, has global reach with localized customer service and localized user interfaces, as well as documentation available in 19 languages.
Weaknesses: Arkadin's meeting solutions lack integration options to address vertical market segment requirements, Gartner said. Its Vision solution does not offer a robust collaboration feature set compared to competitors, and limits meeting sizes to 50 participants. Arkadin Anywhere meeting sizes are limited to 100 participants.
Niche Player: ZTE
The China-based telecom and mobility vendor offers its hardware-based endpoints and infrastructure for on-premises deployment, and its TrueMeet platform for SaaS and hybrid deployment. ZTE's TrueMeet Video-as-a-Service integrates with its UCaaS platform, Mobile Office Automation, for extended enterprise collaboration functionality. ZTE is ranked last in execution on the Magic Quadrant and among the bottom of the pack in vision.
ZTE
Strengths: ZTE maintains strong relationships with the Asia-Pacific communications service providers, which are its main customers and channel to market.
Weaknesses: The vendor's meeting solution does not support some basic features that are present in many of its competitors' platforms such as question-and-answer management and support for multiple meeting presenters, Gartner said. Reference customers report concerns of ZTE not leveraging more plug-ins, applets, required browsers or external products.