Unified Communications Featured Article

Gartner's Magic Quadrant for UC Reveals Issues Throughout Field

By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

While we know the unified communications (UC) market is just really getting rolling, there's a lot to consider in this market as a whole. Indeed, Gartner (News - Alert) considers the midsize and large enterprise UC markets to be in the early mainstream adoption phase, which should in turn mean plenty of new developments to come as more and more firms get in on the action. But what does that mean for the larger market, both buyers and sellers of UC products alike? Gartner looks to provide some major insight on the topic with the release of its new Magic Quadrant study for the UC market, and what it has to say about the UC market will be worth taking note.

First, the Gartner Magic Quadrant study took a look at a host of different firms in the market according to several different metrics, with a particular focus on how these metrics applied to two key points: completeness of vision and ability to execute. From there, the various firms in the market could be classified according to how complete the overall vision the company had was, and how able the firms were to accomplish that vision, with the results split across four separate categories. Those with high ability to achieve and completeness of vision were leaders, while those with low rank in both categories were niche players. Visionaries had high completeness and low ability, while challengers had high ability and low completeness.

Some familiar faces made the field this year. Microsoft (News - Alert) was regarded as a leader in the sector thanks to its steadily-growing Microsoft Lync system and steady improvements in the sector, bringing in added capability in its market strategy and improvements to the product like video, and support for Lync room-based video systems. But Gartner had some warnings as well, noting issues when non-Windows endpoints are brought into a Lync system, and that PBX (News - Alert) systems often aren't completely eliminated in Lync implementations, meaning that getting the most out of a system may require the use of several extra partner solutions.

Meanwhile, Interactive Intelligence got in as a niche player, drawing favorable attention from flexible deployment options and its ability to provide both contact center and UC tools for users. However, Gartner points out that the firm has “limited visibility” in the midst of a very crowded market, and that the Customer Interaction Center (CIC) could pose issues for firms looking for UC, but who don't have a strong focus on the contact center.

Gartner's Magic Quadrant report has an enormous quantity of information like this, detailing other firms in the field like NEC, ShoreTel (News - Alert), Avaya, Cisco and many more. Those looking for a clear and exhaustive look at the UC marketplace today should find everything that's needed and more in Gartner's report. Though there's a certain amount of caution that goes into a study like this; a study so clearly exhaustive as the Magic Quadrant is will likely contain, for many, more information than was needed at the time, so going into such a study with some clear questions in mind to answer may prove profitable in the long run.

Still, when it comes to UC, the Magic Quadrant report should cover all the bases and most of the outfield, too, so those wanting a broad look at a steadily-growing industry should find plenty to like on this release.