We are incredibly proud to announce that Gartner has recognized Cisco as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for our Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) offerings for the 6th consecutive year! We believe our positioning is a result of our unwavering vision and proven ability to execute. We are truly honored by this recognition.
At our core, Webex has always been about connecting people. As work has evolved, we’ve been ahead of the curve at investing in AI, tightly integrating collaboration hardware and software, and building a breadth of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) capabilities. Our vision is to help even the world’s largest companies deliver a successful cloud transformation, and we are inspired by the possibilities ahead.
For us, this recognition is a testament to our team’s hard work, innovation, and commitment, and it signals the momentum we’ve built in reshaping the future of communications. We are one of the only two vendors recognized in three Magic Quadrant reports for CCaaS, CPaaS, and UCaaS.
Cisco was named a Visionary in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), and a Niche Player for Webex Contact Center in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS).
We believe these three areas are core to our continued acknowledgement:
- Our significant AI investments across the entire UCaaS portfolio are a testament to our commitment to innovation. These investments are not just about increasing employee productivity within Meetings, Messaging, Calling, Devices, and the Webex Suite, but also about delivering significant efficiency in Contact Center. They are a key factor in our continued success.
- Introducing the latest generation of hardware endpoints. The 9800 series desk phones, headsets, cameras, meeting room kits, and collaboration boards make in-person and virtual collaboration feel like everyone is in the same room. The desk phones include a new design, AI features, power management, and a programmable action button for emergencies.
- The breadth of our offerings exceeds our UCaaS competitors. Our unified communications capabilities include back-end calling, messaging, meetings, contact center, CPaaS, observability services, hardware endpoints, room meeting systems, and gateways.
Keep reading to find out more about how we create exceptional experiences in these areas.
Forward-thinking investments in AI across our entire portfolio
We’ve purposefully built and invested in AI to deploy it across our entire portfolio, enabling unparalleled ease of use and effectiveness across Webex Contact Center, Webex Meetings, Messaging, Calling, Devices, and administrative portals in Control Hub.
Doing so has redefined what’s possible by delivering more innovative, faster, and more intuitive employee and customer experiences. From automating complex processes and enhancing customer journeys to providing actionable intelligence about Devices or office spaces, Cisco AI Assistant works effortlessly across hardware and software to deliver seamless experiences that don’t just help our customers innovate but make their lives and work easier.
In the last year, we’ve delivered incredible AI momentum, including:
- 40 new AI capabilities, including our flagship Cisco AI Assistant for Webex that helps employees, contact center agents, IT, and developers be more productive, proactive, and focused.
- Best Collaboration Display – UC Today
- The new Webex AI Codec, an industry-first application of advanced neural networks and machine learning to speech that significantly improves the hybrid work experience in lossy network situations, is generally available.
- The TMC 2023 Generative AI Product of the Year award for the Cisco AI Assistant for Webex Contact Center
These efforts are proving valuable to our customers through their feedback and active choice of Webex solutions—like the over 15 Million (and growing) users who have chosen our industry-leading Webex Calling.
With the Webex Suite, we’re able to connect instantly. We’re able to coordinate our calendars, work through problems, and come together as a team. You wouldn’t believe the amount of collaboration that it takes to pull off a Cowboys game, a concert, or any type of major sporting event, and this allows us to have multiple conversations to collaborate appropriately.
Matt Messick, Chief Information Officer – Dallas Cowboys
Hardware meets software—the most comprehensive portfolio of AI-powered devices
Transformation of the workplace in all its shapes and sizes is a top priority for every organization, and technology must become the foundation upon which the future workplace will be built for this to be successful. Cisco’s next generation of collaboration devices deliver workplace transformation by making it easy to video-enable every space, embedding AI intelligence into every device, and reimagining shared workspaces with desk reservation and modern hot desking. Plus, Cisco Collaboration Devices are built on the principle of interoperability, providing the ability to meet on any platform, including a native Microsoft Team Rooms experience.
We’re able to provide AI-driven intelligence inside our Cisco devices because of our visionary NVIDIA partnership. The tight integration of Cisco’s world-class hardware, leading conference room operating system, RoomOS, and NVIDIA’s AI capabilities allows Cisco to deliver the industry’s most capable AI and machine learning platform, enabling 20x the AI capabilities of previous generations.
Our latest generation of hardware endpoints launched in the last year include:
- The Cisco Desk Phone 9800 Series is much more than a phone with meetings, desk reservations, and emergency calls all in one device, built with best-in-class security.
- The next generation Cisco Board Pro G2 is packed with new dual cameras, an AI virtual lens, and upgraded performance—in an easily deployable, all-in-one solution that supports Cisco Rooms and is certified for Microsoft Teams Rooms.
- The all-new Cisco Room Kit EQX is an integrated, flagship collaboration device solution for medium and large workspaces that brings seamless deployment, flexible mounting options, and AI-enhanced video meetings to any meeting room.
- Bang & Olufsen Cisco 950 earbuds are designed for professionals. They offer true wireless capabilities, legendary sound, and quick pairing.
With the Cisco Board Pro 75, we’re able to put real data on the screen, enhance it, zoom in, and highlight things so that we can make complicated things simple. When we’re doing that, we’re enhancing our storytelling, and we’re connecting with our audience in ways that competitors simply cannot.
Eliot Crist, CEO – Fantasy Life
The power of one Cisco – the AI-powered platform advantage
Cisco has a unique market position. We are the only player with a suite of products backed by a single UI, offering a single meeting, calling, and contact center back end paired with a single app and device front end. We build that on a fabric of AI and on the rest of the Cisco Architecture—manageability, security, routing, and switching. Our offerings exceed UCaaS competitors because they are innovative, intuitive, and simple to use and manage. They are trusted by millions and backed by Cisco’s networking infrastructure and end-to-end security.
The Webex Suite is built on the enterprise-grade, secure Webex platform with pervasive AI-powered features built-in across Meetings, Messaging, Polling, Devices, Contact Center, Control Hub, and more. It also integrates seamlessly with other Cisco solutions, such as Cisco ThousandEyes to gain insights on network usage and availability, Cisco Meraki for wireless switching and security, and Cisco Spaces to create smart office spaces with occupancy and environmental data. These integrations enable unmatched insights across various network, security, and IoT aspects.
It all comes together in Webex Control Hub
Delivering exceptional user experiences is at the heart of what we do— but IT is the unsung hero who makes all of this possible in the real world. Webex is built to supercharge IT with Control Hub, a single-pane-of-glass experience for managing Suite, Calling, Contact Center, and Collaboration Devices and providing a comprehensive, platform-wide approach to security and sustainability.
In the last year, we’ve added several exciting enhancements to make Webex Control Hub even more powerful, including enabling support and troubleshooting with the AI Assistant, enhancing the ThousandEyes integration for network visibility, adding carbon insights reporting and low-carbon emission mode for sustainability, and AI workspace ranking and remote access management for devices.
Helping organizations achieve regulatory and sustainability goals
Control Hub offers a holistic view of all Webex services—online and in-room. It enables IT teams to manage services and users and provision devices easily and at scale. It also provides detailed analytics and reporting and the ability to configure security and compliance policies safely while meeting regulatory needs.
Widgets like the Carbon Emissions Insights in Control Hub allow companies to see the estimated carbon emissions of our devices and their usage so teams can monitor usage, track trends, and take action as needed.
Office Hours capabilities in Control Hub prevent individual devices from using unnecessary energy and allow your organization to use insights from embedded sensors to optimize building HVAC and more.
Our Room Bar devices are built with a circular design to reduce environmental impact.
We do it all for our customers, partners, and end users
Thank you to our customers and partners!
In closing, we’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished this year, but none of this is possible without our amazing customers and partners. Our innovation is driven by the needs of our customers, partners, and end users globally and in every industry. We truly owe this success to all of you!
Download a copy of the report.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Communications Platform as a Service, Lisa Unden-Farboud, Ajit Patankar, Pankil Sheth, Brian Doherty, 24 June 2024
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