According to Gartner, by 2028, 90% of global enterprises will leverage communications platform as a service (CPaaS) to operationalize CX and engagement, up from 50% in 2023*.
But how do you choose the right partner for your business — one who can help you meet evolving communication needs, improve customer experience and operational efficiency, and drive innovation?
This is where the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPaaS comes into play.
Keep reading to understand how we believe you should use the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPaaS to identify and select a provider who’ll empower you to harness the full potential of cloud communications and create long-term value for your business and customers. Please note that the tips provided in this post aren’t official recommendations from Gartner. They’re solely based on Sinch’s vision and experience in the CPaaS industry.
What is the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™?
The Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ is a research methodology and graphical representation that provides an in-depth analysis of the CPaaS market by categorizing providers into four quadrants — Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Players — based on their Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision.
Why the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPaaS matters
The Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPaaS offers a clear snapshot of the CPaaS landscape from independent analysts. It compiles complex market data into an easy-to-understand visual format that simplifies the process of evaluating and comparing different vendors.
It also provides insights into the strengths and cautions of CPaaS providers available on the market, enabling technology buyers to make more informed decisions and identify the providers best positioned to support their business requirements and strategic goals.
How we think you should read the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™
Understanding the axes
The Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ evaluates CPaaS providers along two critical axes:
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Completeness of Vision
Gartner evaluates service providers on their ability to articulate logical statements convincingly about the market’s current and future direction, innovations, customer needs, and competitive forces, and on how well these correspond to Gartner’s position. Ultimately, providers are rated on their understanding of how they can exploit market forces and how well they map to Gartner’s view of the market.
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Ability to Execute
Gartner evaluates providers on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable IT provider performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, and to positively impact revenue, retention and reputation within Gartner’s view of the market.
As per our understanding, together, these two axes provide a comprehensive evaluation of each provider's current performance and future potential, helping businesses identify vendors best suited for their needs, today and tomorrow.
The four quadrants explained
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Leaders
Leaders are in the strongest position to influence the market’s direction. They demonstrate a market-defining vision of how CPaaS can be deployed in various use cases. Leaders have the Ability to Execute against that vision through the capabilities of their organization, business model and platform. They have demonstrated business results in the form of customer feedback and growth. They excel in their combination of market understanding, innovation, platform features and overall viability.
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Challengers
Challengers have established presence, credibility and viability, and have demonstrated the ability to meet customers’ expectations. Challengers often have good technology capabilities, but may lack coverage in selected technology areas, have limited geographic coverage, or not support
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Visionaries
Visionaries can deliver innovative capabilities and sophisticated CPaaS experiences, such as vertical-industry-specific use cases or e-commerce services. These vendors embody trends that are shaping the CPaaS market. They may have limitations in terms of brand awareness, ability to support large customers or market sizing compared to their counterparts. Visionaries have strong innovation and roadmaps.
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Niche Players
Niche Players may offer selected CPaaS capabilities compelling to certain users, but their solution may have limitations in such areas as:
- Proven financial success
- Breadth of features and functions
- Brand awareness
- Presence to deliver across multiple geographies
- Strong business execution in the market
- Ability to support large-enterprise requirements
For more detailed information about the four quadrants, visit Gartner’s official page.
Choosing the right CPaaS provider for your business using the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™
Beyond the quadrant itself, you also need to consider the full report and dive into each provider’s strengths and cautions to identify the ones best positioned to support your communication needs.
The importance of each evaluation criteria will vary depending on your business’s strategic goals and use cases.
Identify your requirements and shortlist providers
When aligning your requirements with potential providers’ offering, consider the following:
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Use cases
Want to take your marketing campaigns to the next level? Transform service delivery? Secure your customer journey? Enhance customer support? Ensure the CPaaS providers you’re considering will support all your business’s current and future use cases and offer flexible solutions that can grow and scale alongside your company. They should be able to provide strong case studies for their products and services.
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Channel coverage and features
Which communication channels and features do you need today, and which will likely be useful tomorrow? Evaluate the strength of the provider’s offering for traditional channels like email, voice, and SMS, but also emerging channels like RCS (Rich Communication Services) and AI capabilities.
It’s also worth looking into the provider’s offering for regional channels like WeChat or Kakao if you operate in markets where consumers use these applications.
Another important consideration: Will the CPaaS solution you’re considering enable you to easily upgrade to omnichannel? If you ask us, the answer should be “yes”, even if you haven’t started your omnichannel journey yet, because this is what consumers expect!
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Geographic coverage and reach
How many markets do you operate in and what are your plans for future expansion? Does the provider you’re considering have a local presence in these markets?
Make sure the CPaaS providers you’re shortlisting have a geographic and GTM spread that allows them to serve businesses of any size, anywhere in the world.
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Partnerships and integrations
Does the vendor have native integrations with the tools your business is using?
A CPaaS provider with a wide array of partnerships will enable faster go-to-market and simplify the integration process, helping you add new communications capabilities into your existing systems quickly and easily.
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Connectivity infrastructure
Will the provider enable you to reach your customers effectively wherever they are? Can they handle any volume of traffic without a hitch? Reliable and timely communications are a key aspect of a positive customer experience, and network infrastructure is what ensures your emails, messages, and calls are routed and delivered where and when it matters.
We recommend choosing a CPaaS provider with a carrier-grade network with direct connections to operators, channel providers, and postmasters.
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Compliance and security
If you care about your business’s and customers’ security (and we know you do), you need a CPaaS partner who places security and compliance at the core of everything they do.
Ask yourself — and any provider you’re considering — the following questions: Can they ensure end-to-end delivery, security, and data protection? Do they have robust measures in place to prevent and detect fraud in customer communications? Can they demonstrate compliance with local data protection laws and regulations in the markets where your company operates?
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Customer reviews and support quality
Last but not least: Don’t just select a CPaaS solution, choose a partner for success!
Check potential providers’ response times, contact options, and customer success initiatives and processes. The right one should support you at every step and make it easy for your business to harness the full potential of CPaaS.
And of course, look at what their existing customers are saying.
Dive into the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPaaS
We feel the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ is a powerful tool that can help you navigate the complexity of the CPaaS market.
If you’re looking into CPaaS providers, we encourage you to check out the latest iteration of the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPaaS.
You’ll learn why Sinch was recognized as a Leader for the second year in a row and see how our offering was evaluated amongst other vendors. Use it as a resource alongside your own research to create your shortlist of potential partners!
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Communication Platforms as a Service, Lisa Unden-Farboud, Pankil Sheth, Ajit Patankar, Brian Doherty, 24 June 2024
Disclaimer:
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of the Gartner research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
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*Source: Market Guide for Communications Platform as a Service (September 2022)
