Gartner shares its top picks for Meeting Solutions
It’s that time again!
Every year, we eagerly await the results of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report for UCaaS and Meeting Solutions. You can see our overview of the UCaaS report here, and now we have the Meeting Solutions overview too!
According to Gartner, Meeting Solutions are any real-time applications for collaboration that help to promote better teamwork in the professional landscape. This year, the following companies were added to the report:
Avaya: Now exceeding the required threshold for UCC revenue
Enghouse (Vidyo): Enghouse acquired Vidyo
Pexip: Merger with Videxio upgrades Pexip’s Meeting portfolio
TrueConf: Revenue now exceeds the required limit
ZTE: Was excluded from 2018 because of export issues, but back this year
Gartner has removed Arkadin from the report after determining that its latest offerings aren’t in line with the MQ inclusion criteria.
Meeting Solutions Leaders 2019
The “Leaders” in the Gartner MQ for Meeting Solutions are those that have the highest ability to execute and completeness of vision. This year, the leaders have stayed the same, echoing the choices from 2018, which included:
- Cisco
- Zoom
- Microsoft
- LogMeIn
Cisco
Cisco delivers a wide selection of Meeting Solutions for today’s teams, including access to video endpoints that can support everything from boardrooms to huddle rooms. The Cisco Meeting Server even supports on-premises deployments, while Cisco Webex Teams delivers exceptional options for workstream collaboration via SaaS. Gartner noted that Cisco’s range of endpoint and application options allow the company to provide a more fully integrated solution than any other vendor in the report. Additionally, Cisco also benefits from a comprehensive vertical industry program, addressing a selection of specific use cases and compliance requirements.
Microsoft
Microsoft delivers its Skype for Business solution for premises-based, hybrid, and dedicated managed service deployments. There’s also access to Microsoft Teams for SaaS. According to Gartner, Microsoft’s range of deployment options make it a highly flexible choice for today’s organisations. There’s even a free version of Microsoft Teams to help get businesses started. Additionally, Microsoft is excellent at addressing the needs and concerns of enterprise buyers and teams in a range of workforce roles.
Zoom
Zoom is a leading Meeting Solutions vendor that offers hybrid, SaaS, managed service, and dedicated deployment solutions to companies around the world. Zoom’s wide selection of deployment options, including a freemium package, gives today’s companies complete flexibility when choosing their rollout strategy. What’s more, Gartner notes that Zoom’s rich selection of features and expanding partner community makes it an excellent choice for organisations from all environments.
LogMeIn
LogMeIn provides a range of Meeting Solutions for today’s businesses, including join.me, GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToConnect and many more. Additionally, Gartner drew attention to the company’s selection of popular partner endpoints for conference rooms too. The LogMeIn brand focuses on delivering fantastic meeting workflows, evidenced by extensive integrations with scheduling, third-party productivity, and sales solutions. What’s more, LogMeIn operates meeting solutions that have remained highly popular among a range of enterprises today.
Meeting Solutions Challengers 2019
The Challengers in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions are defined by their excellent ability to execute and their powerful positions in the marketplace. Once again, the Challengers have remained the same between 2018 and 2019, including:
- Adobe
Google’s meeting room solutions include Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet for SaaS, as well as a range of partner-branded and Google’s own endpoints. According to Gartner, customers of Google benefit from the company’s ability to design flexible workflows across a range of G Suite products, as well as Google’s close connections with software and vendor partners. Additionally, Hangouts Meet is included as standard with the G Suite, which makes it a good choice for people with a strong Google portfolio already.
Adobe
Adobe’s Meeting Solution offering comes in the form of Adobe Connect, which is designed for premises-based, managed service, and SaaS deployments. Adobe focuses heavily on customers from specific verticals like financial services, healthcare, and government, making it appealing to highly regulated industries. Additionally, Gartner notes that Adobe Connect’s feature parity and critical partnerships for hosting make it a powerful choice for today’s organisations supporting workers in the remote, mobile and desk environments.
Meeting Solutions Niche Vendors 2019
The Niche Vendors mentioned by Magic Quadrant are those with limited completeness of vision and ability to execute, but plenty of potential to grow. These vendors have a lot of great technology to offer, but they may be limited in reach and size. Last year’s niche vendors were:
- Huawei
- PGi
- Arkadin
- Lifesize
- StarLeaf
This year, we have:
Huawei
Huawei offers a variety of proprietary conference room endpoints and infrastructure solutions for premises-based companies, and an eSpace cloud-based SaaS platform too. Huawei includes a lot of product features that other companies can’t provide, including support for virtual breakout rooms, automated translation of meeting transcripts and native support of room systems using digital signage displays. Huawei also has a strong track record of adjusting to the changing needs of the market according to Gartner.
Enghouse Systems
After acquiring Vidyo in May 2019, Enghouse is now a part of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions with the Vidyo branded systems for premises-based, SaaS, and hybrid deployment. Vidyo has a wide range of deployment options to offer, as well as presence in a host of different global regions. According to Gartner, Vidyo also has one of the most comprehensive API strategies available for vendors in the 2019 Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions, which is important for customers looking to embed meeting features into existing processes.
TrueConf
The TrueConf brand offers the TrueConf server for premises-based deployments, as well as TrueConf Online for SaaS, and partner endpoints for conference rooms. For the regions where the vendor is operating, TrueConf focuses on areas like legal, government, education, and healthcare, which makes it great for customers in search of highly compliant solutions. What’s more, Gartner notes that TrueConf has a rich range of features to offer for desktops, conference rooms, and mobile devices.
PGi
PGi gives today’s businesses a wide variety of fantastic hybrid and SaaS deployment options for Meeting Solutions through its GlobalMeet Suite. There’s also access to a stand-alone audioconferencing service available too. The PGi GlobalMeet portfolio comes with the global reach and capabilities required to satisfy the needs of companies of all locations and sizes, according to Gartner. Additionally, PGi delivers meeting solutions that are well anchored by its existing audioconferencing service. GlobalMeet’s Webcast and Webinar features make the tool stand out too.
Avaya
Avaya has made its way into the Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions this year, with the intelligent Xperiences meeting solution. This offering comes in the form of managed, hybrid, premises-based, and dedicated hosted deployment models, and Avaya has branded conference room endpoints to offer too. According to Gartner, Avaya delivers a wide range of deployment options for customers, which is excellent for those in need of plenty of choices. Additionally, Avaya offers IX as an integrated experience within its communication and collaboration suite too.
ZTE
The ZTE brand provides hybrid, SaaS, managed service, and dedicated options for deployment for the TrueMeet solution for modern meetings. Gartner notes that ZTE has the endpoints and features required to meet the changing demands of today’s IT buyers. Additionally, the company can provide a range of deployment options for the meeting solution too, which gives customers more choices for configuration options than previously found in the market.
Meeting Solutions Visionaries 2019
Finally, we come to Gartner’s Visionaries for the Meeting Solutions Magic Quadrant in 2019. Visionaries are the companies that have well-developed features and vast completeness of vision to bring into the marketplace. Last year, we had:
- Vidyo
- BlueJeans
This year, the Gartner Visionaries include:
Pexip
Pexip offers a cloud-based meeting solution in a SaaS format with virtualised video infrastructure provided through Infinity as managed service or premises-based deployments. The merger between Videxio and Pexip at the end of last year helped Pexip to stand out as a scalable videoconferencing solution with unified experiences to offer across desktop, mobile, and conference room environments. Additionally, Gartner notes that Pexip’s partnerships with Google and Microsoft also give it interoperability with two major productivity tools.
BlueJeans
For Meeting Solutions, BlueJeans offers the BlueJeans Meetings and Events offerings as SaaS, and provides partner endpoints for conference rooms too. BlueJeans can also provide a cloud-based video gateway for Microsoft Teams. According to Gartner, BlueJeans has a powerful video meeting service to offer and is currently looking to expand its business through partnerships with Facebook, Microsoft, and Dolby. BlueJeans also regularly listens to the needs of its customers and develops new solutions through its smart meetings environment.
StarLeaf
StarLeaf gives businesses access to a comprehensive SaaS deployment for StarLeaf Cloud meetings, along with a range of conference room endpoints. StarLeaf’s collaboration solution resonates with buyers seeking a reliable platform for higher-quality conference experiences. According to Gartner, StarLeaf stands out because it has recently implemented a multichannel success program for customers to help clients get into the service quickly and efficiently. Additionally, StarLeaf also provides analytics to support ongoing adoption.
Lifesize
Lifesize provides meeting room solutions with a subscription to the Cloud conferencing solution from Lifesize, or as a standalone service. Lifesize has expanded its channels and sales initiatives in EMEA and APAC over the years and accompanied those efforts with a host of licensing offers to meet the needs of local customers. Lifesize offers integrated videoconferencing room endpoints and a wide range of features, according to Gartner. Additionally, Lifesize can provide advanced solutions like digital signage, wireless screen presentation, and virtual meeting assistants too.
What do you think about this year’s Meeting Solutions Magic Quadrant from Gartner? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!