Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service Applications

Written by: Johan Jacobs via gartner.com

Gartner's Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service Applications shows a market for

mostly mature technologies with buyers increasingly focusing on mobile, video and social

channels, while expanding content in the knowledgebase for self-service.

Market Definition/Description

The CRM Web Customer Service Applications Magic Quadrant is based on the Web customer

service framework, and consists of eight primary building blocks (also see "CRM Web

Customer Service Application Framework, 2012"):

Knowledgebase for self-service — Web-based self-service supported by a knowledge

management engine and database through which to perform advanced content delivery. The

key focus is to achieve at least an 85% relevance of response (see Note 1).

Email response management — Email management environment with natural language

understanding, optical character recognition (OCR), email routing, virtual email agents,

automated email categorization and escalation, keyword spotting, and text emotion detection.

Web chat — Online Web text-based interaction with a live agent or speech-based interaction

with a virtual assistant. The Web chat sessions are routed in a similar manner to voice calls,

and a group of text chat agents will engage with the client when receiving an incoming Web

chat request.

Collaborative browsing — Simultaneous browsing of a website to assist with shopping cart or

forms completion. Often referred to as assisted forms completion, this activity will allow an

agent to respond to a customer request for online assistance or click-for-help request.

Virtual assistant — Interaction with a virtual entity (humanoid) via a Web-based or mobile

device interface. Interaction types are text-to-text, text-to-speech, speech-to-text and speech-

to-speech.

Video services — Single directional outbound video services from an agent to a customer,

and video-based guided assistance using how-to videos stored in the knowledgebase or a

social media channel.

Mobile customer service with SMS — Service notification and requests via mobile device or

smartphone using data and an SMS channel, and the embedding of a URL into an SMS text.

Also providing mobile customer service applications or engagement on channels such as

mobile Web chat and mobile virtual assistants.

Social services — Harvesting of content from social networks and updating the

knowledgebase with the content to allow better resolution of recurring problems across all

interaction channels.

In addition to the primary components, there are three other components that are important for

managing the Web customer experience:

Multichannel analytics — The use of business intelligence and analytical tools to obtain

comprehensive insight into the usage of, and customer interaction across, all channels

deployed

Multichannel feedback management — Using survey tools to obtain customer feedback

across all the above channels following interaction within a Web customer service channel

Multichannel interaction recording — Recording of Web searches, email chains, Web chat

transcripts, collaborative browse sessions and/or SMS interactions for quality purposes

The market size for Web customer service is currently estimated at $1 billion, up from $900

million in 2011 and up from $820 million in 2010.

Magic Quadrant Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service Applications

Source: Gartner (February 2013)

Vendor Strengths and Cautions

Anboto

Anboto is a privately owned provider of Web customer service based in Bilbao, Spain. It is

primarily focused on the European market. Gartner estimates the vendor's annual revenue at

between $5 million to $10 million. Anboto has won a number of industry awards and is rapidly

building an expanding customer base as a result of sales and infrastructure investments, as

well as opening an office in Redwood City, California. This Niche Player provider of Web

customer service uses a sophisticated algorithm to conceptualize the knowledge delivery

based on a five different analytical processes (morphologic, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and

functional), averaging an above 90% relevance of response in its self-service responses. The

Anboto solution is exclusively cloud-based, with a software as a service (SaaS) business

model, and pricing includes a setup fee and monthly pay-per-use charge, with the cost of

maintenance also based on use.

Strengths

All the Anboto channels are on the same integrated platform, with all the products integrating

with the same knowledgebase that has a single administrative dashboard for knowledge

maintenance.

Under the same analytics tool, a client can check the interaction channel analytics, as well as

the recorded surveys of all the different channels.

The Social module allows the use of the Anboto Virtual Assistant for Customer Service and

Sales from a Facebook page. This allows clients to interact with the virtual assistant without

leaving the social network. The virtual assistant shares a knowledgebase with the Web version,

so there's no need to maintain different knowledgebases for different channels.

Cautions

In addition to the vertical focus on finance, transportation and healthcare, Anboto needs to

expand its focus to other growth verticals, such as retail and public sector.

Due to its primary focus on Spain and Europe, Anboto has a limited capability to sell and

provide support in other international venues. Recently established offices in the U.S. should

help business expand into wider geographies.

Anboto has a mobile customer service development platform in the native Web customer

service suite, but further development is required for SMS delivery. The library of packaged

mobile applications is also not as comprehensive as some of the other providers in the Magic

Quadrant.

Artificial Solutions

Artificial Solutions is a Visionary provider of Web customer service focused primarily on the

European market. Gartner estimates the vendor's annual revenue at $10 million to $14 million.

The Teneo customer interaction suite has become well-established and mature in the past 12

months, and it forms the core of Artificial Solutions' offering. Artificial Solutions has a flexible

licensing structure that is either based on SaaS or perpetual licensing. The licensing is not

based on hardware infrastructure or the number of licenses, but on the traffic that is generated

through the system, which is measured by the volume of interactions. Clients pay an initial fee

for the software and then per interaction.

Strengths

At the core of the Artificial Solutions' offering is a knowledgebase that is managed and

accessed through the Teneo Interaction Engine. It is able to receive and send data from and to

external systems, in addition to its own knowledgebase, thereby extending the capability of the

overall solution.

Artificial Solutions is able to stream how-to videos either within the Teneo platform or via social

networks. The video content is accessed via the knowledgebase and can be played through a

Web page in response to a service query placed through the virtual assistant, or the link can be

emailed or displayed in a Web chat.

Teneo can search through aggregated social media content for keywords. Using natural

language, it can understand the sentiment behind comments and respond appropriately,

whether that means providing helpful information, a link to a website or a telephone number.

Cautions

Artificial Solutions does not have any Web chat nor collaborative browsing capabilities. For

these functions, customers will have to engage with partners, such as NTRglobal or

LivePerson. There are currently no plans to add these channels to the native platform.

The email response management solution can analyze the content of an incoming email, but it

cannot open email attachments and process the content in the attachments.

Due to the mainly European focus, Artificial Solutions is limited in its ability to support and sell

its solution in other geographies.

Avaya

Avaya is a $5.547 billion company selling a comprehensive set of communications software

and services. With approximately 400 employees dedicated to the development of Web

customer service solutions, Avaya provides multichannel and Web self-service solutions for

internal and external customer use. The Avaya Aura Contact Center Suite forms the platform

for most of the Web-customer-service-related channels and is sold on a per-server basis, with

licensing required for agents. Avaya also offers an enhanced software licensing program that

provides pricing economies based on scalar user license fees, an increased level of flexibility

for software license moves and software version investment protection. Avaya has moved to

the Visionary quadrant following the release of Avaya Aura, but it still lacks the functionality of a

deep, rich knowledge management solution, integrated with the other channels, and this will

restrict further movement at this time.

Strengths

Avaya provides a variety of collaborative capabilities using automatic synchronization, where a

customer and agent can have their browsing synchronized and customer page sharing is

available through page push, which helps customers fill out forms and through which

predefined or ad hoc pages can be pushed to customers. No customer download is required

for enabling these activities.

The Avaya Social Media Manager scans and processes events from external social and

community sources. It gathers potential interactions from social channels, analyzes social work

items, selects appropriate events for agent review and then assigns the social work items for

action.

The vendor provides real-time video sessions between agents and customers, supporting both

one-way and two-way video chat. Video collaboration also includes the ability for agents to

show customers how-to videos.

Cautions

The knowledgebase self-service tool is provided in the form of an FAQ solution and has good

search facilities, but it is only available in one of the Avaya Web customer service solutions.

Avaya indicates that it can integrate with a number of virtual assistant solutions. The vendor

has also revealed plans for growth and acquisition in this area.

Avaya has no emotion detection built into its core routing platform, but does offer emotion

detection in its Social Media Manager product.

eGain

eGain is a $44 million company based in San Francisco. The eGain solution is available in on-

premises, hosted and SaaS deployments. The vendor's biggest strength lies in its extensive

knowledge management capabilities, which are tightly integrated with and support all the

various Web customer service interaction channels. The eGain solution is hosted in California

and England, providing multicontinent opportunities. A variety of pricing options allows

businesses to purchase what they need in terms of applications (one or more at a time) and

deployment options (cloud or on-premises). The pricing options include user-based and

session-based, with user-based pricing in the range of $80 to $120 per user per month for

cloud deployments, and pricing in the range $1,000 to $1,500 per user for on-premises

deployments, depending on the application, with additional purchase volume discounts. Other

pricing options, such as session-based and offer-based pricing, are available, depending on

the application. Annual maintenance costs for on-premises deployments are typically 12% to

15% of the license fee, and there are no maintenance costs for hosted deployments.

Moreover, eGain offers an investment model called SLaaS (for solution as a service), which is

a month-to-month, cloud-based deployment option encouraging risk-free innovation.

Strengths

eGain's SLaaS agreement requires no contract of any kind and customers only pay for what

they want to use. The fast, cloud-based implementation provides an ideal platform for

customers to pilot a wide variety of Web customer service channels before deciding on what to

deploy.

The eGain knowledgebase is the best among all the providers evaluated and provides for all

five of the following levels of search: keyword matching, natural language, semantic

understanding, intent-based search and case-based reasoning. This federated search

approach allows customers to obtain very high accuracy when performing searches of internal

or external sources.

The vendor is one of the few providers in the Magic Quadrant that not only has a highly

functional solution for Web customer service, but also has an equally efficient multichannel

solution to support Web commerce and sales-based activities.

Cautions

The eGain platform is 100% pure Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and it

implements service-oriented architecture (SOA). There is no Microsoft .NET solution available

or planned for the future.

The vendor has increased its investment in distribution, recently adding local teams in

Germany, France, Singapore and South Africa. It will need to educate customers in these new

markets and adapt its product strategy to effectively serve local needs.

eGain APIs have been significantly enhanced with REST APIs for its knowledge platform. This

presents a new opportunity for partners to develop value-added solutions, embedding

knowledge in business processes. However, the vendor's partner network will need training

and certification to take full advantage of this capability.

Eptica

Eptica is a $9 million Niche Player vendor of Web customer service solutions. The Eptica Web

customer service suite provides a single platform for email response management, Web,

social, chat and mobile, supporting multiple brands, suppliers and languages. Eptica's central

engine comprises a self-learning knowledgebase, semantic and natural language processing,

an interaction workflow engine, and analytics. Interaction detection, routing and business rules

enable the management of multitier customer interaction between the customer, the service

provider and the enterprise. Both on-premises and SaaS options are available from the vendor,

and licensing options are charged for on a concurrent user basis, based on the number of

connected agents. There are also knowledgebase usage volume limits that are charged for

based on the number of interactions. Maintenance is paid at 20% of the list price; however,

with concurrent user pricing, this could be difficult to calculate.

Strengths

Eptica Self-service enables video customer service through the use of how-to video

knowledgebase articles. Video can be stored in the knowledgebase content library, and a link

is contained within the self-service text to a YouTube video.

The Eptica Facebook Interaction Portal provides integration and management of inquiries from

Facebook users. All Facebook interactions (and Twitter messages) are also recorded within

the customer's individual contact history. Agents process Facebook questions through the

Eptica Email Management interface in the same way they process inbound emails.

Drill-down reporting is provided as standard within the Eptica Web customer service solution,

providing customer insights into all multichannel interactions, including social media channels.

Cautions

Eptica's primary focus is in Europe and Asia, and the vendor currently has no plans to extend

its operations to the U.S.

Eptica does not have a virtual assistant solution, and customers will have to engage a third

party to fill this gap. The vendor also does not have any plans on its road map to develop a

virtual assistant.

Eptica's Web customer service solution is built entirely on the Java EE platform, and there is no

.NET option available. Customers with this architecture standard will have to invest in

integration efforts to run the solution.

Genesys

Genesys is a $600 million company. It uses a three-tiered SOA approach to Web customer

service. The various channels are managed by the following servers: E-Mail Server, Chat

Server, SMS/MMS and Social Messaging Server, Web API Server, Interaction Server,

Universal Routing Server (URS), Stat Server and Classification Server, as well as Training

Server, which is focused on providing a seamless customer experience. Genesys provides on-

premises, CPU and subscription-based licensing and charges by the seat or named user, and

has an application fee for social media. Maintenance is calculated as 16% to 20% of the net

license price.

Strengths

With Genesys Mobile Engagement, customers can use a mobile application to connect directly

to an agent, who then receives session information, customer history, preferences, location

and other contextual information for the mobile interaction.

The vendor uses Conversation Manager to gather and execute on key customer information,

and to manage cross-channel conversations.

The Genesys social solution has the following key capabilities: Monitoring to automate the

process of listening, and to analyze the action ability and sentiment of a social media message;

prioritizing to determine the service level and priority of the social media interaction;

and engaging, which aligns the social media interaction with the ideal available resource to

service the interaction.

Cautions

Genesys has disclosed an ambitious road map to develop its own knowledge management

capability, which, until last year, was primarily provided through an OEM arrangement. There is

risk in any development road map, so enterprises are cautioned to understand how and when

the Genesys suite meets their specific knowledge requirements.

Genesys does not have a virtual assistant solution, but has partnered with Oddcast to provide

functionality in this area.

The private equity and venture capital firms that own Genesys have high expectations for

growth, so the vendor will be aggressively pursuing new markets. As it pushes itself beyond its

traditional market segments, it may stretch its go-to-market delivery capabilities. Enterprises

should evaluate the level of support they will require from partners or from Genesys for the

overall solution.

Interactive Intelligence

Interactive Intelligence is a $210 million company and currently has six data centers around the

world. At the core of all Web customer service interactions is the Customer Interaction Center

(CIC) server, which routes, monitors, records and reports on all interactions. The on-premises-

based licensing includes a server fee for every locally installed switchover pair, and a user- or

workstation-based perpetual access license to handle email and Web chat. Licenses can be

upgraded from single to multichannel. Separate licenses are needed for the Interaction

Recorder, Interaction Optimizer, Interaction Analyzer and e-FAQ. Communications as a service

(CaaS) licensing provides a monthly agent fee, with an add-on monthly charge for multiple

channels. Maintenance is 18% of list price for standard maintenance for premises-based

software, and CaaS pricing includes all software maintenance.

Strengths

The 2011 launch of Interaction Analyzer provided the ability to perform real-time keyword and

phrase spotting during interactions as it monitors the conversation stream between an agent

and customer. Future releases will also include a contextual overview of each conversation.

During a Web chat session, prewritten responses (such as greetings, closings and commonly

asked questions, as well as responses from e-FAQ) can be dragged and dropped into the chat

window to speed up chat times and standardize interactions.

The Interaction Recorder solution provides the ability to record Web chats and emails, and to

score them for quality assurance purposes. Recording also includes the option to screen

record the agent's activity while working on an email or Web chat.

Cautions

The e-FAQ solution is the vendor's answer to a knowledgebase solution; however, during the

past 12 months, no new functionality has been released for this product. Currently, it lacks the

advanced features one would find in a full self-service knowledge management deployment.

Interactive Intelligence does not have a virtual assistant solution available nor does it have a

collaborative browsing solution; it partners with LiveLOOK for the latter.

Interactive Intelligence has some limited video services available and has developed

integrations with Microsoft Lync, IBM Sametime and Polycom to provide video queuing. With

regard to knowledge management, videos can be accessed via the e-FAQ solution, but no

searchable scripts can be created from the video content.

Kana (Enterprise)

Kana is a $100 million company, following some strategic acquisitions. Kana Enterprise

provides both an on-premises and a cloud-based context-aware SOA with three architectural

tiers: service experience (focusing on the user interface and experience), orchestration

(focusing on knowledge, email, Web chat and other channel services) and integration (focusing

on creating a unified integration layer between all the channels). Pricing for on-premises

products is module- and agent-based, and pricing for the SaaS offerings is subscription-based

by seat or usage. Standard maintenance is offered at 20% of the net license fee, and premium

maintenance is offered at 25% of the net license fee. SaaS offerings include maintenance in

the usage price.

Strengths

The Kana Enterprise knowledgebase supports the embedding of how-to video content and

distributing it at the right point in the service experience — posting a video to a social

community, playing a video during a Web chat or co-browse session, or sending a URL link to

the video in an email.

Using text analytics for natural language and accommodating "Internet speak" (such as

misspellings and acronyms), Kana Enterprise's social listening capabilities allow enterprises to

listen to discussions and content on social communities. There is also an ability to detect

customer sentiment and highlight pervasive issues, and agents can respond directly to social

media posts if needed.

Kana Enterprise provides multichannel analytics to derive insights from customer interactions

(email, chat, phone), feedback (Web forms, surveys) and social media (Facebook, Twitter,

blogs). Business rules can take multiple actions, like escalating the case, or sending out an

email resolution or a knowledgebase article.

Cautions

Storing video by recording the voice into searchable text and the provision of an SMS gateway

is still a gap in the Kana Enterprise edition.

The recent acquisition of Ciboodle, focused on rounding out the vendor's social CRM footprint

and providing a mobile platform, could create some challenges around integration of Ciboodle

and its product lines in the short term.

Complete availability of all the Kana Enterprise channels and functionality in the cloud remains

a road map objective. Although some components are available as SaaS, others are not. The

entire product can be hosted, but more development is needed to migrate the entire solution to

support a SaaS model.

Kana (Express)

Kana Express is a new solution from Kana, following the acquisition of Trinicom. Prior to the

acquisition, Trinicom was an approximately $10 million company, but since its incorporation

into the $100 million Kana organization, there have been a number of enhancements to the

solution and an increase in the geographic availability of the product. Kana Express is available

as an on-premises or a cloud-based solution and is ideally suited for the midsize to large tier

organization looking for Web customer service interaction channels. Kana Express licenses are

charged for the number of used modules (channels) and transaction bundles (unique

visitors/contacts). For on-premises deployments, the maintenance fee is 20% of the license

costs. For SaaS offerings, there is a subscription-based model based on user modules and

transaction volumes.

Strengths

Kana Express has the ability to embed video in the knowledgebase either as URL links to

YouTube-stored content or as video knowledge in the knowledgebase.

The product currently has two social media monitoring platforms, and has the ability to add the

results of listening activities as contacts/cases for agent attention. The knowledgebase has

also been integrated with the front-end community, creating the possibility for knowledge

content to be delivered directly to the social network or forum in which the questions are being

asked.

Kana Express' analytics module delivers drill-down and slicing-and-dicing functionality over all

the primary information domains: customer, organization, interactions and the knowledgebase.

Cross-domain analysis is also possible to gain insights into user behavior.

Cautions

Kana Express currently does not have a collaborative browsing capability, but this is planned

for the next release.

Kana Express has a very well-established market share in the Benelux region, but is not well-

known outside of it. Kana will have to invest in training and the development of the broader

sales force to accelerate the go-to-market pace in the rest of the world, where Kana Enterprise

is better-known.

The product has no multichannel recording capability. Organizations that have a legal

requirement to record Web-based customer interactions (such as financial services) will have

to engage with third-party solutions for recording them.

Moxie Software

Moxie Software is a privately held company that provides a Web customer service solution built

on a .NET platform and employs approximately 200 people across the world. Customers can

select from either an on-premises or cloud-based solution. The vendor provides a full,

multichannel customer communications suite that is powered by a built-in knowledge

management solution. Moxie Software's licensing and pricing model is per user for on-

premises solutions and subscription-based per user for the cloud model solutions for both the

enterprise and small business markets. Maintenance is calculated at 20% of list price.

Strengths

Moxie Software's Web customer service solution is designed on a publish/subscribe

framework. Customer Spaces from Moxie Software allows changes made to the user interface,

agent roles/permissions or content layer to be immediately pushed out to the agents without

requiring relogin.

The social media response module offers the ability to listen to social media channels, filtering

out unwanted content and returning only the discussions and comments that require a

response, and doing sentiment analysis as part of the process.

The Moxie Software suite provides detailed recordings of all incoming communications and all

interactions across the Web self-service channels. Track-and-store communications chains

give agents a complete view of the entire customer history across all channels, putting the

current interactions in context, and provide the ability to view related messages and other

interaction histories across a particular incident or group of incidents.

Cautions

Moxie Software does not serve the small or midsize business market; the solution is better-

suited for midsize and large enterprise sales and service centers.

The vendor does not provide OEM virtual assistant capabilities, but can integrate with other

providers' solutions. It has a partnership with VirtuOz, with integrations into its chat and

knowledge solutions, but Moxie Software does not provide support or contracting and licensing

for this third-party product.

The Moxie Software solution has the capability to store videos as knowledge articles that can

be delivered via a self-service search or referenced via a URL. However, there is still no

capability to record the soundtrack into text to create a searchable knowledge article that can

start the video replay at the point where the information is required.

Oracle-RightNow Technologies

The Oracle RightNow CX Cloud Service solution employs a three-tier architecture: database,

application/Web server and client, with communication from the client to the server taking place

via SOAP services and HTTP. The solution supports a multitenant, hosted environment,

enabling support of multiple clients on the same database, as well as multiple versions of the

software to run within the hosting environment. Oracle RightNow CX Cloud Service is priced on

a subscription model offering four desktop packages: Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Contact

Center or Stand-Alone Chat. The suites follow a seat-based pricing model and Oracle

RightNow Web Experience follows transaction-based pricing based on sessions consumed.

The Oracle RightNow Social Experience is offered through a fixed-fee annual price for a stand-

alone community. Oracle RightNow Engage for social follows transaction-based pricing based

on the number of emails sent.

Strengths

Oracle RightNow's mobile Web customer service solution extends the Web self-service

channels and knowledge for use with mobile devices and smartphones using either of the

following mobile interaction points: Mobile browser interactions of a customer within a Web

browser within the device; mobile applications with purpose-built applications specific to the

operating system within the mobile device; and mobile Web relying on the processing of the

server to deliver content.

Oracle RightNow has no video chat capabilities, but does support the use of how-to videos in

the knowledgebase for delivery either as direct push interactions with customers during a Web

chat or via the URL of the video embedded on a website or in an email link.

Oracle RightNow Social Monitor Cloud Service, Oracle RightNow Self Service for Facebook

and the Oracle RightNow Community offerings for social listening, analytics and response

provide social media capabilities for customers seeking custom social service solutions.

Cautions

Some of the objectives that Oracle RightNow is focusing on require collaboration with other

Oracle businesses. Some of those collaborations will likely take time to bring to fruition/bring to

market. Be prepared to discuss release targets/road map if you are looking to utilize

capabilities that span Oracle RightNow and other Oracle products, like Siebel.

The Virtual Assistant offering is new to the market and does not yet have references. Oracle

RightNow lacks a productized offering for SMS, relying instead on partners to fill the gaps in

that area. If outbound/inbound messaging is key to your customer interaction strategy, then

you might want to consider other suitable vendors.

The RightNow solution is only available in a SaaS model and no on-premises option exists.

Customers looking for an on-premises solution will have to select another provider.

Since the acquisition, fewer clients have called us with inquiries related to Oracle RightNow

than was the case before the acquisition. We believe this reduction is because there is a

slowdown in Oracle RightNow deals being considered, at least among Gartner clients. We

acknowledge that Oracle RightNow has been specifically called out by Oracle management as

a growing area in Oracle’s last three quarterly investor calls, and it could also be that clients

have fewer questions because they know Oracle.

Presence Technology

Presence Technology is a $9 million company based in Barcelona, Spain. It focuses on a

value-added reseller (VAR) strategy as its primary means of growth and expansion for both its

on-premises and SaaS offerings. Licensing is mostly focused on one license per concurrent

agent interaction across the various channels. For recording, it is one license per port, with two

different license levels, based on the recording activation. Rental, pay-per-use, hosted and

SaaS pricing models are based on the same principles. Maintenance fees are calculated as a

percentage of the license cost and range from 12% to 22%. Presence Technology has also

embedded the Voxeo Prism unified communications application server into every channel,

which will mean some additional expenses for every license.

Strengths

Presence Technology supports video chat and, to date, deployments have primarily been

through a video kiosk enabled with client-side cameras and the ability to video chat with call

center agents. All video interactions are recorded and stored as interaction history.

The Presence Social Media Gateway (SMG) supports Twitter and Facebook (bidirectional) as

the primary social media channels. The social media monitoring also includes multilevel filters

for routing interactions to the necessary agents for action. Social media responses can be

automated based on results of the integration with the partner knowledgebase, where

appropriate.

The Presence Messaging SMS module includes a set of monitors and reports to supervisors

managing the SMS channels. It allows the embedding of URLs into outbound SMS

communications, focused on reducing call backs to the contact center.

Cautions

Presence Technology has a limited ability to provide Web customer service solutions for global

deployments.

The vendor does not have a knowledge management solution; it partners with KBpublisher to

fill this gap.

Presence Technology does not have a virtual assistant solution; it partners with Artificial

Solutions to fill this gap.

SAP

SAP is a €12,500 million company providing an open application and integration platform. The

Web customer service solution is based on the SAP Java EE platform, which is part of the SAP

NetWeaver stack. SAP partners with eGain for a number of channels that are not native to the

SAP solution. The vendor prices its solutions on a CPU core basis for business-to-consumer

(B2C) customers and on a named-user basis for B2B customers. Maintenance fees are

calculated as a percentage of the license costs. SAP provides standard support packages and

a customer-specific support agreement.

Strengths

SAP not only focuses on Web customer service, but also provides a wider multichannel

customer service solution, including contact center (SAP Business Communications

Management and SAP CRM Interaction Center), e-service (SAP Web Channel Experience

Management), mobile (SAP Mobile Platform) and social (SAP Social Customer Engagement

OnDemand).

The SAP Web Channel Experience Management platform and the SAP Mobile Platform focus

on providing business processes via the Web or consumer mobile devices.

SAP continues to heavily invest in its solution portfolio, and multichannel customer service is

an ongoing strategic investment for SAP.

Cautions

SAP does not offer a complete solution set for Web customer service as native functionality. A

number of components are only available through a partnership with eGain, requiring

customers to sign separate vendor agreements. This could result in a higher total cost of

ownership, compared with some of the other more specialized Web customer service vendors.

SAP does not offer an on-demand option for Web customer service. However, in the next

release of SAP Social Customer Engagement OnDemand, the addition of email and chat

capabilities is planned.

SAP uses its broad partner ecosystem to extend the Web and mobile reach of business

processes beyond what is offered out of the box. Enterprises should be cautious when

choosing a knowledgeable implementation partner.

Vendors Added or Dropped

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as markets

change. As a result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant or

MarketScope may change over time. A vendor appearing in a Magic Quadrant or MarketScope

one year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we have changed our opinion of

that vendor. This may be a reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed

evaluation criteria, or a change of focus by a vendor.

Added

Anboto was added to this Magic Quadrant.

Dropped

Oracle-Siebel has been dropped from this Magic Quadrant, following the acquisition of

RightNow Technologies by Oracle and the positioning of RightNow as the primary Web

customer service interaction solution for Oracle, in place of Siebel. Gartner no longer considers

Siebel as a multichannel Web customer service solution.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Market Traction and Momentum

The vendor can provide customer references that have at least three of the eight primary Web

customer service channels in production for a minimum period of 12 months, to demonstrate a

well-integrated and functional product.

If the vendor reference has social as a Web customer service channel, then a total of four

channels are required, at minimum.

The vendor might have a regional focus, but can sell and support multiple industries across a

wider customer base.

The vendor has generated at least $5 million in business application customer revenue for

Web customer service in the past four rolling quarters.

The vendor must have a minimum of five of the eight components identified as the building

blocks of the Web customer service framework in OEM products and as part of its integrated

solution. The other components can be partnered for or tightly coupled.

The vendor must have its own sales team or use a partner's sales team. Deal management,

pricing and negotiation must be done centrally, and the vendor must provide presales support

to system integrators (SIs) and partners.

Short-Term Viability

The vendor has at least enough cash to fund one year of operations, given current burn rates.

The vendor has sufficient professional services to fulfill customer demand during the next 12

months.

This Magic Quadrant focuses on the Web customer service suite framework and the vendors

in that market. It does not focus on the stand-alone or best-of-breed solutions in any of the

eight framework areas.

Evaluation Criteria

Ability to Execute

Product/Service: A robust Web customer service suite is a combination of several

subsystems or channel functionalities. The implication is that a key evaluation criterion is the

existence of a well-integrated architecture. The Web customer service application should have

out-of-the-box, self-service functionality, which means a strong set of industry- and process-

specific business logic and data. Through process design or functional breadth, the system

must support end-to-end, Web-based customer service processes. Published APIs are critical

to connect (or expose) an application's customer service functionality with that of another

system or process. Vendors are assessed on the ability of their current product releases to

support customer service, as well as their technical support of multichannel and cross-channel

environments. The vendor rating is developed by weighing specific functionality: having its own

integrated knowledgebase for self-service (25%), email response management (10%), Web

chat (10%), collaborative browsing (8%), virtual assistant (10%), multimodal and mobile

services (10%), video services (5%), multichannel interaction recording (10%), multichannel

analytics (7%), and social services (5%). The vendor must have a stable product development

team for all the products it sells. Partnerships were not included in this evaluation; only OEM

solutions were included. Where a partner solution is used in any of the above channels, a

score of zero for that channel is applied.

Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): This refers to the

ability of the vendor to ensure continued vitality of a product, including a strong product

development team to support current and future releases, as well as a clear road map with

delivery dates regarding the direction that the product will take until 2014. The vendor must

have the cash on hand and consistent revenue growth during four quarters to fund current and

future employee burn rates and to generate profits. The vendor is also measured on its ability

to generate business results in the Web customer service market.

Sales Execution/Pricing: This refers to the ability of the vendor to provide global sales and

distribution coverage that aligns with marketing messages. It must also have specific

experience selling its Web customer service offering to the appropriate buying center. The

strength of the management team is also key. In addition, the ability of the vendor to offer

consistent and comprehensible pricing models and structures, including contingencies (such as

failure to perform as contracted, or mergers and acquisitions), is important. The vendor is

measured on its flexibility to support multiple pricing scenarios, such as on-premises and on-

demand licensing (50%), as well as applications offering SaaS (50%).

Market Responsiveness and Track Record: This refers to the ability to perceive evolving

customer requirements and articulate that insight back to the market, as well as to create

products that are ready as demand comes online from customers.

Marketing Execution: This involves the ability of the vendor to consistently generate market

demand and awareness of its Web customer service solution through marketing programs and

press visibility. In Web customer service, the marketing execution ought to be less critical than

some other factors; however, the business reality is that marketing success can fuel future

growth and improvements.

Customer Experience: The vendor must produce a sufficient number of quality clients and

references with varying levels of sophistication to prove the viability of its product in the

marketplace. References are used as part of the evaluation criteria for the vendor's ability to

execute and create a vision for how customers can improve customer service. Included in this

are implementations and support. The vendor must be able to provide internal professional

services resources, or partner with SIs with vertical-industry expertise, Web customer service

domain knowledge, global and localized country coverage, and a broad skill set (such as

project management or system configuration) to support a complete project life cycle. The

critical point on customer experience is to ascertain the degree of change management that

accompanied the implementation. Often, the end user experiences discomfort not from the

new software, but from the change processes that were introduced with the new system. A

score of 10% per successfully engaged reference is allocated for each reference, up to a

maximum of 10 references.

Operations: This involves the vendor's ability to meet its goals and commitments. Factors

include the quality of the organizational structure, such as skills, experiences, programs,

systems and other vehicles, which enables the vendor to operate effectively and efficiently.

This includes management experience and track record, and the depth of staff experience,

specifically in the Web customer service market. The most important factor in this category is

customer satisfaction throughout the sales and product life cycle. The vendor must have

sufficient professional services (in-house or through third-party business consultants and SIs)

to meet evolving customer requirements.

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Product/Service High

Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization) Standard

Sales Execution/Pricing High

Market Responsiveness and Track Record Standard

Marketing Execution High

Customer Experience High

Operations Low

Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria

Source: Gartner (February 2013)

Completeness of Vision

Market Understanding: The market for customer service is highly diverse because of the

multichannel nature of customer interactions and the wide range of processes that need to be

supported. To succeed, a vendor must demonstrate a strategic understanding of current and

future Web customer service opportunities unique to its target market. This may be new

application functionality, evolving service models or in-line analytical capabilities for unique

customer segments. There is also a requirement to demonstrate process integration across

multiple channels (for example, where a customer starts in one channel and finishes in

another). Vendors must also demonstrate a road map with planned delivery dates on how to fill

in the gaps in functionality where it exists.

Marketing Strategy: The vendor can describe its go-to-market strategy as something other

than "growing until it is acquired by a larger company." Even with this as the endgame, it must

be clear how prospects will be protected, or even benefit, from such a strategy. We look for a

well-articulated strategy for revenue growth and sustained profitability. Key elements of the

strategy include a sales and distribution plan, internal investment priority and timing, and

partner alliances.

Sales Strategy: The vendor delivers products and services in line with the needs and

capabilities of the buying centers. For this Magic Quadrant, the product must be appropriate for

large and midsize businesses. This includes preproduct and postproduct support, value for

pricing, and clear explanations of and recommendations for detection events. Building loyalty

through credibility with full-time enterprise Web customer service staff demonstrates the ability

to assess the next generation of requirements.

Offering (Product) Strategy: Specific vision criteria include business process management

(supporting a threaded service task across functional areas, regardless of channel) and

providing for the creation of content about the most likely customer intentions and how to

address them, based on continuously variable business scenarios. "Continuously variable"

means that, depending on the business context of the interaction, the steps and decisions in a

service procedure may vary. The vendor openly communicates to its customers and to Gartner

a statement of direction for the next two product releases that keeps pace with or surpasses

Gartner's vision and our clients' vision of the Web customer service market. The vendor has a

sufficiently broad set of products to ensure the success of the product. Without an advanced

SaaS product plan (realizable within 12 months), a vendor cannot be considered a Visionary.

Vendors must also demonstrate a road map on how to fill in the gaps in functionality where

they exist.

Business Model: To be a Leader through 2014, the vendor will have a SaaS option and an

on-premises application option. Application modules are tightly integrated and have business

process modeling capabilities and advanced workflow. The vendor has a strategy to appeal to

its key vertical industries — that is, it integrates with systems that are unique to an industry,

and delivers packaged functionality and workflow for an industry (such as for the

telecommunications, automotive and consumer goods industries), and B2B and B2C

interactions.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor has solutions for specific vertical industries.

Innovation: Innovative vendors will begin to incorporate concepts that extend to consumer

technologies, virtual assistants and customer service functions embedded in mobile devices

and solutions. The vendor understands major technology/architecture shifts in the market and

communicates a plan to use them, including the migration issues it may cause for customers

on current releases. The architecture is built to operate in a SaaS delivery model, and the

application integrates or includes contact center functionality or application links. We examine

how well the vendor articulates its vision to support service-oriented business applications. The

applications must be designed to collect data to supply a feedback loop for corporate

performance management. They will help optimize a predictive customer analytics system.

These predictive analytics alert management when service patterns are detected that might

signal the need to adjust a business strategy or direction, or indicate that the likelihood of a

particular business scenario occurring has changed (for example, customers responding to a

notice on defective parts, an accident or financial news). The vendor will be measured on the

ability of its architecture to support global rollouts and localized international installations. The

vendor must have tools for IT and business users to extend and administer the Web customer

service application and especially the knowledgebase, so that there is not a permanent

reliance on the vendor for support.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor understands the needs of the three largest markets — the

European Union, North America and the Asia/Pacific region — and knows how to build a

strategy to focus on aspects of the overall market, directly or through partners. The vendor

delivers products and services in line with the needs and capabilities of the buying centers. For

this Magic Quadrant, the product must be appropriate for large and midsize businesses, and

for at least three vertical industries.

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Market Understanding Standard

Marketing Strategy Standard

Sales Strategy Standard

Offering (Product) Strategy High

Business Model Standard

Vertical/Industry Strategy High

Innovation High

Geographic Strategy Low

Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria

Source: Gartner (February 2013)

Quadrant Descriptions

Leaders

Leaders demonstrate market-defining vision and the Ability to Execute against that vision

through products, services, demonstrable sales figures and solid new references for multiple

geographies and vertical industries. Clients report that these vendors deliver a high level of

value and return on their commitment. The development team has a clear vision of the

implications of business rules and the impact of Web customer service on customer service

requirements. A characteristic of a Leader is that clients look to the vendor for clues as to how

to innovate in customer service. When asked, their clients reply that this product has affected

the organization's competitive position in their markets and helped lower costs. Leaders

provide functionally diverse and rich Web customer service suites in which a knowledgebase

solution is part of the integrated offering and can be deployed and supported globally, and

have at least six of the eight Web customer service framework components supported as an

OEM solution.

Challengers

The vendors in the Challengers quadrant demonstrate a high volume of sales in their chosen

markets (that is, more than 30% of new business by percentage comes from more than one

industry). They understand their clients' evolving needs, yet may not lead customers into new

functional areas with their strong vision and technology leadership. They often have a strong

market presence in other application areas, but have not demonstrated a clear understanding

of the Web customer service market direction, or are not well-positioned to capitalize on

emerging channels, and might lack depth of full functionality in all the areas of the Web

customer service framework. Challengers typically will also not have all the Web customer

service framework channels available in their own products, and will partner to enrich their

offerings. Challengers often will also not have a knowledgebase product. They may not have a

strong worldwide presence or deployment partners.

Visionaries

Visionaries are ahead of potential competitors in delivering innovative products and/or delivery

models. They anticipate emerging/changing customer service needs and move into the new

market space. They have a strong potential to influence the direction of the Web customer

service market, but Visionaries struggle to meet the needs of all organizations because of

geographic limitations, company size constraints or specific product channel omissions.

Typically, their products and market presence are not yet complete or established enough to

challenge the leading vendors.

Niche Players

Niche Players offer solid solutions for Web customer service, and support only some of the

overall suite functionality and components. They may offer components of the complete

portfolios, but demonstrate weaknesses in one or more important areas, or are starting out in

the Web customer service industry. They could also be regional experts, with little ability to

extend globally. Niche Players are usually not focused on, and cannot support, large

enterprises globally, but extend their services and solutions to small or midsize businesses.

They may offer complete portfolios, but focus only on one size of organization or primarily on

one regional area.

Context There are many niche vendors that are providing solutions for Web customer service channels

(see "The Gartner CRM Vendor Guide, 2012" for other Web customer service vendors not

included in this Magic Quadrant). In analyzing Gartner customer discussions during the past 12

months, we have once again observed that more than 82% of multichannel product buyers

prefer a more comprehensive Web customer service suite, as opposed to a stand-alone single-

channel or point-based product. The most often quoted technology reason is an attempt to

avoid the problems, efforts and costs associated with trying to integrate multiple disparate

channel solutions from a plethora of point-based product solution sets, as well as the

challenges experienced to try to integrate different knowledge vendors' products into Web

customer service channel solutions.

The top business processes that customers need to focus on through 2014 include (also see

"Top Business Processes for CRM Customer Service, 2011 to 2013"):

Case management and problem resolution

Collaborative answer

Workforce optimization

Voice of the customer

Self-service problem resolution

Customer interaction hub

There is very a strong link between Web customer service and the contact center. Whenever a

customer needs the assistance of a human customer service representative, there is a shift

from strictly Web customer service to the CRM customer service contact center (see "Magic

Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers" and Note 2).

The Gartner research focus and scope in 2012 was widened with the addition of a new

channel — social services — to the Web customer service framework and this Magic

Quadrant. This Magic Quadrant is based on the Web customer service framework (see "CRM

Web Customer Service Application Framework, 2012").

The strategy and business case for Web customer service deployments are most often based

on the following business drivers:

The need for a consistent customer experience across all channels and a "one correct answer"

scenario (2011 ranking: 4; 2012 ranking: 1)

Deploying new and additional customer access channels to reach new audiences (2011

ranking: 1; 2012 ranking: 2)

The avoidance of high costs associated with traditional channels (2011 ranking: 3; 2012

ranking: 3)

Procuring a suite solution today that will also cater to future requirements, as opposed to

procuring many point-based solutions (2011 ranking: 2; 2012 ranking: 4)

Increasing governance associated with recording interactions across all the customer channels

(2011 ranking: 5; 2012 ranking: 5)

An interesting observation between the 2010 and 2011 Magic Quadrant research was that

buying behavior today favored the deployment of new channels to reach new customers. In

2012, the key focus is around creating a consistent experience across all the Web customer

service interaction channels. The advances in Web customer service functionality have also

created a growing landscape of possible vendors from which to select solutions.

Not appearing in this year's Magic Quadrant is Oracle-Siebel. As a result of the acquisition of

RightNow Technologies by Oracle (see "Oracle CRM Application Decision Tree for 2012 and

Beyond"), Gartner has not observed any new name sales of Oracle's Siebel Web customer

service solutions in the past 12 months. Appearing for the first time this year on any Magic

Quadrant is Anboto, the Spanish-based Web customer service provider.

Each industry and each business or organization has its own unique customer service

processes and service channels, making it unlikely that a single Web customer service vendor

will dominate any given industry. Organizations often find that their biggest investment when

choosing a Web customer service vendor is the building out of the knowledgebase required for

self-service (see "Investing in Self-Service Knowledge for CRM Web Customer Service"). This

knowledgebase needs to be easily integrated across various Web customer service channels

and, therefore, favors a comprehensive suite approach, versus a stand-alone, best-of-breed

approach.

The positions and commentary in this research are substantially based on the following

sources:

Customer perceptions of each vendor's strengths and challenges, derived from Web-customer-

service-related Gartner client inquiries during the last 12 months

Vendors' supplied references completed an online questionnaire

Reference calls made to vendors' clients

Participating vendors' completed online questionnaires

Participating vendors' conducted an hour-long briefing about their Web customer service

strategy and operations

For the purposes of the CRM Web Customer Service Applications Magic Quadrant research, a

focus has been placed on the social offering provided as part of the Web customer service

suite. This focus on social services within Web customer service complements the extensive

research already published on social customer service and in "Magic Quadrant for Social

CRM."

Like all Gartner Magic Quadrants, the Magic Quadrant for CRM Web customer service

applications is not meant to be used as the sole tool for creating a vendor shortlist. Use it as

part of your due diligence, in conjunction with consultations with Gartner analysts.

Magic Quadrants are snapshots in time; to be fair and complete in the analysis, we need to

stop data collection efforts at a consistent time. In this research, the cutoff date was 23 October

2012.

Market Overview In addition to Web customer service being closely linked with the CRM contact center, the Web

customer service suite market mostly consists of solution providers with a very mature basic

set of functionality. Channels such as Web chat and email response management are well-

proven and often the first to be deployed by customers. What differentiates the Leaders from

the rest is a well-structured and integrated knowledgebase with advanced search functionality

that can handle both structured and unstructured data. This knowledgebase needs to be part

of the integrated solution set, and developed and owned by the provider to ensure ongoing

R&D and seamless integration into the other Web customer service channels. Because the

delivery of "one right answer" is extremely critical in Web customer service channels, the

vendors that fill some channels through partners and external integration often struggle in this

area. Failure to have an embedded knowledgebase will continue to be an inhibitor for vendors

attempting to move into the Leaders quadrant.

The balance of Web customer service suite providers all have functional gaps, with capabilities

that they either don't offer or attempt to fill with partnerships. In the current market phase of

acquisitions, the key challenge with the partnership model is that there is seldom any security

that a strategic partner today will still be a strategic partner tomorrow. This is a severe limitation

and is seen as a threat by buyers often investing millions of dollars in a Web customer service

solution as part of their strategic CRM and channel expansion strategies.

Business leaders continue to see signs of growth, while viewing discretionary investments

cautiously. Vendors providing Web customer service solutions must have convincing business

cases and metrics to demonstrate that their products will have a measurable impact on one or

more key performance metrics of the customer experience. The argument for increased

investment is bolstered by demands to support Web-based customers. Customers expect to

find their own answers and solve their own problems, and when they cannot, they expect to

find answers in peer forums and communities. Virtual assistants, SMS and multimodal

communication are starting to see mainstream adoption and are appearing in a large number

of organizational road maps.

As a delivery model for Web customer service, SaaS is being accepted by many organizations.

However, Gartner has observed resistance to SaaS in several areas, including:

Locations in which there is greater caution due to fears regarding data privacy, latency and

application availability — for example, in Central and Eastern Europe, many parts of Asia (such

as India and China), and South America. There has also been resistance in federal

governments and healthcare organizations in which regulations inhibit penetration of SaaS

solutions

More-complex environments with high call volumes, high transaction volumes and real-time

integration with legacy systems, which can slow performance

As the market matures, the rating scales from one year to another can shift. The result is that a

product that has not improved or declined could still show a shift in position on the Magic

Quadrant that has resulted from a change in the weighting of a criterion between 2011 and

2012.

By 2014, as more applications are built using a cloud-based model, SaaS will emerge as a

critical selection factor at all levels of Web customer service.

NOTE 1 IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE A knowledgebase for self-service is the most important building block, and is composed of a set of Web customer service modules and technologies enabling customers to service their needs via different interfaces. Organizations planning a Web customer service implementation must create a multichannel strategy, implement each channel with a long-term view and build a justification based on the value derived from that channel. Knowledgebases for self-service solutions that are justified only on case load reduction or inquiry deflection will fail. A proper strategy to serve multiple channels and multiple functions with a Web customer service solution is the easiest way to prove the value of a new solution; ROI calculations must focus on potential revenue, as well as on cost deflection. The true value of a knowledgebase for self-service is not possible without a long-term commitment to ongoing fine-tuning and enhancing. The key focus in knowledgebases for self-service is to achieve at least an 80% relevance of response, to ensure constant use and to avoid users' abandoning the Web customer service site. A knowledgebase for self-service consists of the following six categories of knowledge:

Agent knowledge: The contact center agent is a repository of information on corporate products and services, as well as on problem resolution. Capturing agent knowledge into a repository can speed up the delivery of services and the training of new individuals through the use of a self-service knowledge engine.

Corporate knowledge: Corporate knowledge contains the total body of knowledge necessary to deliver on the strategic aims and objectives of an organization. It provides product and service information, and can typically be accessed by any internal corporate Web citizen. Typically, the head of operations will take responsibility for this information, or, in a sales-oriented organization, the head of sales will take responsibility for this information's upkeep and delivery.

Social knowledge: Many people belonging to social networks post information on bulletin boards and blogs. By gathering and analyzing the information written about your corporate products and services, you will become aware of the public perception of your organization. Collect this information and store it centrally for self-service access, because your customers often know more about your products and services than you do. Use social knowledge to expand your corporate thinking, taking into account what is being said about your organization.

Partner knowledge: If you have partners in your supply chain, they are often the ones dealing directly with your customers. Collect and store this information for Web-based, self-service access by other partners within the supply chain, so that you have a common way to resolve problems and queries. Also, use this to bring new partners online in as short a time as possible, and to check on the quality and content of interactions that your partners have with your most valuable asset — your customers.

Search knowledge: Public search engines do not include corporate knowledge unless specific items of corporate knowledge are tagged as accessible to search engine spiders. By opening up some areas of corporate knowledge via a public self-service engine, it is possible to have your internal information listed together with publicly searched results.

Hosted-community knowledge: In developing and deploying theme-based community forums, a group of like-minded people impart valuable information that can be collected, filtered, authored and provided back to the community or other areas for self-service search. Use these community areas to capture knowledge or to provide the community with access to the knowledge repository to store their own specific information, which can be accessed and retrieved only by that community. NOTE 2 THE LINK TO THE CUSTOMER SERVICE CONTACT CENTER In increasing order of complexity, the requirements for the CRM customer service contact center may include one of these four major areas:

Information access: These contact centers focus on low interaction complexity and low process complexity. They can support order placement, complaint management, password assistance or consumer information, service activation, balance look-up, timetables, or ticket purchasing. Basic CRM capabilities are needed for account information, order information and contract details, but there is less emphasis on real-time analytics or offer management. The process supported may not be particularly complex; however, the information must be reliable, readily available and delivered in an easy-to-use graphical user interface. Contact centers in this space often do not show much business value and will eventually be replaced with Web customer service technologies.

Service process optimization: This is a customer service center or advisory center (for example, investing and insurance) with low interaction complexity, but high process complexity. It focuses on the efficiency and repeatability of the process. There may be little value in complex analytics or offer management. The goal of the customer experience is focused on process efficiency, rather than profitability.

End-to-end industry process experts: The contact centers in this context are complex and industry-specific, and often demand that the customer service representative not be forced into following a specific process for some parts of the interaction, but be forced to be compliant in other parts. This is where high interaction complexity meets a range of process complexity. For example, the steps in a loan process must be followed consistently, but the offer, rate and conditions may vary based on customer type, profitability and potential.

Intelligent dialogue/real-time decisioning:The conversations in this contact center require access to richer information about the customer and product or service, as well as sales and marketing goals. These conversations also become more process-intensive and can be driven by business process management software, guided by workflow, analytics and predictive features that can be customized based on personalization rules.

EVALUATION CRITERIA DEFINITIONS Ability to Execute Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor that compete in/serve the defined market. This includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills and so on, whether offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships as defined in the market definition and detailed in the subcriteria. Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): Viability includes an assessment of the overall organization's financial health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood that the individual business unit will continue investing in the product, will continue offering the product and will advance the state of the art within the organization's portfolio of products. Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel. Market Responsiveness and Track Record: Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the vendor's history of responsiveness. Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs designed to deliver the organization's message to influence the market, promote the brand and business, increase awareness of the products, and establish a positive identification with the product/brand and organization in the minds of buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by a combination of publicity, promotional initiatives, thought leadership, word-of-mouth and sales activities. Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, service-level agreements and so on. Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factors include the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs, systems and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis. Completeness of Vision Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor to understand buyers' wants and needs and to translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those with their added vision. Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer programs and positioning statements. Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network of direct and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to current and future requirements. Business Model: The soundness and logic of the vendor's underlying business proposition. Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of individual market segments, including vertical markets. Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes. Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or through partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography and market.