Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant 2021: A Guide for Buyers
The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, Worldwide in 2021 offered organisations a snapshot of a fast-changing communications market. As businesses adjusted to hybrid and remote working, cloud-based services for voice, video meetings and team messaging became increasingly important.
The report assessed providers of unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and positioned them according to Gartner’s evaluation of their ability to execute and completeness of vision. It can help buyers organise their research, but it is best used as one source of information rather than a substitute for assessing a provider against specific business needs.
What is the Gartner Magic Quadrant?
Gartner’s Magic Quadrant is a research framework that compares providers in a particular market. It places evaluated vendors into four categories:
- Leaders demonstrate strong execution and a well-developed vision for the market.
- Challengers show solid execution, though their vision or breadth of innovation may be less prominent.
- Visionaries present a compelling direction or innovative approach, but may have areas to strengthen in execution.
- Niche Players may focus on particular regions, customer types or capabilities, or have a more limited market presence.
These categories are not a simple ranking from best to worst. A provider’s position reflects Gartner’s assessment against the criteria for that report; it does not automatically indicate which service is the right choice for an individual organisation.
The UCaaS market in 2021
UCaaS brings communications tools together through cloud-based services. Depending on the provider and package, this can include business telephony, video conferencing, instant messaging, presence information and integrations with business applications.
In 2021, organisations were paying close attention to how these services supported distributed teams. Buyers wanted reliable calls and meetings, straightforward administration, strong security and a consistent experience across office, home and mobile devices. The ability to connect communications with collaboration and productivity tools was also an important consideration.
The Magic Quadrant evaluated a range of providers in this changing market, including well-known names such as 8×8, Cisco, Microsoft, RingCentral and Zoom. Their inclusion in a market assessment should not be taken as a recommendation: service capabilities, regional availability, packaging and suitability can vary.
How to use the 2021 Magic Quadrant
The report can be a useful starting point for creating a shortlist and understanding how providers compare at a broad market level. When reviewing it, consider the detailed evaluation criteria and accompanying vendor profiles, rather than relying only on where a name appears in the graphic.
It is also important to remember that the report represents the market at the time it was published. UCaaS products and provider strategies change rapidly, so a 2021 assessment should not be treated as a guide to current capabilities or pricing. Buyers should consult up-to-date product information and test shortlisted services wherever possible.
What UK businesses should consider
For UK organisations comparing UCaaS providers, the right choice depends on practical requirements as well as market reputation. Consider the following questions:
- Telephony: Does the service support your required UK numbers, call handling, voicemail and call-routing features?
- Reliability: What service availability commitments and support arrangements are offered?
- Security and compliance: Can the provider meet your organisation’s security, data protection and regulatory requirements?
- Integrations: Does the platform work with the business applications your teams already use?
- Management: Can administrators easily manage users, permissions, devices and reporting?
- Costs: What is included in each licence, and are there additional charges for calling, support or particular features?
- Migration and support: What help is available when moving from an existing phone system, and how will staff be supported?
A helpful reference, not a buying decision
The Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant 2021 provides historical context for the development of the UCaaS market and a framework for comparing providers. Its greatest value is as a prompt for further investigation: the best platform is the one that meets an organisation’s technical, operational and commercial needs.
Gartner and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. This article is an independent overview and is not a reproduction of Gartner research.
6 Essential Tips for Navigating the 2021 Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant
- Treat the 2021 Magic Quadrant as a historical snapshot, not a current shortlist.
- Check the report’s scope
- Compare vendors on both ability to execute and completeness of vision.
- Use quadrant position as a starting point, not a substitute for your own evaluation.
- Check integration, security, support and regional availability against your needs.
- Confirm current pricing and product capabilities, as these may have changed since 2021.
Treat the 2021 Magic Quadrant as a historical snapshot, not a current shortlist.
Treat the 2021 Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant as a historical snapshot of the market, not a current shortlist of providers. Unified communications services, features and vendor strategies have changed considerably since then, so a provider’s position in the report may not reflect its capabilities today. Use it to understand how the market looked at the time, then check current product details, pricing, support and independent research before making a decision.
Check the report’s scope
Check the report’s scope. The 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant assessed providers in the specific market of unified communications as a service (UCaaS), rather than every type of business communications system. Before drawing comparisons, review which services, providers and evaluation criteria the report covers, and check that they match your organisation’s requirements. As the report reflects the market in 2021, use current information to verify providers’ latest features and availability.
Compare vendors on both ability to execute and completeness of vision.
When reviewing the Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant 2021, compare vendors across both dimensions: “ability to execute” and “completeness of vision”. The first reflects how effectively a provider delivers its products and supports customers, while the second considers its understanding of the market and plans for future development. Looking at both can give a more balanced view than focusing on a vendor’s position alone, helping you weigh current performance against its direction for the future.
Use quadrant position as a starting point, not a substitute for your own evaluation.
Use a provider’s position in the 2021 Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant as a starting point for your research, not as a substitute for your own evaluation. The quadrant offers a broad view of how vendors were assessed at the time, but the best choice depends on your organisation’s specific needs. Compare current features, security, integrations, support, reliability and costs, and test shortlisted services before making a decision.
Check integration, security, support and regional availability against your needs.
When using the Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant 2021 to compare providers, look beyond their position in the chart and check how well each service fits your organisation. Assess whether it integrates with the tools your teams already use, meets your security and compliance requirements, offers the level of support you need, and is available in the regions where your business operates. These practical considerations can help you build a shortlist that reflects your needs rather than relying on market ranking alone.
Confirm current pricing and product capabilities, as these may have changed since 2021.
The Gartner Unified Communications Magic Quadrant 2021 is a useful historical reference, but it shouldn’t be treated as a guide to what providers offer today. Pricing, features, integrations and service plans may have changed since the report was published, so check each provider’s latest information and confirm that its current capabilities and costs meet your organisation’s needs before making a decision.
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