Interview12 Nov 2020 · 3 min read

Five9 Challenges the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS

Gartner is one of the most well-respected analysts in the world. Every year, the company delivers a series of reports labelled “Magic Quadrants.” These docum...

Rebekah Brace

Five9-Rowan-Trollop-Challenges-Gartner-CCaaS-Magic-Quadrant

Gartner is one of the most well-respected analysts in the world. Every year, the company delivers a series of reports labelled “Magic Quadrants.” These documents give today’s tech and communications buyers an insight into some of the top-performing brands in the landscape.

Gartner separates its Magic Quadrant report into four sections to help you make the right decisions on where to invest your cash. The “Leaders” position is reserved only for the companies that demonstrate the most complete vision and greatest ability to execute. No matter what the focus of the MQ might be, every company wants to be named a leader.

[caption id="attachment_33631" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Gartner CCaaS MQ 2020[/caption]

So, why did Five9 respond so negatively to the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS this year? Recently, Rowan Trollope, the CEO of Five9 released a blog discussing the issues the company had with the Gartner MQ report for Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS).

Did Gartner Get it Wrong This Year?

[caption id="attachment_4415" align="alignright" width="153"] Rowan Trollope[/caption]

In 2019, Five9 was a leader in the CCaaS Magic Quadrant for North America – a position that the company earned with exceptional technology, innovation, and development. However, in 2020, Gartner attempted to consolidate the two separate reports for Western Europe and North America. The result meant some massive changes in who appeared in the top spaces for 2020.

Unfortunately, Five9 was one of the brands that lost their position on the new 2020 CCaaS report. According to the company, failure to list Five9 in the Leaders box was a mistake on Gartner’s part. Five9 believes that by trying to connect the two distinct reports into one, Gartner failed to properly assess the available options in the market.

To achieve the “Leader” position for the combined report, the vendors needed to meet minimal requirements for concurrent seats and revenue in both Western Europe and North America. For brands like Five9, achieving the right level in North America wasn’t a problem. However, for Western Europe, Five9 couldn’t meet the requirement of 12,000 seats operating in the region.

Evaluating CCaaS Leaders

Five9 notes that they believe themselves to be leaders in the CCaaS market on a global level – an idea Gartner has agreed with for the last 5 years. Five9 is also a market leader in other analytics companies' eyes, like ISG, Aragon Research, Forrester, and Omdia (Ovum). By focusing too heavily on a smaller presence in Western Europe, Five9 says that Gartner discounted the incredible things that the company had accomplished elsewhere.

Today, Five9 is one of the largest CCaaS providers worldwide, with 20+ quarters of increasing revenue and a huge customer base with over 200,000 seats. The company also successfully serves large enterprises, with around 83% of its revenue stemming from enterprise accounts. Plus, 28% of Five9’s revenue comes from international destinations. International revenue for the brand has grown by around 119% in the last year, and demand for the company’s solution continues to grow.

While it’s true that Five9 might not have the biggest presence in Western Europe, this shouldn’t necessarily mean that the business loses its recognition as a market leader for CCaaS, at least in the eyes of Gartner. Perhaps this is another sign that the Magic Quadrant isn’t always as accurate as people might think.

We'll give the final words to Rowan Trollope:

"Gartner’s failure to recognize Five9 as a leader globally in this year’s CCaaS report, while disappointing, simply motivates us to achieve even greater results and to maintain our sharp focus on delighting customers across the globe"

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