NICE Misses Out on Becoming Gartner's Outright CCaaS Leader

At that time, end-users purchased an ACD engine and then bought a separate solution for workforce engagement. WEM was an entirely separate industry.

When contact center providers moved to CCaaS models, their scope expanded, and – reflecting this transition -  2023 is the first year Gartner defines WEM as part of CCaaS. Before, it was an optional add-on.

Now, every CCaaS provider has added workforce engagement through acquisition or by building their own solutions – with AWS a recent, prominent example of the latter.

"NICE is the only vendor on the Magic Quadrant that came from the other direction," added Michels.

They were strong in workforce optimization (WFO), then they acquired a CCaaS company. They're the only ones that did this and came the other way. That has given them a huge benefit.

As a result, it benefits from the deepest WEM capabilities across the space, with only Genesys and Five9 able to serve up many similar capabilities. Gartner itself labels NICE WEM as "best-of-breed".

Yet, two of the analyst's cautions surround WEM. The first involves the need for greater integration between WEM and CCaaS capabilities. Meanwhile, the second is a head-scratcher related to its legacy WEM solution – not CXone.

With CXone, "customers generally express satisfaction," reveals Gartner.

Responding to that, Michels stated sarcastically: "Oh, that's a terrible caution."

Yet, he also states that these two cautions are relative "gimmes" compared to those Gartner put forward for its CCaaS rivals.

So, should NICE feel a little aggrieved with its positioning? Perhaps. However, these cautions appear fixable, and the vendor seemingly has an opportunity to surge towards that top-right corner in 12 months.

To ensure it does so, Miller also suggests that NICE does more to amplify its differentiators in WEM and other areas – like RPA – to further stand out from the crowd.