At many companies, connected workspace applications are playing a pivotal role in helping individual end users and teams collaborate on, manage, and complete work tasks, as shown in Metrigy’s recently published Connected Workspace & Collaborative Work Management: 2024-25 research study with 157 companies in North America. But with initial use for most companies starting at the team or departmental level, IT hasn’t often been in the loop… but that is starting to change.

Of companies already using connected workspace technology, less than 40% started with a companywide deployment, whereas nearly 53% started with one or more teams or departments. Today, however, 68% of companies report companywide use, with a pattern having emerged: As employees on different teams or in departments get exposed to these tools through joint work, use grows and IT gets more involved.

Use is widespread, even if not entirely across a company: Nearly 80% of companies still using at the team level have seen an increase in the number of teams using a connected workspace app. Additionally, 68.1% of a company’s employees, on average, are using a connected workspace app. There is a gotcha, however: Tool choice may vary team by team. In fact, nearly 58% of companies report having more than one of these apps in use.

Nearly 56% of companies that haven’t implemented a connected workspace app companywide attribute their more limited deployments to budgeting. For these companies, connected workspace apps are funded at the team or departmental level, rather than IT—a situation that can lead to less than optimal spending overall. In part to optimize costs, most companies that have multiple connected workspace apps are looking to standardize on a single one while also putting IT in control.

Further exploring budgeting, a significant majority of organizations (87.5%) have allocated a dedicated budget for connected workspace technology. This budget is either fully dedicated (54.4%) or allows for some ad-hoc spending (33.1%). When it comes to managing a dedicated budget, IT is typically at the helm—particularly if deployed companywide—assuring that investment in connected workspace apps align with overall IT strategies. When IT doesn’t control the dedicated budget, the project management office does for 22.9% of companies and department heads for 18.6%.

An impetus for elevating budgeting out of departments or eliminating ad-hoc spending on these apps is a projected upward spending trajectory through 2025, expected for over half of the companies using connected workspace apps today. This increase is primarily driven by the anticipated need to purchase additional licenses and price hikes, each cited by two-thirds of companies.

Additionally, slightly more than 28% of organizations are planning to upgrade to higher-tier licenses. The top reason for this shift, for nearly 67% of companies, is to gain access to advanced AI functionality. Already, AI has become an integral part of connected workspace technology budgets, with 65.3% of companies including AI-related expenditures in their monthly budgets.

As companies continue to broaden their use of connected workspace apps, understanding these trends and planning accordingly will be crucial for optimizing investment and maximizing the benefits of these essential tools.

Metrigy’s MetriRank study evaluates leading UCaaS providers on a fixed set of criteria to assess which are best positioned to succeed in the long term.

March 26, 2025 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy released its UCaaS MetriRank 2024 report, identifying the Top 10 providers leading the market today and best positioned for long-term success. Cisco has earned the top ranking, based on market share, financials, market share momentum, product mix, customer sentiment, and customer business success.

“Cisco is the leader in our annual UCaaS MetriRank report, with the second-largest market share, highest possible score for financials and product, and above-average market momentum, customer sentiment, and customer business success ratings. Over the past two years, Cisco with Webex has extended its UCaaS market share as it converts existing on-premises customers to the cloud and attracts new businesses,” said Diane Myers, senior research director responsible for Metrigy’s MetriRank reports as well as market share and forecasting.

Metrigy 2024 UCaaS MetriRank Highlights

Metrigy defines UCaaS as a cloud-based suite of integrated communications and collaboration applications. At a minimum, UCaaS offerings must include calling to and from the public switched telephone network (PSTN). UCaaS may be sold as telephone-only services or be bundled with other UC features, including meetings and messaging. The service provider hosts all applications for call control, though customers may deploy local equipment for PSTN connectivity and remote site survivability.

The global market for UCaaS was $20.6 billion in 2023, up 9% year-over-year. Metrigy forecasts the market to grow at a 5% CAGR from 2023 to 2028, reaching $26.7 billion by 2028. UCaaS delivers cost-effective services with sophisticated product features for small, midsize, and large companies.

The full report, including all of our methodology, scoring, a deep-dive profile on each provider, and much more, is available for purchase. If you are interested in Metrigy’s UCaaS MetriRank study, please reach out to [email protected].

Of all the accolades a vendor might receive, customer recognition is what should matter most. That’s why Metrigy uses customer sentiment ratings and business success as the criteria in determining winners of its annual MetriStar Top Provider Award programs.

For customer engagement, we’ve named 51 Top Provider Award winners across 12 customer experience (CX) categories, from artificial intelligence (AI) bots to workforce optimization (WFO). These awards go to companies that receive at- or above-average customer sentiment ratings and whose customers have achieved high business success using the designated technology. We also recognized 61 winners for achieving at- or above-average ratings in one or the other of these categories, but not both.
For this year’s CX MetriStars:

As announced in late April, here are the Top Provider Award winners for the 12 technology categories assessed in this year’s MetriStar program (listed alphabetically by technology and vendor within each category):

If you’re interested in more details, including winners on customer sentiment and business success and top scores, tune into our CX MetriStar episode on our MetriSight podcast, available on our website, on our YouTube channel, as well as in podcast players.

The MetriStar Awards program is part of Metrigy’s MetriCast Service, which also includes our MetriCast study on technology adoption and providers in use; market forecast and shares across select customer experience and workplace collaboration technology categories, with quarterly updates; and MetriRank vendor ratings across select categories.

Customer Sentiment and Business Success Define Award Program

August 21, 2024 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has named 11 workplace collaboration vendors as top winners of its 2024 Workplace Collaboration MetriStar Award program, based on customer sentiment ratings and business success data in five key technology areas driving successful employee engagement.

Metrigy determined these results solely on insights from 998 IT leaders with operational and/or procurement responsibilities for key workplace collaboration technology categories in Metrigy’s Workplace Collaboration MetriCast 2024 global research study. The value of the MetriStar Award is that it is based on customer ratings of providers, as well as quantitative metrics correlating the use of a vendor’s products and services with measurable business success.

“Once again, this year’s MetriStar awards reflect vendor success in delivering products and services that customers rate highly and that deliver measurable business value,” says Irwin Lazar, Metrigy president and principal analyst. “MetriStar results provide IT buyers and operators with a clear assessment of vendor performance to enable informed purchasing decisions.”

Metrigy’s Workplace Collaboration MetriStar Awards, and corresponding reports, cover the following workplace collaboration technologies:

Each report features three recognitions, as follows:

MetriStar Top Provider – Recognizes technology providers whose customers achieved high business success and that received at or above-average customer sentiment ratings
Top Business Success – Highlights providers whose percentage of customers achieving business success is at or above average
Top Customer Sentiment – Highlights providers whose customer sentiment scores are at or above average

Customer Sentiment analysis: Using a 1-to-10 scale, research participants rate providers on a variety of key performance indicators, including technical features, response time to problems or questions, reliability, security, AI capabilities, value, innovation, and more. Those with an overall mean score that is at or above average achieved “Top Customer Sentiment.”

Business Success analysis: Study participants provide data on changes to their business metrics, such as revenue, operational costs, and employee productivity, resulting from adoption of the specified technology. Metrigy then calculates the average of each providers’ customers that achieved at or better than average metrics. Vendors with at- or higher-than-average percentage of their customers with successful metrics achieved “Top Business Success.”

Those providers that are top in both of the metrics are awarded a MetriStar Top Provider Award. For more details, please see our MetriSight announcing the results.

This year’s MetriStar Top Provider winners (in alphabetical order) are the following:

Metrigy’s MetriStar Top Provider reports help companies choose the best provider for each respective category. Metrigy clients have access to the reports, and they are available for purchase on our website at www.metrigy.com.

Hear from industry experts from Metrigy, NICE, and RingCentral, covering AI topics such as agent assist, transcription, and more.

In conjunction with sponsors NICE and RingCentral, Metrigy has kicked off its Expert Insights Webinar Series with a session on AI’s use in supercharging agent performance. The session is now available for viewing on Metrigy’s BrightTalk channel.

In the session, hear from Metrigy CEO Robin Gareiss, along with Elizabeth Tobey, VP of Marketing at NICE, and John Finch, Global VP Product Marketing at RingCentral, on an abundance of topics surrounding AI, including:

“More than 70% of companies use AI for their customer experience (CX) strategies, but the number of options is dizzying. In this series, we focus on the role AI plays in improving agent performance,” Metrigy’s Gareiss says. “During these lively and informative sessions, viewers will learn how much companies spend on AI for CX, where the growth areas are, what successes companies are experiencing, and options from leading technology providers.”

To tune into this must-watch series, register to attend at BrightTALK.com.

As business leaders strategize about their AI plans, their consumer audience may or may not agree with all of them.

June 8, 2025 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its AI for Business Success – A Consumer Perspective research study, conducted in April 2025 with 503 consumers across North America.

The comprehensive report highlights a notable shift in public engagement with AI. The vast majority (88%) of respondents are now familiar with the term “generative AI,” and among those, a substantial 71% have utilized the technology. Clearly, the data shows that generative AI has moved beyond a niche concept, becoming recognized and used by a broad segment of the population.

“Our latest research confirms that AI is increasingly integrated into consumers’ lives, especially for customer service,” said Robin Gareiss, CEO and Principal Analyst of Metrigy. “However, the data sends a clear message: Companies need to prioritize transparency, oversight, and data privacy to build the trust necessary for AI to truly enhance customer experiences and drive true value.”

Despite increasing familiarity and usage, full trust in generative AI remains limited, the study found. The primary concerns regarding generative AI revolve around data security, ethical implications of data use, the potential for malicious application, and the accuracy of the information it generates (hallucinations). For companies to increase trust, the study identifies which areas consumers see as critical: transparency about AI usage (46%), ensuring oversight of its output (41%), and providing assurances that personal data is not being used in ways that compromise privacy (39%).

Despite trust challenges, consumers widely anticipate that AI will have a significant impact (24% extensive impact; 44% some impact) on their future interactions with companies, with a small majority (59%) expecting this impact to be positive.

This study is available for purchase on our website at metrigy.com.

Includes insights from 1,104 participating firms in 11 countries and 38 industries.

May 8, 2025 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its AI for Business Success 2025-26 research study, providing the latest insight into how leading companies are using the technology to better serve their customers and improve employee efficiency. This study provides IT, CX, and other business leaders with the understanding they need to craft AI strategies for 2025 and beyond.

Nearly every company in Metrigy’s AI for Business Success 2025-26 global research study is using AI to some extent, with 54% using across all business units. “What’s really exciting is that most companies are reporting significant value gained, and slightly more than half already have earned a return on their AI investments,” says Robin Gareiss, CEO at Metrigy. “As one result of such positive impact, most companies say they’re using AI to solve harder problems today than just a year ago.”

Based on measurable change from the use of AI technology, this study shows companies are seeing improvements in the range of 20% to 32% for four key business metrics: revenue growth, cost reduction, customer satisfaction (CSAT), and employee efficiency. CSAT and cost savings are the top two reported benefits realized from AI.

In addition to these key takeaways, findings from this study include:

This study is available now for clients to download on our website. If you are not a client and are interested in this study, please reach out to [email protected].

Metrigy has published its customer experience product and service forecasts and calendar year 3Q24 market shares.

January 14, 2025 – Metrigy has published its Customer Experience MetriCast 3Q24 market shares and forecasts. The categories include CCaaS, CPaaS, CRM, and on-premises contact center. Highlights include:

“The top providers across the CX market landscape—NICE, Twilio, Salesforce—have built their market leadership over years of developing market leading products and sales strategies in CCaaS, CPaaS, and CRM, respectively,” says Diane Myers, Metrigy senior research director. “The CX space will continue to post growth over the next five years, making it attractive to a number of new entrants trying to grab a piece of the market.”

The MetriCast forecasts and market shares is a core part of Metrigy’s MetriCast Service, which also includes detailed end-user adoption studies; MetriRank vendor ratings across select categories; and the annual MetriStar Awards for vendors earning top customer sentiment ratings and whose customers achieve top business success.

Metrigy has published its customer experience product and service forecasts and calendar year 2024 and 4Q24 market shares and updated forecasts.

March 26, 2025 – Metrigy has published its Customer Experience MetriCast 2024 and 4Q24 market shares and updated forecasts. The categories include CCaaS, CPaaS, CRM, and contact center platforms. Highlights include:

“The top providers across the CX market landscape—NICE, Twilio, Salesforce—strengthened their respective positions through CY24, extending their market shares in CCaaS, CPaaS, and CRM, respectively,” says Diane Myers, Metrigy senior research director. “While growth rates are slowing within these large segments, CX is still an active and growing market over the next five years, making it attractive to competitive vendors,” says Diane Myers, Metrigy senior research director.

The MetriCast forecasts and market shares is a core part of Metrigy’s MetriCast Service, which also includes detailed end-user adoption studies; MetriRank vendor ratings across select categories; and the annual MetriStar Awards for vendors earning top customer sentiment ratings and whose customers achieve top business success. For more information, visit http://www.metrigy.com/metricast/.

This study reveals ways in which data stores and knowledge management critically enhance CX and drive revenue amid the evolving AI landscape.

 

September 3, 2025 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its Data & Knowledge Management for CX: 2025-26 research study, conducted in May with 393 participating firms across 11 countries. This research explores data use and knowledge management practices for supporting AI initiatives for customer experience.

 

For many organizations, generative AI has been a much-needed wake-up call for improving their data posture and approach to knowledge management. Messy, hard-to-find data; limited, rigid storage capacity; siloed and fragmented knowledge bases—such are but a few problems that limit, if not prohibit, the effective use of AI for customer experience improvement. 

 

“A well-thought-out knowledge content strategy is critical when implementing AI to assist agents during customer interactions and support customers as they engage through a self-service channel. While this is widely understood today, there is work to be done—36% of companies studied said they’re only able to deliver a better experience using knowledge content sometimes, vs. consistently,” said Beth Schultz, VP of Research and Principal Analyst at Metrigy. 

 

The Data & Knowledge Management for CX: 2025-26 research study explores how CX, IT, and other business leaders are rethinking data and knowledge management for the new age of AI. Topics include:

– Where companies are today with their knowledge management systems, where they need to be, and how they’ll get there
– How LLMs, RAG retrieval systems, and other advancements are changing knowledge management for CX
– Technologies and strategies driving success

 

The full Data & Knowledge Management for CX: 2025-26 research study is available now. To download a copy and learn how to optimize your Data & Knowledge Management for CX strategy, please visit www.metrigy.com.

This study is conducted of 187 participants in the US and UK across 42 vertical industries

June 11, 2025 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its Microsoft Teams in the Contact Center  research study conducted in April and May of 2025.

“This study provides vendors and enterprises with both a look at how companies are using Teams Phone for inbound call management, and how they are integrating Teams into their contact center platforms” says Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst, Metrigy. “CX leaders will identify what drives Teams adoption for call handing, and where gaps remain that competitors can leverage.”

This study looks at how organizations are leveraging Teams for their call and contact center needs. It provides actionable guidance for those evaluating Microsoft Teams for call center use cases versus dedicated contact center solutions. It also provides insights and success strategies for evaluating integration of contact center platforms into Teams, as well as for implementation.  

This study explores how companies:

This study is available for purchase on our website at metrigy.com.

 

This study reveals ways in which workforce engagement management (WEM) critically enhances CX and drives revenue amid the evolving AI landscape.

June 26, 2025 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its Workforce Engagement Management 2025-26 research study, conducted in May with 316 participating firms across nine countries. This research explores the evolving role of WEM solutions, particularly with the integration of AI features, in addressing critical workforce challenges that directly impact employee engagement and customer experience.

“WEM suites, powered by advanced AI functionalities, are increasingly important in navigating modern workforce dynamics,” said Layne Haaksma, Senior Research Analyst at Metrigy. “They are instrumental in optimizing the agent and supervisor experience, while also driving improvements in key business success metrics.”

The Workforce Engagement Management 2025-26 study examines how AI-enabled WEM tools contribute to increased operational efficiency and employee satisfaction, while simultaneously elevating the overall customer experience. Key findings from the study reveal significant positive impacts:

The full Workforce Engagement Management 2025-26 research study is available now. To download a copy and learn how to optimize your WEM strategy, please visit metrigy.com.

Metrigy has published its updated workplace collaboration product and service forecasts and calendar year 2024 and 4Q24 market shares.

April 23, 2025 – Metrigy has published its Workplace Collaboration MetriCast 2024 and 4Q24 market shares and updated forecasts. The categories include enterprise session border controllers (eSBCs), IP desk phones, on-premises PBX & unified communications (UC) systems, SIP trunking, and UC as a service (UCaaS). Highlights include:

“Microsoft, Cisco, and Zoom remain the leading workplace collaboration providers, expanding their market shares in calendar year 2024,” says Diane Myers, Metrigy senior research director. “The combined market of on-premises PBX platforms and UCaaS services grew 5% in CY24 but growth rates will taper off over the next five years as more businesses migrate to the cloud, and the market hits a steady subscription revenue flow.”

The MetriCast forecasts and market shares is a core part of Metrigy’s MetriCast Service, which also includes detailed end-user adoption studies; MetriRank vendor ratings across select categories; and the annual MetriStar Awards for vendors earning top customer sentiment ratings and whose customers achieve top business success. For more information, visit http://www.metrigy.com/metricast/.

Metrigy has published its workplace collaboration product and service forecasts and calendar year 3Q24 market shares.

January 29, 2025 – Metrigy has published its Workplace Collaboration MetriCast 3Q24 market shares and forecasts. The categories include on-premises PBX and unified communications (UC), UC as a service (UCaaS), enterprise session border controllers (eSBCs), IP desk phones, and SIP trunking. Highlights include:

“The top providers across the workplace collaboration market landscape – Microsoft, Cisco, and Zoom – have benefited from enterprise adoption of video and cloud applications, particularly in the past five years,” says Diane Myers, Metrigy senior research director. “The combined market of on-premises PBX platforms and UCaaS services grew 7% in CY23 and growth rates will taper off over the next five years as more businesses migrate to the cloud, which is highly price competitive.”

The MetriCast forecasts and market shares is a core part of Metrigy’s MetriCast Service, which also includes detailed end-user adoption studies; MetriRank vendor ratings across select categories; and the annual MetriStar Awards for vendors earning top customer sentiment ratings and whose customers achieve top business success. For more information, visit www.metrigy.com.

 

Learn how companies are finding value with agentics for their CX strategies, with experts from Metrigy, NiCE, and TechSee.

June 12, 2025 – Agentics has become the latest advancement of using AI in customer experience. Yet, only 52% of IT and CX leaders are familiar with the term. That’s why Metrigy, along with NiCE and TechSee, are producing must-see content to enlighten leaders on the value and cautions surrounding agentic AI strategies.

Metrigy’s second CX Expert Insights Webinar Series will explore how and when companies should deploy the technology for the best results. The series provides analysis based on a global research study of 1,104 companies, along with insights, recommendations, and informative product strategies from NiCE and TechSee. The session goes live on June 10 at 12 p.m. ET on Metrigy’s BrightTalk channel.

“Agentic AI holds such profound promise for delivering more effective and efficient customer service, but we still need to educate the market on when and how to use it,” says Robin Gareiss, Metrigy CEO. “Metrigy’s Expert Insights Program was designed to share research, analysis, and information from technology providers to help companies stay ahead of the curve with technology innovation.”

In the session, hear from Metrigy CEO Robin Gareiss, along with Elizabeth Tobey, VP of Marketing at NiCE, and Jon Burg, VP of Strategy and Performance at TechSee, on an abundance of topics surrounding agentics, including:

To tune into this must-watch series, register for free and attend at BrightTALK.com.

Metrigy’s MetriRank study evaluates leading CCaaS providers on a fixed set of criteria to assess which are best positioned to succeed in the long term.

July 9, 2025 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy released its CCaaS MetriRank 2025 report, identifying the Top 11 providers leading the market today and best positioned for long-term success. NICE has earned top ranking, based on market share, financials, market share momentum, product mix, customer sentiment, and customer business success.

“For the third year in a row, NICE is the leader in our CCaaS MetriRank report, with 23% revenue market share, strong financials, leading market momentum and product mix, and above-average customer scores. While NICE holds the top spot, all the providers in the report stand out in different areas,” said Diane Myers, senior research director and principal analyst responsible for Metrigy’s MetriRank reports as well as market share and forecasting.

Metrigy 2025 CCaaS MetriRank Highlights:

Metrigy defines CCaaS as customer interaction software delivered as a service over a cloud-based platform; as a baseline this includes automatic call distributors (ACDs), interactive voice response (IVR), and predictive dialer, but increasingly also includes AI, analytics, and interaction channel integration. CCaaS solutions are multi-tenant, with today’s platforms developed by service providers to run in the cloud using microservices architecture.

The global market for CCaaS was $7.2 billion in 2024, up 20% year-over-year. Metrigy forecasts the market to grow at an 11.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2024 to 2029, reaching $12.2 billion by 2029. The CCaaS market is highly competitive, with providers of varying sizes, capabilities, and reach—some are global, and others are regional. Some providers are large and have broad portfolios and others are smaller, with niche offerings.

The full report, including all of our methodology, scoring, a deep-dive profile on each provider, and much more, is available for purchase. If you are interested in Metrigy’s CCaaS MetriRank 2025 study, please reach out to [email protected].