Magic Quadrant [1]

ResearchPublication Date: 29 June 2005 ID Number: G00129131

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Magic Quadrant for IVR Systems and Enterprise Voice Portals, 2005 Bern Elliot, Drew Kraus

The market for interactive voice response systems has changed significantly. Leading vendors now have to offer improved support for Internet standards, as well as better development tools and applications.

Publication Date: 29 June 2005/ID Number: G00129131 Page 2 of 9

© 2005 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The best practices in self-service have radically changed over the past three years. Three of the most significant changes have been: the wide-scale adoption of standards-based architectures for voice portals, the increased use of speech recognition, and a move toward Web architectures. Business operations have improved significantly as a result. Organizations should review how they build and deploy applications in light of this evolution in architecture, and also because many legacy platforms are coming to the end of their lives.

ANALYSIS

Changes in interactive voice response (IVR) technologies over the last few years have driven vendors to take a radically different approach and have also allowed new vendors to enter the market. Most vendors now offer VoiceXML, Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP), speech recognition and flexible development options, including support for third-party tools. And they are working to improve the scalability, channel support and applications needed for this new approach.

New horizontal voice communication applications have also been introduced. These include auto-attendant, directory assistance, speaker verification and speech-based call routing. Additionally, vendors are actively improving their application portfolios in select verticals, in some cases by releasing packaged applications.

Users should expect leading vendors to have addressed these areas already, and to be focusing on: increased support for voice over IP (VoIP) standards, such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Call Control eXtensible Markup Language (CCXML); on broadening their third-party support; and on a related shift toward a media-server architecture. Users should also expect significantly improved tools to assist with application development, tuning and optimization.

To be included in Gartner's IVR Systems and Enterprise Voice Portals Magic Quadrant (see Figure 1), vendors must have an established presence in terms of market share and "mind share" for voice response solutions. Criteria are described in detail in "IVR and Enterprise Voice Portal Magic Quadrant Criteria."



Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for IVR Systems and Enterprise Voice Portals, 2005

Avaya Genesys Telecommunications

Nuance Communications

Cisco SystemsVoiceGenie Technologies

ComputerTalk

IBM EdifyMicrosoft

Intervoice

Interactive Intelligence

Aspect Communications

Nortel Networks

Syntellect

As of June 2005

Challengers Leaders

VisionariesNiche Players

Ability to

Execute

Completeness of Vision




ComputerTalk

IBM EdifyMicrosoft

Intervoice



Nortel Networks

Syntellect




ComputerTalk

IBM EdifyMicrosoft

Intervoice



Nortel Networks

Syntellect

As of June 2005

Challengers Leaders

VisionariesNiche Players

Ability to

Execute

Completeness of Vision

Source: Gartner (June 2005)

Leaders

Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories: The Genesys Voice Platform is an established, leading product and an important generator of revenue for Genesys. An enterprise edition, with up to 500 ports, and a network edition, with more than 500 ports, are offered. Note that not all features are available on the enterprise edition and there is no smooth migration path between the two. Genesys promises feature parity in v7.03 by 3Q05. The product's VoiceXML design and Genesys' overall middleware approach has enabled it to exploit the shift toward a Web-oriented self-service architecture.

Application development is supported by GVP Studio, which generates dynamic VoiceXML (2.0 certified) applications in either Active Server Pages (ASP) or Java Server Pages (JSP). Genesys has continued to push the platform toward open telephony by adding support for SIP and MRCP. Genesys' network of partners provides a wide range of options for development and pre-packaged applications.



Consider the network edition when you're looking for a scalable solution. The enterprise edition is an option if you have the Genesys Suite or plan to use its bundled computer-telephony integration (CTI) software. Genesys Voice Platform products should not be considered if you're looking for less-expensive, stand-alone IVR solutions.

Nortel Networks offers a range of voice response solutions addressing a variety of markets. Business Communications Manager (BCM), its small market IVR offering, supports only dual-tone multifrequency and two to 24 ports. The Media Processing Server (MPS) 500 for midsize markets supports 24 to 240 ports, while the MPS 1000 for large environments supports more than 192 ports and scales to over 11,000 ports. The MPS 500 and MPS 1000 support SIP, VoiceXML (will be 2.0 certified by the end of 2005) and CCXML 1.0 applications. The Voice Processing Series/information server (VPS/is) product is being discontinued at the end of 2007 as Nortel offers a tool that can migrate VPS applications to the MPS platform. All the platforms share a common MPS software load that supports applications created with the MPS Developer (formerly PeriProducer).

Nortel has ambitious plans for its platform, including further development of its Web-Centric Self-Service — a Web application infrastructure for developing and operating in a Web services environment — and the release of a media server platform offering a migration path to VoIP. Consider Nortel's products if you're looking for open and scalable solutions.

Avaya's Interactive Response brings the former Conversant product line into an open environment based on Sun Solaris and third-party telephony cards. Application development is supported on this platform through a suite of tools that includes application programming interfaces, IVR Designer (formerly Voice@Work), Speech Applications Builder (licensed from Fluency), as well as other third-party tools. Interactive Response supports MRCP integration, as well as VoiceXML (2.0 certified) applications.

Avaya will shortly announce its next-generation products: Avaya Voice Portal and Avaya Dialog Designer. These are scheduled for targeted availability in 3Q05. These products offer an IP standards and Web-based platform, as well as Eclipse-based portability for existing Avaya Interactive Response applications based on VoiceXML. Voice Portal and Dialog Designer will strengthen Avaya's offerings significantly.

Consider the Interactive Response solution if you have a strong relationship with Avaya and an existing Avaya contact center infrastructure. As part of the review, you should also consider the Voice Portal, keeping in mind that it is a new product. You should also consider which of the many Avaya application development tools will be most useful to you over time.

InterVoice's Omvia Voice Framework supports the earlier IQTalk platform, as well as the newer Omvia Media Server. The Omvia server supports IQTalk applications developed with the earlier InVision tool, while the newer InVisionStudio product provides an application development and testing tool. It can generate VoiceXML (not 2.0 certified) code or templates that can then imbed Java or ASP code. InterVoice has been slow to migrate toward a media server architecture, but should do so over the next two years. InterVoice is also a partner for the emerging Microsoft Speech Server (MSS) and Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) initiatives.

InterVoice offers both approaches to clients, but clients should decide for themselves which suits them — once an approach is selected, it can be difficult to change direction. Consider InterVoice for a comprehensive offering of open and scalable solutions.

Edify: Components for the Edify Voice Interaction Platform (EVIP) Series 9 have now been modularized. They can be used separately, mixed with third-party components or used together. The advantage of this approach is that users now have more flexibility in how they construct their solutions. The EVIP voice portal includes a browser and an application server, either of which can



be replaced with third-party platforms. Edify offers several development options, and its Application Modeler can be used to output either SALT or VoiceXML (2.0 certified). SALT can be used with the MSS platform. Edify also offers prepackaged solutions for banking and product support that can be modified as needed.

Edify's marketing draws on its capabilities in global distribution and its focus on vertical markets. As a subsidiary of S1, a financial services company that resells Edify products, it has entry into specific segments. Consider Edify's products if you're looking for flexible, modular solutions from a switch-independent vendor.

Challengers

Aspect Communications provides two IVR offerings, with a migration path between them. Its widely installed Customer Self Service (CSS) product is primarily for stand-alone IVR. This will be increasingly replaced by Aspect's more recent Uniphi Voice Portal (UVP) product as it continues to increase its scalability. These two products share underlying telephony components, and applications can be migrated from CSS to UVP. CSS supports applications developed with its own graphical user interface (GUI) tool, as well as VoiceXML (not 2.0 certified) applications developed using third-party tools. UVP is a component of Aspect's Uniphi Suite, which provides a consolidated approach to design and reporting for both IVR and call center functions via its Uniphi Architect tool.

Consider CSS v.7 or UVP when you're upgrading from earlier versions of CSS. Consider UVP when you're integrating with an Aspect Uniphi Suite environment. Aspect has not yet established UVP as a strong switch-independent solution, however it may do so as the product matures.

Microsoft has successfully focused on market adoption and on several technical improvements since introducing MSS 2004. Market adoption was addressed by increasing the distribution channel and the number of partners delivering Telephony Interface Manager (TIM). Technical improvements included a simplified installation process and added language support. The platform includes application development tools, a text-to-speech engine, a telephony platform, a prompt engine and a voice browser. It supports the Microsoft and ScanSoft speech recognition engines, but it has not yet deployed solutions using the ScanSoft engine. MSS is designed to support the SALT speech application standard for telephony and multimodal interaction. Users will require a TIM from a Microsoft partner to support call control and telephony interfaces, although Microsoft will be supporting SIP trunking in 2006.

Over time, the strength of this platform will be its ability to integrate well with packaged applications in the Microsoft server environment and its relatively lower cost structure. Consider this solution if you're committed to the .NET architecture and can work with an early stage product that has had limited deployments in advanced or large-scale speech projects.

IBM's core voice response solution is made up of the WebSphere Voice Response (WVR) system and is part of the broader range of IBM WebSphere software. WVR contains the telephony components, CTI and a VoiceXML interpreter (not 2.0 certified). Applications can be developed using the legacy DirectTalk state table method or with the WebSphere Voice Toolkit. Speech is supported via the WebSphere Voice Server with limited support for third-party speech engines. IBM also offers the WebSphere Voice Application Access, which enables the integration of third-party voice servers and components. The third-party component support is coupled with partnerships with leading call center vendors. Consider this solution only if you are developing an application as part of an enterprise WebSphere initiative.

Visionaries



VoiceGenie Technologies: The VoiceGenie 7 product provides a scalable gateway platform, based on VoiceXML (2.0 certified), an administration console and a Java framework. The company offers development tools through partnerships. It also has advanced monitoring and reporting tools, as well as support for CCXML controls. VoiceGenie continues to differentiate itself through leadership and commitment in standards-based architectures, and through deployments in large-scale and carrier markets. Consider the VoiceGenie solution if you have midsize or large-scale deployment plans and are committed to a standards approach based on VoiceXML.

Niche Players

Cisco Systems offers two self-service options: IP IVR is for IPCC Express and IPCC Enterprise customers that need fewer than 128 ports; and the Cisco Customer Voice Portal (CVP) — formerly branded as Internet Service Node (ISN) — is geared for service providers and large organizations. IP IVR operates with the Cisco CallManager or it can be bundled with IPCC Express. CVP operates using the enterprise voice portal model based on VoiceXML (not 2.0 certified) and uses the existing Cisco ICM tool or a recently introduced Eclipse-based tool for service creation and execution.

Cisco has strengthened channel support for its IVR and speech products and has improved its development tools offering, but its products generally are not as feature rich or capable as those of competing products. We expect Cisco to continue to make incremental improvements in its voice portal offerings. But until it does so, consider Cisco's products only if you are strongly committed to a Cisco-only solution.

Syntellect, now owned by Enghouse Systems, has combined the former Syntellect Vista IVR product with the recently acquired Telequent routing product into a full service contact center suite called Continuum, which can also be offered as separate modules. The IVR module, called Continuum Self-Service, runs on industry standard components, and is based on Java and VoiceXML (not 2.0 certified).

Syntellect is the only master distributor of speech software from Nuance Communications in North America. However, the extent to which this strengthens Syntellect's portfolio will depend on the outcome of a proposed merger between Nuance and ScanSoft. But Gartner believes that Syntellect's strong relationship with the Nuance engine will be a benefit.

Consider Syntellect if you're looking for switch-independent self-service and speech solutions, especially in the financial services, utilities, healthcare, consumer products, cable and media, or government and education verticals.

Nuance Communications: The Nuance Voice Platform (NVP) is a standards-based approach that uses VoiceXML (2.0 certified) and leverages the company's speech recognition strengths. The Nuance Application Environment offers a drag-and-drop application design tool, as well as access to lower development and testing functions. Its recently introduced Management Station provides operational control over the entire speech deployment process and flexible reporting on call automation rates.

In May 2005, ScanSoft, a speech technology vendor, announced plans to acquire Nuance, and to rename the newly combined company Nuance (see "ScanSoft/Nuance Deal Continues Speech Market Consolidation"). ScanSoft has publicly stated that it considers NVP a strategic asset that will be continued, but specific plans will have to await final approval for the deal from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which is expected in September 2005.

Gartner believes that the new company will sell or spin off the NVP product. Companies considering NVP to leverage the underlying speech engine should ensure that they are protected



if the product ownership changes, and that strong integration with the underlying speech engine is continued as the combined company develops its speech technology.

ComputerTalk offers two self-service products. The iceVoice self-service platform can support VoiceXML scripts or use the iceVoice Workflow Designer tool to develop traditional call flows and speech applications. The second product, introduced in 2005, is called xTalk. It supports the MSS and SALT deployments. ComputerTalk has used the Microsoft product to expand its presence in the U.S. market, while continuing to advance its iceVoice and VoiceXML platforms in Canada. The vendor's emerging relationship with MSS and its support for SALT has helped to increase its presence and market share. Consider ComputerTalk when you're looking for a switch-independent, price-competitive self-service solution.

Interactive Intelligence: The company's Vocalite IVR product enables companies to use the same voice response tools in a stand-alone configuration that would be employed as part of their broader contact center or unified communications solutions. This bundled suite operates on Intel's Host Media Processing platform, allowing firms to integrate the contact center call controls into the call-queue-handling and business processes. VoiceXML or SALT are not yet supported and Vocalite IVR is not as mature as most other voice response products. Consider Vocalite's products if you're looking to integrate voice response as part of Interactive Intelligence's bundled contact center suite called Customer Interaction Center (CIC) or as part of its unified messaging product (Communite).

Vendors Not Part of This Magic Quadrant

Several service providers and network operators offer hosted and managed voice response solutions. In some cases, these are hybrid premise-service offerings built on VoiceXML and IP networks. These are not primarily designed as premise solutions, so they are not considered in this Magic Quadrant. Vendors offering this type of solution include carriers such as AT&T or MCI, contact center outsourcers such as Convergys or West Corporation, and voice response services, such as NetByTel and Tellme Networks. Decide on the sourcing approach that best fits your objectives and consider these alternative sourcing options as needed.

Key Issues How will contact center technologies and architectures evolve in the next five years?

Which vendor solutions and approaches will be most successful in the next five years?

Recommended Reading and Related Research

"Speech Recognition Engines: Comparison Columns"

"Speech Application Development: Selecting the Best Option"

"ScanSoft/Nuance Deal Continues Speech Market Consolidation"

"A Framework for Understanding Contact Center Services"

Acronym Key 4GL fourth-generation language

ACD automatic call distributor

AIX Advanced Interactive eXecutive

ASP Active Server Pages

BCM Business Communications Manager



CCXML Call Control eXtensible Markup Language

CSS Customer Self Service

CTI computer-telephony integration

EVIP Edify Voice Interaction Platform

GUI graphical user interface

IDE integrated development environment

IVR interactive voice response

ISN Internet Service Node

JSP Java Server Pages

MPS Media Processing Server

MRCP Media Resource Control Protocol

MSS Microsoft Speech Server

NVP Nuance Voice Platform

ROI return on investment

SALT Speech Application Language Tags

SIP Session Initiation Protocol

TIM telephony interface manager

UVP Uniphi Voice Portal

VoIP voice over IP

WVAA WebSphere Voice Application Architecture

WVR WebSphere Voice Response

XML Extensible Markup Language



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Magic Quadrant [1]