We are happy to share some insights about Cisco drawn from our latest market research, Ventana Research Buyers Guide: Digital Communications, which assesses how well providers’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
We recently published four Ventana Research Digital Communications Buyers Guides, an assessment of technology providers and products that provide individual and combined 
Digital Communications, basic suite, platform and premium suite support. At Ventana Research, we continue to believe that, for most use-cases, there is a clear choice for digital communications for any use in your enterprise. We developed four technology assessments and buyers guides to focus on overall Digital Communications requirements as well as specific basic suite, platform and premium suite use-cases.
In all of our Buyers Guides, we utilize a structured research methodology called the Value Index that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and provider selection process for digital communications. We evaluated Cisco in seven categories, five relevant to the product (adaptability, capability, manageability, reliability and usability) and two related to the provider (TCO/ROI and provider validation).
In the overall Digital Communications Buyers Guide, our analysis classified Cisco as Innovative provider, receiving an overall grade of A- with an 83.3% performance. Cisco’s best
grouped results came in Product Experience with an 86% performance and A- grade due in part to its A in Usability. In Customer Experience, Cisco received a B grade with a 66% performance due to its 65.2% performance in Validation. Cisco was not designated a Leader in any category, though it followed close behind in many product experience categories.
Cisco’s A- grade in Product Experience was impacted by its B++ in Reliability, where it could provide category specific information on its website. Manageability at a B++ was also a place for improvement, where more depth could be made available for administration and configuration. Customer Experience was impacted by its B in Validation, where it could provide more detailed information on its product roadmap and its customer commitment.
Cisco performed best in Product Experience with an A- grade, notably in Usability, where its A grade was due to advancements in user experience and intelligence in its tools. In addition, in Adaptability and Capability, Cisco received an A- in each due to its investment and depth in the focus on its suite of tools but also on the depth of its configuration support, customization and integration. In TCO/ROI, it does provide information about the value of its approach but lacks depth in the details of the costs and tools to communicate its commitment to Customer Experience.
In the Digital Communications Basic Suite Buyers Guide, our analysis classified Cisco as an Innovative provider, receiving an overall grade of B+ with an 80.3 % performance. Cisco’s best
grouped results came in Product Experience at 84.6% performance and an A- grade due in part to its A in Usability. In Customer Experience, Cisco received a B grade with a 66% performance due to its 66.8% performance in TCO/ROI.
Cisco's A- grade in Product Experience was impacted by its B++ in Reliability, where it could enhance its architecture characteristics to support higher availability and business continuity. Customer Experience was impacted by its B in Validation where it could showcase more references and case studies along with better alignment of a product roadmap with the provider’s stated strategy.
Cisco performed best in Product Experience with an A- grade, notably in receiving an A Usability, due to its NLP capabilities and robust user experience features covering data entry, support and role-based user interface fitments boosted its grading in this category. Cisco’s comprehensive breadth and depth of information provided for preparing business case and strategic value for buyers clearly stood out for its B grade in TCO/ROI.
In the Digital Communications Platform Buyers Guide, our analysis classified Cisco as an Innovative provider, receiving an overall grade of B++ with an 80.1% performance. Cisco’s
best grouped results came in Product Experience at 83.4% performance and A- grade due in part to its A in Usability. In Customer Experience, Cisco received a B grade with a 66% performance due to its 62% performance in Validation.
Cisco’s A- grade in Product Experience was impacted by its B++ in Reliability, where it could provide category-specific information on its website. Manageability, with a B++ grade, was also a place for improvement, where more depth could be made available for administration and configuration. Customer Experience was impacted by its B in Validation, where it could provide more detailed information on its product roadmap and its customer commitment.
Cisco performed best in Product Experience with an A- grade, notably in Usability, where its A grade was due to advancements in user experience and intelligence in its tools. In addition, in Adaptability and Capability, receiving an A- in each due to its investment and depth in focus on its suite of tools but also on the depth of its configuration support, customization and integration. In TCO/ROI, it does provide information about the value of its approach but lacks depth in the details in the costs and tools for Customer Experience.
In the Digital Communications Premium Suite Buyers Guide, our analysis classified Cisco as an Innovative provider, receiving an overall grade of A- with an 83.8% performance. Cisco’s
best grouped results came in Product Experience with an 86.6% performance and A- grade due in part to its A in Usability. In Customer Experience, Cisco received a B grade with a 66% performance due to its 66.8% performance in TCO/ROI. Cisco was designated a Leader in Capability.
Cisco’s A- grade in Product Experience was impacted by its B++ in Reliability, where it could enhance architecture elements to support customers current and future requirements. Manageability, at a B++, is also a place for improvement that could be addressed by providing more detailed information around privacy. Customer Experience was impacted by its B in Validation, where it could provide more detailed information on its product roadmap and its customer commitment.
Cisco performed best in Product Experience with an A- grade, notably in Usability, where its A grade was due to advancements in user experience and intelligence in its tools. In addition, in both Adaptability and Capability, Cisco received an A- due not only to its investment and depth in the focus on its suite of tools, but on the depth of its configuration support, customization and integration. In TCO/ROI, it does provide information about the value of its approach but lacks depth in the details surrounding cost and tools that would communicate its commitment to Customer Experience.
This assessment was based on Webex Suite & Webex Connect, v. March, 2024 and was available in March of 2024.
This research-based guide is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of digital communications software in the industry. Technology buyers can learn more about how to use our Buyers Guide by clicking here and included software providers that wish to learn more can click here. Click below to read the individual reports:
Digital Communications Overall
Digital Communications Basic Suite
Ventana Research
Ventana Research, now part of Information Services Group, provides authoritative market research and coverage on the business and IT aspects of the software industry. We distribute research and insights daily through the Ventana Research community, and provide a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Sign up for free community membership to receive email notifications on research and insights.
