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Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
AI Revolutionizing How Enterprises Collaborate, ISG Says
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enterprises are integrating more AI features into collaboration and communications systems for more effective teamwork and customer engagement, making strategic technology choices to enhance their future competitiveness, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III). AI is not just modernizing but transforming how enterprises collaborate and communicate. This research provides the fundamentals for preparing to use conversational AI, including AI agents, for collaboration inside and outside an enterprise. Share The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Collaborative AI and Communication, produced by ISG Software Research, provides the rankings and ratings of over 50 software providers and their products to support effective employee, partner and customer interactions. The research finds that many companies are embracing features powered by GenAI and agentic AI as they build systems to unify geographically dispersed workforces and engage more closely with customers. 'AI is not just modernizing but transforming how enterprises collaborate and communicate. The technology expands the boundaries of what is possible so companies can significantly increase workforce productivity,' said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. 'This research provides the fundamentals for preparing to use conversational AI, including AI agents, for collaboration inside and outside an enterprise.' AI is helping organizations meet the communication and collaboration challenges posed by hybrid work, data protection regulations and changing customer experience demands, the research finds. With edge computing capabilities and conversational and agentic AI, collaboration software is quickly evolving to deliver more automation and intelligence. Enterprises are seeking scalable platforms that maintain high performance, ensure compliance and provide balanced participation between in-person and remote attendees. Despite advancements in collaborative AI suites and platforms, many organizations still use fragmented communication technologies, the research finds. For effective collaboration across multiple locations, enterprises need more integrated and intelligent tools. ISG predicts that through 2027, one-fifth of enterprises will use agentic AI with communications and collaboration software to guide employees through workflows. AI is also rapidly improving communication platforms, often called communication platform as a service (CPaaS), the foundational layer for interacting with customers. As consumers expect more interactive experiences, these platforms have begun to include advanced AI that goes beyond basic chatbots, including AI meeting assistants that can perform real-time language translation, the research finds. Conversational AI tools enabled by GenAI are revolutionizing question-and-answer interactions, ISG finds. Conversational AI can guide workers and customers toward information that is not otherwise easily accessible. ISG predicts that by 2028, automated systems will keep two-thirds of customer interactions within self-service by using improvements in conversational AI and knowledge retrieval. The research also finds that AI agents are playing a growing role in these increasingly complex functions. Agents are evolving from components based on simple rule-based logic to multi-agent systems that can perform a wide range of tasks, including orchestrating actions across enterprise systems. By 2028, software providers will blend agentic AI with collaboration and communications software to offer digital assistants that increase productivity, ISG predicts. For its 2025 Buyers Guides for Collaborative AI and Communication, ISG evaluated software providers across six platform categories — AI Agents, Collaborative AI Platforms and Suites, Collaborative AI Suites, Conversational AI for CX, Conversational AI for Workforce and Communication Platforms — and produced a separate Buyers Guide for each. A total of 52 providers were assessed: [24] 8x8, Appian, Automation Anywhere, Avaya, AWS, Bandwidth, Bird, Cisco, Dialpad, Fractal, Genesys, Google, GoTo, Gupshup, HCLSoftware, IBM, Infobip, IntelePeer, LivePerson, Microsoft, Mitel, Newgen, NiCE, OpenText, Oracle, Pega, RingCentral, Route Mobile, Salesforce, Sangoma, SAP, ServiceNow, Sinch, Sprinklr, SS&C Blue Prism, Syniverse, Tanla, Talkdesk, Tata Communications, Tencent Cloud, Twilio, UiPath, Verint, Vonage, Zendesk, Zenvia, Zoho and Zoom. ISG Software Research rates software providers in seven evaluation categories. Five are related to product experience: usability, manageability, reliability, capability, and adaptability. Two are related to customer assurance: validation and total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO/ROI). Providers ranked in the top three for each evaluation category are named as Leaders. Within each platform category, those with the most Leader rankings are named as Overall Leaders. The Overall Leaders of the 2025 Buyers Guides for Collaborative AI and Communication were the following: AI Agents: Oracle was the top Overall Leader, followed by ServiceNow and Salesforce. Oracle was designated a Leader in seven evaluation categories, ServiceNow in six, and Salesforce in two. All three overall leaders were rated Exemplary, along with Appian, Automation Anywhere, AWS, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Pega, SAP, UiPath, Verint, and Zendesk. SS&C Blue Prism was rated Innovative. Collaborative AI Platforms and Suites: Microsoft was the top Overall Leader, followed by Zoom and RingCentral. Microsoft was designated a Leader in seven evaluation categories and Zoom and RingCentral in four categories each. All three overall leaders were rated Exemplary, along with Zoho. Cisco was rated Innovative. Collaborative AI Suites: Microsoft was the top Overall Leader, followed by Google and Zoom. Microsoft was designated a Leader in five evaluation categories and Google and Zoom in three categories each. All three overall leaders were rated Exemplary, along with Dialpad, RingCentral, Salesforce, and Zoho. 8x8, Avaya, and Cisco were rated Innovative. Conversational AI for CX: NiCE was the top Overall Leader, followed by ServiceNow and Salesforce. NiCE was designated a Leader in seven evaluation categories, ServiceNow in six, and Salesforce in two. All three overall leaders were rated Exemplary, along with Dialpad, Genesys, Google, Infobip, LivePerson, Pega, RingCentral, Sinch, Sprinkler, Talkdesk, Twilio, Verint, Zendesk, and Zoom. 8x8, Cisco, Tencent Cloud, and Vonage were rated Innovative. Conversational AI for Workforce: Oracle was the top Overall Leader, followed by ServiceNow and Microsoft. ServiceNow was designated a Leader in six evaluation categories, Oracle in five, and Microsoft in two. All three overall leaders were rated Exemplary, along with AWS, Google, RingCentral, Salesforce, Zendesk, and Zoom. Appian and Pega were rated Innovative. Communication Platforms: Infobip was the top Overall Leader, followed by Twilio and Zoom. Infobip was designated a Leader in seven evaluation categories and Twilio and Zoom in two categories each. All three overall leaders were rated Exemplary, along with 8x8, Microsoft, Oracle, RingCentral, Sinch and Tencent Cloud. Bandwidth, Bird, Cisco, CM, and Vonage were rated Innovative. 'Enterprises have the opportunity to significantly increase productivity and improve customer interactions through AI-powered enhancements to communication and collaboration software,' said Robert Kugel, executive director, Business Research, ISG Software Research. 'This research provides insights into important AI advancements, helping organizations understand, assess and select software providers to build and execute an effective AI strategy.' The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Collaborative AI and Communication are the distillation of more than a year of market and product research efforts. The research is not sponsored nor influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments. Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Buyers Guides™ for Collaborative AI and Communication and read executive summaries of each of the six reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG Software Research. About ISG Software Research ISG Software Research provides authoritative coverage and analysis of the business and IT software industry. It distributes research and insights daily through its user community, and provides a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Its ISG Buyers Guides™ help enterprises evaluate and select software providers through tailored assessments powered by ISG's proprietary methodology. Visit for more information and to sign up for free community membership. About ISG ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.
Business Wire
08-08-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Data Platforms Gearing up to Enable AI Revolution, ISG Says
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Agentic and generative AI are introducing new enterprise requirements for management and use of data, and leading software providers are meeting the moment with innovative hybrid data platforms, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III). Enterprises have become dependent on data platforms for business analysis and operations. As AI expands and transforms enterprise uses of data, platforms are rapidly evolving to support the inferencing capabilities of intelligent operational applications. Share The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Data Platforms, produced by ISG Software Research, provide the rankings and ratings of 38 software providers and their products to support data storage, processing, analysis and presentation. The research finds that the traditional distinction between analytic and operational data platforms is blurring as more business applications use real-time, AI-powered analytic processing for functions such as personalization, real-time predictions and contextually relevant recommendations. To enable intelligent applications driven by GenAI and machine learning, providers are delivering data platform capabilities to support hybrid operational and analytic workloads. 'Enterprises have become totally dependent on data platforms for business analysis and operations,' said Matt Aslett, director of research, Analytics, Data & AI, for ISG Software Research. 'As AI expands and transforms enterprise uses of data, platforms are rapidly evolving to support the inferencing capabilities of intelligent operational applications.' Most companies use a variety of data platforms to support a range of application requirements. Increasingly, they deploy data platforms on cloud infrastructure or consume their functionality as managed services, seeking to increase agility, the research finds. When choosing a data platform, the fundamental question companies have considered is whether it will be used for workloads that are operational (used to run the business) or analytic (used to analyze the business). Operational data platforms support functions such as finance, sales, human capital management and customer experience, while analytic platforms serve workloads such as business intelligence, decision support and data science. Different data platform architectures have evolved to maximize query performance for each category of workload. However, ISG predicts that through 2027, data platform providers will prioritize the development of hybrid operational and analytic functionality to fulfill new application requirements created by GenAI. Providers will deliver a combination of these types of functionality with either one or a set of data platform products. These moves will address market demand: By 2027, ISG expects two-thirds of enterprises to adopt new operational database products to meet the AI requirements of intelligent applications. As hybrid capabilities become available in operational data platforms, enterprises will still need separate analytic data platforms for business intelligence and data science projects, the research finds. There is also a growing need for these platforms to support the development, training and tuning of ML and GenAI models. For its 2025 Buyers Guides for Data Platforms, ISG evaluated software providers across three platform categories — Data Platforms, Analytic Data Platforms and Operational Data Platforms — and produced a separate Buyers Guide for each. A total of 38 providers were assessed: Actian, Aerospike, Aiven, Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Broadcom, Cloudera, Cockroach Labs, Couchbase, Databricks, Dremio, EDB, Google Cloud, Huawei Cloud, IBM, IBM DataStax, Incorta, InterSystems, KX, MariaDB, Microsoft, MongoDB, Neo4j, OpenText, Oracle, Percona, PingCAP, Progress Software, Redis, Salesforce, SAP, SingleStore, Snowflake, Starburst, Tencent Cloud, Teradata, VAST Data and Yugabyte. ISG Software Research rates software providers in seven evaluation categories. Five are related to product experience: usability, manageability, reliability, capability and adaptability. Two are related to customer assurance: validation and total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO/ROI). Providers ranked in the top three for each evaluation category are named as Leaders. Within each platform category, those with the most Leader rankings are named as Overall Leaders. The Overall Leaders of the 2025 Buyers Guides™ for Data Platforms were the following: Data Platforms: Oracle was the top Overall Leader, followed by InterSystems and Google Cloud. Oracle was designated a Leader in six evaluation categories, InterSystems in four and Google Cloud in three. The three top Overall Leaders all were rated Exemplary, along with Actian, AWS, Cloudera, Couchbase, IBM, Microsoft and SAP. Alibaba Cloud, Broadcom and Progress Software were rated Innovative. Analytic Data Platforms: Databricks was the top Overall Leader, followed by Oracle and Google Cloud. Databricks was designated a Leader in seven evaluation categories, Oracle in six and Google Cloud in three. The three top Overall Leaders all were rated Exemplary, along with Actian, AWS, Cloudera, Couchbase, IBM, InterSystems, Microsoft, SAP, Snowflake and Teradata. Broadcom, OpenText and Progress Software were rated Innovative. Operational Data Platforms: Oracle was the top Overall Leader, followed by InterSystems and Google Cloud. Oracle was designated a Leader in six evaluation categories, InterSystems in four and Google Cloud in three. The three top Overall Leaders all were rated Exemplary, along with Actian, AWS, Cloudera, Couchbase, IBM, Microsoft, MongoDB, SAP and Yugabyte. Alibaba Cloud, Broadcom and Progress Software were rated Innovative. 'Enterprises need modern data platforms to support the diverse set of needs for operations and decision-making, and the direct set of requirements for AI,' said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. 'This research found shifts in which software providers are evolving to support the pressing data needs for AI and operations and in what those providers are doing. It helps guide enterprises in assessing existing software and selecting the software provider that can best meet their unique requirements now and in the future.' The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Data Platforms are the distillation of more than a year of market and product research efforts. The research is not sponsored or influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments. Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Buyers Guides™ for Data Platforms and read executive summaries of each of the three reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG Software Research. About ISG Software Research ISG Software Research provides authoritative coverage and analysis of the business and IT software industry. It distributes research and insights daily through its user community, and provides a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Its ISG Buyers Guides™ help enterprises evaluate and select software providers through tailored assessments powered by ISG's proprietary methodology. Visit for more information and to sign up for free community membership. About ISG ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.
Business Wire
27-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Revenue Lifecycles Require Effective Software, Models, ISG Says
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Companies modernizing revenue management to enable new business models can choose from a growing number of applications and integrated platforms designed to reduce errors, automate processes and ultimately increase revenue over time, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III). Enterprises need advanced pricing and revenue models to stay competitive, and traditional systems will not support innovation. Modern revenue management platforms ensure that urgent business model changes are not held back by outdated technologies. Share The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management, produced by ISG Software Research, provide the rankings and ratings of 42 software providers and their products to support revenue process needs, including configure price quote (CPQ), contract lifecycle management (CLM), revenue recognition, billing and the platforms to support these activities. The research finds that enterprises benefit from unified software platforms as they migrate from reliance on one-time sales to efficiently managed approaches that generate continuous revenue. Revenue lifecycle management platforms move beyond the outdated linear quote-to-cash process, combining processes previously carried out by separate tools. Aligning all systems allows for consistent sales and revenue engagement over time. 'Enterprises in every industry need to adopt more advanced pricing and revenue models to stay competitive, and traditional systems will not support rapid change and innovation,' said Stephen Hurrell, director at ISG Software Research. 'Modern revenue management platforms ensure that urgent business model changes are not held back by outdated processes or technologies.' A true revenue lifecycle management system performs tasks ranging from guiding sellers and account teams as they create and get approval for a quote to embedding the quote's terms in a contract, triggering order fulfillment and generating billing schedules, the research shows. Such platforms not only manage digital documents but digitize and store all important terms in those documents. Key information persists in a data store, removing the need for one team to pass data to the next, so errors are minimized. Digitized billing schedules allow companies to automate actions such as outreach for subscription renewals at the appropriate time. A unified platform and data model provides easier data access for telling a more comprehensive story about effective revenue lifecycle management, the reports say. It lets companies analyze all parts of the process to gain insights into customers, products and processes, empowering them to improve customer experience and encourage more sustained engagement. Though the application of AI to revenue management is relatively immature, platforms prepared to deliver long-term value already have well-articulated and documented approaches to the use of AI. Despite these benefits, ISG expects more than half of enterprises to still be using manual processes to integrate quotes and contracts through 2026, potentially causing billing and delivery errors and poor customer experience. New revenue lifecycle management platforms offer improvements to all major components used in the process, the reports say. These include CPQ software that lets prospective buyers have a live, on-demand interaction rather than a slow exchange of emails, CLM tools that standardize contract terms to streamline processing and billing systems that can use historical data to accurately apply volume-based or usage-based pricing. For its 2025 Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management, ISG evaluated software providers across six platform categories — Revenue Lifecycle Management; Revenue Lifecycle Platforms; Revenue Recognition; Contract Lifecycle Management; Configure, Price, Quote; and Billing — and produced a separate Buyers Guide for each. A total of 42 providers were assessed: Aptitude, Aria Systems, BillingPlatform, Certinia, Chargebee, Conga, ContractPodAi, DealHub, Docusign, Epicor, Experlogix, FastSpring, GleanQuote, Gotransverse, Icertis, Ironclad, LawVu, LinkSquares, Malbek, Maxio, NetSuite, Oracle, PandaDoc, Paperless Parts, Pricefx, PROS, Recurly, RecVue, Sage, Salesforce, SAP, Sirion, SOFTRAX, SpotDraft, Stripe, Tacton, Vendavo, Workday, Zilliant, Zoho and Zuora ISG Software Research rates software providers in seven evaluation categories. Five are related to product experience: usability, manageability, reliability, capability and adaptability. Two are related to customer assurance: validation and total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO/ROI). Providers ranked in the top three for each evaluation category are named as Leaders. Within each platform category, those with the most Leader rankings are named as Overall Leaders. The Overall Leaders of the 2025 Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management were the following: Revenue Lifecycle Management: Conga earned the highest overall rating, followed by Oracle and BillingPlatform, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. Conga was named a Leader in seven evaluation categories, Oracle in six categories and BillingPlatform in five. Salesforce, Zoho and Zuora also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative. Revenue Lifecycle Platforms: Conga received the highest overall rating, followed by BillingPlatform and Oracle, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. Conga was designated a Leader in seven evaluation categories and BillingPlatform and Oracle in five. Salesforce, Zoho and Zuora also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative. Revenue Recognition: BillingPlatform was the highest-rated provider, followed by Oracle and Zuora, who were overall leaders and rated exemplary. Oracle was designated a Leader in six evaluation categories, BillingPlatform in five and Zuora in three. Aria Systems, Conga, NetSuite, Sage, Stripe and Zoho also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative. Contract Lifecycle Management: The overall leaders were Conga in first place, followed by Docusign and Zoho. All three were rated exemplary. Conga was designated a Leader in seven categories, Docusign in five and Zoho in two. Ironclad and Sirion also were rated Exemplary. Icertis was rated Innovative. Configure, Price, Quote: Conga was the highest-rated provider, followed by Oracle and PROS, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. Conga was designated a Leader in seven performance categories, Oracle in six and PROS in two. Epicor, Salesforce, Zoho and Zuora also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative. Billing: BillingPlatform earned the highest overall rating, followed by Oracle and Zuora, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. BillingPlatform and Oracle were designated as Leaders in five performance categories each, while Zuora was a Leader in three performance categories. Aria Systems, Certinia, Conga, Salesforce, Stripe and Zoho were rated Exemplary. Gotransverse and SAP were rated Innovative. 'Managing revenue lifecycles is important for good customer experience, but it is complicated by underlying software that is too fragmented or specialized to work across sales, operations, revenue and finance teams,' said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. 'Whether companies are looking for one supplier or a series of applications, these insights guide enterprises to determine what software is the best fit to modernize and reduce the operational costs of revenue lifecycle management.' The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management are the distillation of more than a year of market and product research efforts. The research is not sponsored nor influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments. It provides the industry's most comprehensive review of all viable software options, comparing their strengths to give enterprises insight to make critical selection decisions. Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management and read executive summaries of each of the six reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG Software Research. About ISG Software Research ISG Software Research provides authoritative coverage and analysis of the business and IT software industry. It distributes research and insights daily through its user community, and provides a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Its ISG Buyers Guides™ help enterprises evaluate and select software providers through tailored assessments powered by ISG's proprietary methodology. Visit for more information and to sign up for free community membership. About ISG ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.
Business Wire
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
AI Poised to Transform Supply Chain Planning, ISG Says
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AI is quickly ushering in a new era of supply chain planning, motivating enterprises to consider the best available strategy and software to gain a competitive advantage with the technology, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III). Supply chain challenges remain the same, but the tools for addressing them are changing. The emergence of AI will mark a turning point in how companies build intelligent, efficient supply chains. It will separate the winners from the also-rans. The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Supply Chain Planning, a new portfolio of reports by ISG Software Research, provides the rankings and ratings of 22 software providers and their products to support supply chain planning. The research finds that AI and generative AI will have profound effects on both large and midsize enterprises, including retailers, that adopt them for supply chain planning over the next decade. Companies with even moderately long and complex supply chains must decide how and when to apply AI and GenAI to their planning processes. Selecting the right provider will be a key part of the transition. 'Supply chain challenges remain the same, but the tools for addressing them are changing,' said Robert Kugel, executive director, Business Research, ISG Software Research. 'The emergence of AI will mark a turning point in how companies build intelligent, efficient supply chains. It will separate the winners from the also-rans.' Supply chain planning software helps enterprises maintain resilient operations in several ways, the report says. By improving the accuracy of demand forecasts, often with advanced algorithms and machine learning, it enables retailers and other companies to anticipate customer needs and improve order fulfillment. It can also identify potential risks and disruptions in the supply chain and simulate various scenarios to help companies plan for contingencies. Real-time data and insights help enterprises make informed decisions faster, and improved collaboration keeps organizations aligned across functions and geographies. AI and GenAI have the potential to expand these benefits, substantially reducing the cost and human effort that goes into supply chain operations, ISG says. These technologies can help companies quickly juggle diverse supply and demand objectives and constraints, enabling continuous supply chain planning through even better cross-functional collaboration. Ultimately, AI advances should lead to event-driven analysis and suggestions that trigger actions, allowing enterprises to stay ahead of emerging developments. Similarly, AI and GenAI are beginning to improve enterprise efficiency and agility through sales and operations planning software. This technology is an outgrowth of supply chain planning with a broader scope. It provides a unified approach to balancing strategic financial plans against sales, production, inventory and customer or channel lead times. As with supply chain planning, AI advancements point to the software's eventual ability to provide event-driven analysis and suggestions. Most enterprises will integrate AI into their supply chain and sales and operations software gradually, starting with relatively low-risk initiatives, the report says. As with other AI adoption efforts, companies can start by preparing their data environments for the requirements of AI. Investments in data capture, orchestration and management lay a foundation for faster analysis and reporting. For its 2025 Buyers Guides™ for Supply Chain Planning, ISG evaluated software providers across four platform categories — Supply Chain Planning, Midsize Supply Chain Planning, Retail Supply Chain Planning and Sales and Operations Planning — and produced a separate Buyers Guide for each. A total of 22 providers were assessed: Anaplan, Blue Ridge, Blue Yonder, Board, Dassault Systems, e2open, FuturMaster, ICRON, Infor, John Galt Solutions, Kinaxis, Logility, Manhattan Associates, o9 Solutions, OMP, Oracle, Pigment, QAD, RELEX, SAP, Slimstock and ToolsGroup. ISG Software Research rates software providers on seven evaluation categories. Five are product-related: usability, manageability, reliability, capability and adaptability. Two are customer experience-related: validation and total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO/ROI). Providers ranked in the top three for each evaluation category are named as Leaders. Within each platform category, those with the most Leader rankings are named as Overall Leaders. The Overall Leaders of the 2025 Buyers Guides™ for Supply Chain Planning were the following: Supply Chain Planning: Anaplan earned the highest overall rating, followed closely by Kinaxis and Oracle. Anaplan was designated a Leader in six categories, with Oracle and Kinaxis named as Leaders in four. In addition to those providers, Board, Dassault Systems, e2open, o9 Solutions and SAP were also rated Exemplary. Blue Yonder, Infor, John Galt Solutions, Logility, Manhattan Associates, OMP and RELEX were rated Innovative. Midsize Supply Chain Planning: Infor was the highest-rated provider, followed by OMP and e2open. Infor was designated a Leader in five categories, e2open in three, and OMP in two. In addition to the top three providers, John Galt Solutions, Logility and Pigment were rated Exemplary. ToolsGroup was rated Innovative. Retail Supply Chain Planning: Anaplan was the highest-rated provider, followed by Oracle and SAP. Anaplan was designated a Leader in six categories, Oracle in five categories and SAP in two. In addition to those providers, Board, e2open and o9 Solutions were rated Exemplary. Blue Yonder, Infor, John Galt Solutions, Logility, Manhattan Associates and RELEX were rated Innovative. Sales and Operations Planning: Anaplan achieved the highest overall rating, followed closely by Kinaxis and Oracle. Anaplan was designated a Leader in six categories, while Oracle and Kinaxis were named Leaders in four categories each. In addition to those providers, Board, Dassault Systems, e2open, o9 Solutions, Pigment and SAP also were rated Exemplary. Blue Yonder, Infor, John Galt Solutions, Logility, Manhattan Associates, OMP and RELEX were rated Innovative. 'To craft effective strategies for meeting their emerging supply chain needs, enterprises need detailed evaluations of software providers that compare the strengths of their products,' said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. 'ISG research and expertise in supply chain and sales and operations planning software gives organizations insights to make sound decisions about how to move forward.' The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Supply Chain Planning are the distillation of more than a year of market and product research efforts. The research is not sponsored nor influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments. Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Buyers Guides™ for Supply Chain Planning and read executive summaries of each of the four reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG Software Research. About ISG Software Research ISG Software Research provides authoritative coverage and analysis of the business and IT software industry. It distributes research and insights daily through its user community, and provides a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Its ISG Buyers Guides™ help enterprises evaluate and select software providers through tailored assessments powered by ISG's proprietary methodology. Visit for more information and to sign up for free community membership. About ISG ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.
Business Wire
06-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Software Suites, AI Reshaping Customer Experience, ISG Says
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The increasing integration of applications for managing customer experience (CX) is changing how enterprises monitor, understand and improve interactions and relationships with their customers, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III). New ISG research says most companies view CX as essential, but use a wide range of strategies and tools to operate, analyze and improve it. By 2027, most CXM suites will include components that combine analytics, AI and customer data integration. Share The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Customer Experience Management, produced by ISG Software Research, provide rankings and ratings of 29 software providers and their products for governing and optimizing customer experience across all channels. The research finds that most companies view CX as essential, but they use a wide range of different strategies and tools to operate, analyze and improve it. Traditionally, customer relationship management (CRM) and contact center processes have been dispersed across organizations. In recent years, enterprises are starting to take a more centralized approach to CX using customer experience management (CXM) software, which combines applications on a common platform so organizations can view and control customer activity across departments, the reports say. Software providers are making this possible by synthesizing functions, packaging together previously separate systems for managing interactions and influencing customer behavior. A key benefit of combining CX software into a single platform is consistency and continuity around data collection and metrics, ISG says. This allows enterprises to transcend the separate metrics used by each department, achieving a more holistic view. 'By 2027, we expect most CXM suites, by default, will include components that combine analytics, AI and customer data integration,' said Keith Dawson, director of research, customer experience, ISG Software Research. 'This will make them increasingly essential to providing great customer experience.' CXM software is evolving rapidly, so each suite has different strengths depending on its components and on the traditional expertise of the provider, the reports say. Providers of contact center, CRM and marketing software have been assembling CXM suites. The platforms include tools for functions that may include customer data, contact center interaction handling, knowledge management and customer journey management (CJM). ISG expects providers to fill out their suites over time, converging on five core functional areas that every CXM suite should include: interaction handling, resource management, workflow automation, insights and analysis and CJM. Interaction handling includes both traditional call-center voice interactions and digital customer contact channels. CJM turns the passive act of responding to service calls into a deliberate effort to optimize customer experiences and relationships, the reports say. By mapping the customer journey or lifecycle, enterprises may identify moments of influence when they can generate more business or turn customers into advocates. CJM includes software for personalizing interactions and managing proactive sales and marketing efforts. Enterprises should evaluate CXM suites based on how they manage and measure customer behavior, whether they can give senior management a useful overview of the customer base and how easily they can be expanded into software segments related to other departments and processes, ISG says. For its 2025 Buyers Guides for Customer Experience Management, ISG evaluated software providers across three platform categories — Customer Experience Management, Customer Journey Management and Knowledge Management — and produced a separate Buyers Guide for each. A total of 29 providers were assessed: Adobe, Braze, CSG, CallMiner, eGain, Emplifi, Exotel, Freshworks, Gainsight, Genesys, HubSpot, Insider, Medallia, Microsoft, MoEngage, Netcore, Nextiva, NICE, Oracle, Qualtrics, Salesforce, SAP, SAS, ServiceNow, Sprinklr, SugarCRM, Verint, Zendesk and Zoho. ISG Software Research ranks software providers on seven performance categories. Five are product-related: usability, manageability, reliability, capability and adaptability. Two are customer assurance-related: validation and total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO/ROI). Providers ranked in the top three for each performance category are named Leaders. Within each platform category, those with the most Leader rankings are named Overall Leaders. The Overall Leaders of the 2025 Buyers Guides for Customer Experience Management were the following: Customer Experience Management: Salesforce earned the highest overall rating, followed by Verint and NICE. Salesforce was designated a Leader in four categories, NICE in six categories and Verint in two categories. Adobe, Emplifi, Freshworks, Gainsight, Genesys, HubSpot, Microsoft, SAP, ServiceNow, Sprinklr, Zendesk and Zoho were also rated Exemplary. Netcore, SAS and SugarCRM were rated Innovative. Customer Journey Management: Salesforce was rated highest overall, followed by Oracle and Verint. Salesforce was named a Leader in four categories and Verint in one category. Adobe, Emplifi, Freshworks, Gainsight, Genesys, HubSpot, Microsoft, NICE, SAP, ServiceNow, Sprinklr, Zendesk and Zoho were also rated Exemplary. Netcore, SAS and SugarCRM were rated Innovative. Knowledge Management: Verint earned the highest overall rating. Salesforce was second highest, followed closely by ServiceNow. Of the top three providers, Verint was designated a Leader in two categories, Salesforce in four and ServiceNow in six. Adobe, Emplifi, Genesys, NICE, Oracle, Sprinklr, Zendesk and Zoho were also rated Exemplary. No providers were rated Innovative. 'CXM suites are evolving into platforms of great utility and variety,' said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. 'The integration they provide will be increasingly important to enterprises navigating rapidly changing needs to engage and satisfy customers. This research guides enterprises to more accurately assess and select the software that meets their specific needs with the subject matter experts that can advise with experience and best practices.' The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Customer Experience Management are the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. The research is not sponsored nor influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments. Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Buyers Guides™ for Customer Experience Management and read executive summaries of each of the three reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG Software Research. About ISG Software Research ISG Software Research provides authoritative coverage and analysis of the business and IT software industry. It distributes research and insights daily through its user community, and provides a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Its ISG Buyers Guides™ help enterprises evaluate and select software providers through tailored assessments powered by ISG's proprietary methodology. Visit for more information and to sign up for free community membership. About ISG ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.
