Keith Dawson's Analyst Perspectives

We are happy to share some insights about Aspect drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Earlier this year we published the Ventana Research Value Index: Contact Center in the Cloud 2021, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. It is an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings will address buyers’ requirements for contact center software. The index is structured to replicate an RFI/RFP process by incorporating all criteria needed to evaluate, select, utilize and maintain technology, and maintain relationships with vendors.

In all of our Value Indexes we utilize a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for contact center in the cloud. We evaluated Aspect and 13 other vendors in seven categories, five relevant to the product and experience (adaptability, capability, manageability, reliability and usability) and two related to the customer experience(TCO/ROI and vendor validation). To arrive at the Value Index rating for a given vendor, we weighted each category to reflect its relative importance in an RFP process, with the weightings based on our experience and on data derived from our benchmark research. Aspect performance rating in the Value Index is overall at 87.4% and for customer experience is 84.5% and product experience is 87.9%.

Aspect is a longstanding provider of contact center software. Aspect was ranked seventh overall and is classified as a Vendor with Assurance. It performed its best in Capability, bringing the historical depth in its on-premises offering to the cloud-based offering called Aspect Via. It was ranked in the top one-third in the categories of Adaptability, Capability and Validation. Aspect Via is a way for its on-premises customers to migrate easily to the cloud offering.

Aspect Via exceled in the Capability category and in the core operational tasks needed in all contact centers: interaction handling, information capture and workforce optimization. It supports a broad array of interaction channels, analytics and integrations (with telephony systems and outside applications). It also performed well in TCO/ROI and Validation with depth in its approach for Customer Experience.

Our assessment finds that Aspect could improve in Usability with more attention to the unique requirements in the range of personas. It also could improve in Reliability with more depth in the information related to its performance and scalability.

This assessment was based on Aspect’s products available at end of March in 2021. Since then, Aspect announced an upcoming merger with Noble Systems, and now as a combined entity called Alvaria.

When cloud contact centers first emerged a decade ago, the focus for many was on finding the lowest cost provider. Today’s organizations should consider a broader range of criteria in their selection process, which we outline in this Value Index. A modern contact center requires technology that provides continuous innovation and a product and customer experience to meet their long-term goals. With this in mind, when organizations begin the process of evaluating their efforts, they might consider Aspect, or what is now called Alvaria.

This research-based index is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of contact center in the cloud software in the industry. Technology buyers can learn more about how to use our Value Index by clicking here and included vendors that wish to learn more can click here. Read the report here.

Regards,

Keith Dawson