The Aspire Leaderboard is a trusted source of information and insight into the Customer Communications Management (CCM) and Customer Experience Management (CXM) industries. Our market experts evaluate the offerings of CCM and CXM software vendors and service providers and then score them based on their capabilities, vision, and market presence across a number of dynamic grids. In this blog post, we will highlight some of the new additions and vendor updates that were introduced in the Q4 2023 edition of the Aspire Leaderboard.
New additions to the Aspire Leaderboard in 2023 Q4:
Founded in 1993, Adare SEC is a leading UK-based service provider specializing in omni-channel customer communications solutions. With nearly 500 employees, it serves mid-market and large enterprises in financial services, utilities, and the public sector. Adare has been working to position itself as a digital solutions provider with offerings ranging from self-service tools to digital experience solutions. It offers several CCM-CXM software solutions (that include both proprietary and third-party products), and its digital transformation services have helped it achieve significant growth.
CSG International is a global outsourcing provider that has amassed over 5,700 employees and earned clients in 120 countries since its founding in 1982. It specializes in communication design and delivery, customer experience, payments, and revenue management, and it has generated over $1 billion in annual sales. CSG has clients in telecommunications, cable/broadband, utilities, insurance, financial services, retail, and the public sector. Its Communication Design and Delivery unit offers both print and digital CCM and has a strong North American footprint while its Customer Experience division leverages a journey orchestration platform (acquired from Kitewheel and rebranded as Xponent) to offer real-time engagement, most notably to clients in the utilities and telecommunications markets.
Based in Sweden and founded in 2016, ENIT AB is a consulting firm and system integrator with a focus on digital delivery and on-demand, interactive communications. With a strong focus on the Nordics and a growing presence across Europe, ENIT offers a range of implementation services across B2C and B2B (manufacturing) use cases primarily centered around the OpenText StreamServe portfolio, (though it also supports customers running Quadient Inspire or Smart Communications. It has developed a library of application add-ons to accelerate the implementation of CCM solutions. ENIT’s deep expertise in OpenText technology enables it to help (Streamserve clients in particular) modernize their CCM solutions, often by helping them shift to the cloud. ENIT also develops its own software to fulfil requirements it believes global software providers have not sufficiently addressed in the local market.
Topdown, founded in 1981, is a CCM software vendor specializing in interactive use cases while also supporting those in batch and on-demand. Its flagship CCM solution, INTOUCH, is a cloud-first, next-generation system known for its excellent in-document editing experience. The company’s visionary approach is based on a strong cloud focus, open standards, and deep configurability. Topdown’s capabilities and focus on user experience – coupled with its scalable consumption-based pricing – make INTOUCH a good choice for both enterprises with large teams of non-technical business users and smaller businesses attracted to its straightforward design and pricing flexibility. The company is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, and predominantly serves North American customers.
In the past quarter, we’ve adjusted the scores or position for each of the following companies to better reflect their new strategies or offerings:
Accessibility has been a significant area of growth for Crawford Technologies, and in 2023, it launched AccessibilityNow Translate. The high-speed service aims to ensure inclusivity and accessibility in customer communications by leveraging artificial intelligence to translate transactional and marketing documents into over 120 languages. This new offering is particularly suited for clients in the healthcare market now subject to the CMS Final Rule requiring them to deliver communications to customers in their native languages.
Ayesa acquired Ibermatica in December 2022. The two businesses have since merged, enabling Ibermática to access opportunities on a more international scale. The combined organization has set its sights on expanding across Latin America and deeper into North America and Europe. It also launched a re-architected cloud-native version of IberDok with stronger focus on security, scalability, and integration. In 2024, it is looking to build off recent UX improvements by deploying in containers and incorporating artificial intelligence in content generation.
MHC is a business automation and content services software provider with a strong focus on optimizing back-office processes offering configurable intelligent automation in the cloud. MHC extracts and collects information from inbound communications, so that it can streamline process while providing data-driven intelligence and options for next best actions. It automatically gleans data and delivers it to non-technical users so they can generate personalized interactions on multiple channels. In 2023, MHC also re-platformed its accounts payable/account receivable (AR/AP) solutions into a cloud-native platform called NorthStar, released integration accelerators, further integrated EngageCX within NorthStar, and extended its partnership with Oracle.
In 2023, OpenText introduced Aviator, a comprehensive AI integration framework allowing its various products to be easily extended with AI/ML capabilities from a variety of sources. In recent years, in response to changing market requirements and technological developments, OpenText has increasingly positioned CCM as part of its Total Experience vision. Its Experience Platform offers an integrated set of capabilities including Exstream as well as other OpenText solutions for digital delivery, journey orchestration, customer data platform, low code/no code business process management, and cloud-to-cloud connectivity.
Here are some other key developments worth calling out:
Messagepoint aims to make communications more accessible and understandable by enhancing its AI-powered Assisted Authoring capabilities to support translation into over 80 languages and suggest content rewrites in line with the ISO standard for plain language.
Precisely has made significant improvements to RapidCX by introducing interface updates, a new, self-developed composition engine, and leveraging cloud-native, serverless AWS capabilities to enhance security and scalability.
Smart Communications and Guidewire have surpassed 120 mutual customers, highlighting their commitment to cloud innovation within the P&C insurance industry. Their combined solution streamlines insurers’ operations and improves policyholder experience.
In 2023, Quadient acquired Daylight Automation, a business that has specialized in intelligent forms solutions for business users. Daylight Automation (now Inspire iForms) improves data collection for both Inspire Flex and Inspire Evolve and will expand across other ICA offerings in the future, facilitating processes such as onboarding, enrolment, activation, and sign-up procedures.
Broadridge Financial Solutions has expanded its Shareholder Disclosure solution into the U.K., Australia, and Hong Kong, leveraging blockchain technology and intelligent APIs to increase transparency and automate the digitization of shareholder disclosures.
The Aspire Leaderboard is a dynamic tool and our team is constantly updating it to reflect the latest developments in the market. You can find a more detailed analysis of all these vendors – and many more – by visiting the Leaderboard website at www.aspireleaderboard.com and reading our full analysis on their individual profile pages.