Customer Experience, Artificial Intelligence
A World-Class Team of Analysts and Researchers
Our Story
Origin
With the increasing adoption of technology across industries and the growing wave of digital transformation initiatives, Metrigy founders Robin Gareiss and Irwin Lazar, each with more than 20 years of experience as technology analysts, realized there was a rapidly growing need for data-driven guidance to help IT, CX, and business leaders make informed decisions that lead to measurable business outcomes. To meet this need, they founded Metrigy in 2020. Our name, Metrigy, is based on the convergence of the words “metrics” and “strategy.”
Evolution
Starting with two analysts, Metrigy has quickly grown to a team of 12 staff and six analysts. Since our launch, we have provided research-driven insights on AI, customer engagement and workplace collaboration, gathering data from thousands of organizations. We now offer market forecasting, track vertical industry trends, and measure consumer sentiment on AI and customer experience. Poised at the forefront of the AI and agentic AI revolution, our clients include major technology providers and enterprises. Our influence extends to tens of thousands of followers through our reports, podcasts, blogs, and videos.
Vision
Technology must be viewed through the lens of business value, not just innovation. Our research evaluates current and cutting-edge technology trends—especially AI, automation, and analytics—and the value they deliver to businesses and consumers. We provide buyer-side insights on technology adoption, market needs, business metric improvements, organizational strategies, assurance, and security/governance for AI, CX, and workplace collaboration. Key research areas include organizational AI strategy, governance, business impact of agentic AI, and technology provider performance. We also drill down into vertical trends (healthcare, financial services, retail) and provide ongoing insight via two quarterly consumer indexes on AI usage. Our vision is for our clients to leverage Metrigy’s data-backed expertise for competitive advantage.
Meet Our Team
Metrigy’s world-class team of analysts and staff are here to serve you.
Robin Gareiss
CEO & Principal Analyst
Irwin Lazar
President & Principal Analyst
Chris Zimmerman
Vice President of Client Experience
Beth Schultz
Vice President of Research & Principal Analyst
Matt Craig
Senior Director of Product Development
Diane Myers
Senior Research Director and Principal Analyst
Layne Haaksma
Senior Research Analyst
Elly Hertz
Senior Director of Content Marketing and Design
Angela Faterkowski
Senior Account Executive
Robert Lazar
Research Analyst
Chyna Carter
Research Operations Manager
Robin Gareiss
CEO & Principal Analyst
Research Leader:
Primary Focus Areas:
Artificial intelligence, contact center, customer success analytics, workforce engagement management, CRM, business case development, and cost/ROI modeling
Other Areas of Expertise:
CPaaS, Unified Communications and Collaboration, digital workplace, custom research projects, and RFP development and analysis.
About:
Robin Gareiss is CEO and Principal Analyst at Metrigy, where she oversees research product development, conducts primary research, and advises leading enterprises, vendors, and carriers.
For 25+ years, Robin has advised hundreds of C-suite, senior CX, and senior IT executives, ranging in size from Fortune 100 to Fortune 2000, developing technology strategies and analyzing how they can transform their businesses. She has developed industry-leading, interactive cost models for some of the world’s largest enterprises and vendors and recently managed the launch of Metrigy’s two quarterly consumer studies: The AI Customer Experience Index, and the AI Sentiment Index.
Robin leads Metrigy’s artificial intelligence and customer experience research, conducted regularly with IT, CX, and AI leaders at companies globally. She also is a widely recognized expert in the communications field, with specialty areas of contact center, AI-enabled customer engagement, customer interaction analytics, and employee collaboration. She is a sought-after speaker at conferences and trade shows, presenting at events such as Enterprise Connect, Future of CX/ITExpo, ICMI, Dreamforce, NiCE World, WebexOne, and Five9 CX Summit, among others. She has authored hundreds of research reports to keep clients updated on technology adoption and associated benefits. She also writes a blog for No Jitter and is a regular contributor to Tech Target.
Before launching Metrigy, Robin’s entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding and overseeing marketing and business development for The OnBoard Group, a water-purification and general contracting business, as well as co-founding and serving as president of Nemertes Research. Prior to that, she shaped technology and business coverage as senior news editor of InformationWeek, a leading business-technology publication with 440,000 readers. She also served in a variety of capacities at Data Communications and CommunicationsWeek magazines, where helped set strategic direction, oversaw reader surveys, and provided quantitative and statistical analysis. She has won several prestigious awards for her in-depth analyses of business-technology issues. Robin also taught ethics at the Poynter Institute for Advanced Media Studies. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, and American Medical News.
Philanthropically, Robin served as president and treasurer of Living Hope Lutheran Church, led youth mission trips, and ran successful fundraisers for children’s cancer research. She served on the University of Illinois College of Media Advisory Council, as well.
She earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois and recently left the cold Chicago winters for the warmth of Tampa, FL.
Irwin Lazar
President & Principal Analyst
Research Leader:
Workplace Collaboration
Primary Focus Areas:
Administration and Performance Management, AI Copilots and Virtual Assistants, Connected Workspace, Employee Experience, Hybrid Work, Security and Compliance, SIP Trunking & PSTN Access, Team Collaboration, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, Workspace Management
Other Areas of Expertise:
Network Communications and Services, Mobility and Mobile Security, Contact Center, and Customer Experience
About:
Irwin Lazar develops and manages research projects, conducts and analyzes primary research, and advises enterprise and vendor clients on technology strategy, adoption, and business metrics. Irwin is responsible for benchmarking the adoption and use of emerging workplace collaboration technologies and services, covering enterprise communications and collaboration as an industry analyst for over 25 years.
A Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and sought-after speaker and author, Irwin is a blogger for NoJitter.com and contributor to SearchUnifiedCommunications.com. He writes on workplace collaboration topics, including unified communications, video conferencing, 911, operations, security, and more. He is a frequent resource for the business and trade press and is a regular speaker at events such as Enterprise Connect, InfoComm, and UCX-London. In 2017 he was recognized as an Emerging Technologies Fellow by the IMCCA and InfoComm.
Irwin has a background in IP network and security architecture, design, and operations; he advised global organizations and held direct operational responsibility for worldwide voice and data networks.
Irwin holds an MBA from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from Radford University, where he received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve, Ordnance Corps. Outside of Metrigy, Irwin has been a Scouting leader for almost 20 years, serving in a variety of roles. He is also active in the American Legion.
Chris Zimmerman
Vice President of Client Experience
About:
In this role, Chris builds relationships with all of Metrigy’s enterprise and technology provider clients. She engages clients in the research process, and links individuals at client companies with Metrigy analysts, making sure that they have the research-driven information they need to thrive in their businesses. Chris proactively reaches out to clients to make sure they are seeing value in the services they have selected from Metrigy. She also specializes in project management for large consulting engagements.
Chris has a bachelor of science degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois. She is a lifelong resident of the Chicago area. Her downtime activities are reading, taking road-trips with her family, and watching baseball.
Beth Schultz
Vice President of Research & Principal Analyst
Research Leader:
Customer Experience
Primary Focus Areas:
AI, Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), Customer Data Platform, CX Analytics, Data Stores, Knowledge Management, Workforce Engagement Management
Other Areas of Expertise:
Collaborative Work Management, Employee Experience, and Workplace Collaboration
About:
In her role at Metrigy, Beth conducts primary research and analysis to provide metrics-based guidance for IT, customer experience, and business decision makers. Additionally, Beth manages the firm’s multimedia thought leadership content.
With more than 30 years in the IT media and events business, Beth is a well-known industry influencer, speaker, and creator of compelling content. She brings to Metrigy a wealth of industry knowledge from her more than three decades of coverage of the rapidly changing areas of digital transformation and the digital workplace.
Most recently, Beth was with Informa Tech, where for seven years she served as program co-chair for Enterprise Connect, the leading independent conference and exhibition for the unified communications and customer experience industries, and editor in chief of the companion No Jitter media site. While with Informa Tech, Beth also oversaw the development, launch, and management of WorkSpace Connect, a multidisciplinary media site that provided thought leadership for IT, HR, and facilities/real estate managers responsible for creating collaborative, connected workplaces.
Over the years, Beth has worked at a number of other technology news organizations, including All Analytics, Network World, CommunicationsWeek, and Telephony Magazine. In these positions, she has earned more than a dozen national and regional editorial excellence awards from American Business Media, American Society of Business Press Editors, Folio.net, and others.
Beth has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and lives in Chicago.
Matt Craig
Senior Director of Product Development
About:
As Senior Director of Product Development at Metrigy, Matt Craig leads the creation of new products and solutions that deliver tangible value to clients, with a focus on AI strategy and innovation. With over a decade of experience in research and data, he brings a strong analytical foundation to the challenges of developing cutting-edge offerings in the technology intelligence space.
Matt’s career at Metrigy began in the role of Chief Data Scientist, where he built deep expertise in translating complex data into strategic insight. Prior to joining Metrigy, he served as Director of Research at the Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI), where he honed his skills in industry analysis and market research. He holds a B.S. in Economics from North Central College.
Outside of work Matt’s interests are varied. You will just as likely find him reading a new novel as building furniture or exploring new cities.
Diane Myers
Senior Research Director and Principal Analyst
Research Leader:
Customer Experience, Workplace Collaboration
Primary Focus Areas:
Contact Center, Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), Event Platforms, Session Border Controllers (SBCs), SIP Trunking & PSTN, Unified Communications (UC), and Video Conferencing
About:
In her role at Metrigy, Diane develops and manages research projects with a focus on market forecasting, market shares, and vendor benchmarking.
Diane has over 30 years of telecom industry experience and is widely regarded as a top enterprise communications and collaboration analyst. She has extensive expertise in identifying new market opportunities. Working with startups, service providers, vendors, and the investment community, Diane helps clients identify new market opportunities; provides due diligence; and advises on positioning, product development, and business plans.
Prior to Metrigy, Diane was chief analyst for enterprise collaboration at Omdia. She led Omdia’s enterprise collaboration practice with a specialization in enterprise telephony, UC, SBCs, UCaaS, SIP trunking, and the adoption trends of service providers and businesses. Previously, Diane was with IHS Markit, which she joined in December 2014 during the acquisition of Infonetics Research. IHS Markit was subsequently merged with Informa to form Omdia. Diane has held many senior-level positions at BroadSoft, Stratecast Partners, FORE Systems, In-Stat, NCR, and Eastman Kodak.
Diane received her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and her MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management. She lives with her family in Akron, Ohio.
Layne Haaksma
Senior Research Analyst
About:
As Senior Research Analyst, Layne’s primary responsibility is to oversee, analyze, and present research on Metrigy’s quarterly consumer CX index research. She also researches Workforce Engagement Management (WEM), focusing on AI’s increasingly vital role in empowering workers to improve customer experience.
Layne started as an analyst in 2024, following five years with Metrigy as a senior account executive. She began her analyst career assisting with the company’s MetriCast market forecasting and market share research program.
Before joining Metrigy, Layne spent five years in the healthcare industry. As a sales specialist at Devicor Medical Products, she sold and supported disruptive technology for breast cancer diagnostics, leveraging her technical knowledge with leading physicians in the operating room regularly. Prior to that as a territory manager for Orbit Medical, she provided durable medical equipment and home oxygen to patients.
Layne earned her Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her husband and four children, along with volunteering in children and couple’s ministries at Grace Family Church, baking custom-made cookies, and undertaking an occasional DIY project around the house in Tampa.
Elly Hertz
Senior Director of Content Marketing and Design
About:
Elly is the Senior Director of Content Marketing and Design at Metrigy, where she oversees the visual identity and promotional strategy for the firm’s research. She leads the creative process for Metrigy’s core deliverables, transforming complex data into engaging ebooks, infographics, and digital content that resonates with a professional audience.
Her role extends beyond the design studio to the front lines of Metrigy’s growth. Elly manages the brand’s social media presence and leads outreach to national media outlets, ensuring the firm’s insights gain maximum visibility. With a B.S. in Advertising and a minor in Public Relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she brings a strategic, communications-first approach to every project she touches.
Elly is based in the greater Tampa area and enjoys spending time with family and traveling in her free time.
Angela Faterkowski
Senior Account Executive
About:
Angela Faterkowski joins our team as Sr. Account Executive to assist in Metrigy’s business-developments efforts. With 23 years of sales experience, she is committed to understanding client needs thoroughly and building long-standing, trust-based relationships.
Before joining Metrigy, Angela made notable contributions at Omdia and IHS Markit, where she navigated both the technology and chemical markets. Her dedication to customer satisfaction and relationship-building makes her an invaluable asset to our organization.
Based in the Houston, TX, area, Angela enjoys spending her free time with family, or embroidering, sewing, and reading.
Robert Lazar
Research Analyst
About:
As Research Analyst, Robert assists the principal analysts in programming market research surveys covering business use of artificial intelligence, customer engagement, and employee engagement technologies. He additionally assists in validating survey formats and data for reliability and analyzing survey responses to uncover actionable data. Additionally, Robert manages website content.
Robert holds a Bachelor of Arts in European Studies from the College of William & Mary. Outside of work, he’s an avid ice hockey fan, and has a passion for European history.
Chyna Carter
Research Operations Manager
About:
In her role at Metrigy, Chyna supports the firm’s operational efficiency across project management, client services, sales support, and marketing operations. She also manages special programs including Metrigy Signals and the Expert Insights Program, and helps ensure smooth day-to-day operations for the team. Chyna brings over six years of project management experience spanning SaaS, digital marketing, and healthcare technology, with prior roles at Naylor Association Solutions, Docola Inc. and Roger West Creative & Code. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise Science from Virginia Tech and is based in Tampa, FL.
Types of Research
Benchmark Studies
MetriCast Market Share Forecasting & Vendor Rankings
Technology Reports
Custom Research
Enterprise Product Evaluation & Selection
Benchmark Studies
Buyer-side insights into technology adoption, market needs, organizational strategies, assurance and management approaches, and security, compliance, and governance methods for AI, CX, & workplace collaboration
MetriCast Market Share Forecasting & Vendor Rankings
Quarterly and annual reports and interactive workbooks providing market and vendor performance trends.
browse research
Technology Reports
Provides research-based insights on emerging market trends in AI, CX, and workplace collaboration. Designed to provide metrics-based guidance to IT leaders for decision-making and technology understanding.
Custom Research
Individualized custom research studies on specific technologies, buyer needs, and competitive landscape.
Contact us to discuss custom research
Enterprise Product Evaluation & Selection
- Request for Information (RFI) and/or Request for Proposal (RFP) with weighted scorecard analysis, designed to ensure ideal vendor and technology selection aligned with business needs
- Strategy and technology assessments, benchmarking your organization against its peers
Types of Research
Benchmark Studies
Buyer-side insights into technology adoption, market needs, organizational strategies, assurance and management approaches, and security, compliance, and governance methods for AI, CX, & workplace collaboration
MetriCast Market Share Forecasting & Vendor Rankings
Quarterly and annual reports and interactive workbooks providing market and vendor performance trends.
browse research
Technology Reports
Provides research-based insights on emerging market trends in AI, CX, and workplace collaboration. Designed to provide metrics-based guidance to IT leaders for decision-making and technology understanding.
Custom Research
Individualized custom research studies on specific technologies, buyer needs, and competitive landscape.
Contact us to discuss custom research
Enterprise Product Evaluation & Selection
- Request for Information (RFI) and/or Request for Proposal (RFP) with weighted scorecard analysis, designed to ensure ideal vendor and technology selection aligned with business needs
- Strategy and technology assessments, benchmarking your organization against its peers
Research Methodology
Metrigy’s research methodology is designed to identify not just technology trends, but the approaches that correlate with measurable success.
Our Approach Is Based On:
Working with our clients to understand their research needs and ensure alignment
Gathering global data from end-user organizations and consumers via survey and live interviews
Analyzing results to determine key trends and strategies that deliver measurable success in terms of employee and customer experience improvements, cost savings, productivity increases, and revenue gain
Applying rigorous data validation checks
Delivering insights into trends by industry, geography, and organizational size
Providing clients with custom data cuts that drill into specific areas of concern
Client Benefits:
Access validated data, correlated to meet your needs
Benchmark where you stand competitively in your products and/or technology strategy
Learn what your customers think, and how to close the gaps
Leap ahead through data-backed advice on what to do now to be prepared for the next 18 months
Upcoming Research Agenda
2026
Q3
Employee Engagement Optimization: 2026-27
Metrigy’s Employee Engagement Optimization: 2026-27 study provides insight into successful strategies for workplace collaboration in the age of AI. This study provides IT leaders with the insight they need to craft communications and collaboration strategies for 2027 and beyond.
Key technologies covered will include:
- Evolution of office space (including meeting rooms, hot desking, and reservation approaches)
- Video conferencing device strategies and meeting room evolution
- Hybrid and remote worker strategies
- Voice and video management strategies
- Space reservation and management
- Mobile and field collaboration strategies
- Virtual and augmented reality
- Employee experience platforms and communications strategies
Q3
Connected Workspaces & Collaborative Work Management: 2026-27
Connected workspaces for collaborative work management unite applications such as project and task management with knowledge bases, document repositories, and chat. The goal is to reduce the inefficiencies incurred as employees spend time hopping from one app to the next as they work throughout the day. In this study, we’ll explore how companies are implementing connected workspaces for their employees.
Topics will include:
- Applications and capabilities in use
- The role of AI and automation
- Pain points being addressed
- Deployment scope and implementation strategies
- Buying decision-maker and budgeting
- Integrations
- Efficiencies gained
Q3
Workplace Collaboration Compliance & Security Management: 2026-27
As apps and features grow, and as AI becomes an integral part of the mix, companies must ensure security and compliance for employee engagement platforms to protect data and ensure brand reputation. In this global study, we’ll provide actionable insight for successfully creating and implementing security and compliance strategies to enable maximum ROI for emerging technologies such as generative AI, bots and agents, visual engagement, and more.
Topics will include:
- Organizational strategies and budgets
- Threat identification and mitigation approaches
- Use of specialty security and compliance management tools
- Privacy management
- Investment justification in security products and solutions
- Telephony fraud protection
Q3
AI Consumer Index
Artificial intelligence is here, reshaping our world in real-time. But how do people truly feel about it? With this new tracker, we move past the simple “good or bad” debate to uncover the nuanced landscape of public sentiment.
Where do we see AI enhancing our lives and where do we draw a hard line? We will learn how people feel about and use AI now, and what they see for the near future.
Q3
CCaaS MetriRank 2026
Evaluation of top CCaaS providers across a set of fixed criteria: market share, financials, market momentum,
product mix, customer sentiment, and customer business success.
Q3
Workplace Collaboration MetriCast Study 2026
Based on a large global study with global decision makers, Metrigy analyzes buy-side purchasing plans for the upcoming year. We look at technologies in use, vendors, spending, ratings of vendors, and relative success using
them. We also examine businesses that are changing, or planning/evaluating whether to change, a vendor, what’s
driving them to leave, and which new providers they are considering.
Product/service areas include:
- UCaaS
- Premises-based PBX/UC platforms
- Video room systems
- Audio and video endpoints, including phones
- Headsets
- Enterprise SBCs
- SIP trunking
Q3
WC MetriStar 2026
MetriStar Award recognition for UCaaS, based on both customer ratings of providers and quantitative metrics
correlating the use of products and services with measurable business success, as gathered in the WC MetriCast
2026 study.
Q3
CPaaS MetriRank 2026
Evaluation of top CPaaS providers across a set of fixed criteria: market share, financials, market momentum,
product mix, customer sentiment, and customer business success.
Q3
CC+UC MetriRank 2026
Evaluation of top providers offering integrated contact center and UC across a set of fixed criteria: market share,
financials, market momentum, product mix, customer sentiment, and customer business success.
Q3
CRM MetriRank 2026
Evaluation of top 10 CRM vendors across a set of fixed criteria: market share, financials, market momentum,
product mix, customer sentiment, and customer business success.
Q3
2Q26 CX MetriCast Forecast & Market Shares
2Q market share and forecast updates across CCaaS, on-prem contact center platforms, CPaaS, and CRM.
Q3
2Q26 WC MetriCast Forecast & Market Shares
2Q market share and forecast updates across on-prem PBX, eSBCs, UCaaS (1H26 market shares), and SIP trunking
(forecast only).
Q4
CX Consumer Index
Are companies truly meeting consumer expectations—or just checking boxes? The CX Consumer Index dives deep into how consumers feel about the experiences they receive today,
revealing gaps, surprises, and opportunities for companies to redefine what excellent customer experience will look like tomorrow.
Q4
Sales & Marketing Technology to Improve CX: 2026-27
Sales, marketing, and customer service worlds have been colliding for some time—all aiming to deliver a stellar customer experience. However, the teams don’t always use integrated technologies and often operate in siloes. Here, Metrigy will examine how companies can integrate these pillars to truly improve CX, and what technologies are specifically driving success in sales and marketing.
The study will address the following:
- Adoption rates of key vendors for technologies such as CRM and martech
- The role of agentic agents in sales and marketing, and how it integrates with the contact center
- Plans and success rates of technology platform integration with AI, CRM, martech, contact center, CPaaS, and more
- The role of CRM and CDP in advanced CX applications
Q4
Workforce Engagement Management: 2026-27
Workforce engagement management (WEM) remains critical for supporting agent engagement, supervisor effectiveness, and customer experience. As WEM suites evolve with AI, digital twins, and advanced analytics, organizations can now proactively optimize workforce performance in real-time. This study explores how AI-enabled WEM tools, combined with predictive and prescriptive analytics and digital twins, enhance operational efficiency, boost employee engagement, and deliver measurable ROI.
Key topics will include:
- Intelligent scheduling
- Real-time feedback
- AI-powered virtual assistants
- Quality management
- Characteristics of high-impact WEM initiatives—highlighting where technology drives value and where gaps remain
Q4
Contact Center & Beyond: Elevating CX: 2026-27
The contact center remains the core communications platform for customer interactions, but it’s changing rapidly. Digital channels, AI applications, and analytics tools are elevating the contact center to become a CX center. But integrations with other platforms and tools, including CRM, service management, AI agents, and advanced analytics, are expanding the reach of the contact center dramatically. With the rapid change in all of technology, this study will examine the state of the contact center and its role in delivering the best possible customer experience.
The study will address the following:
- AI’s, and specifically agentic AI’s, role in the contact center and in overall CX, for customer self-service, agent assist, supervisor assist, and more
- Adoption and preferences for architecture, platforms, and integrations
- Strategies for proactive outreach and personalization, and how AI plays a role
- Adoption of workflow automations and where companies see the most value
- How companies track customer journeys and find points for optimization
- CPaaS’ role in delivering intelligent proactive experiences
- Top concerns with security and compliance, how companies are addressing them, and where AI fits into the equation
- Why companies are expanding their contact center technologies outside of the traditional use cases to areas such as field service, sales, frontline workers, and marketing
- How companies measure success and ROI for their CX strategies, and what the metrics are
- What the revised baseline KPIs are for contact center agents and supervisors as AI agents complement humans
- Who is leading CX strategy, and how is staffing changing?
Q4
CX Assurance for AI-Powered Contact Centers: 2026-27
As we covered in our Q12026 market overview report, the rapid adoption of AI-powered virtual agents is fundamentally reshaping the CX assurance market, shifting the focus from traditional test automation to validating the dynamic and often unpredictable nature of AI-driven interactions. This study will explore how companies build confidence that their AI agents are production-ready and, once deployed, that they deliver consistently accurate and relevant responses.
Topics include:
- The evolution of CX assurance tools for AI-powered CX
- Tool adoption for pre-deployment validation and post-deployment real-time monitoring
- Types of tools in use, and what’s driving the vendor decisions
- How companies are measuring success
Q4
3Q26 CX MetriCast Forecast & Market Shares
3Q market share updates across CCaaS, on-prem contact center platforms, CPaaS, and CRM.
Q4
3Q26 WC MetriCast Forecast & Market Shares
3Q market share updates across on-prem PBX and eSBCs.
*Topics and timelines subject to change.
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What’s the news?
January 20, 2026 – Crestron announced two new products for video meeting rooms. The first, Collab Compute, is a room controller running Windows OS that provides support for Microsoft Teams Rooms or Zoom Room configurations. The controller allows organizations to custom configure rooms with appropriate cameras, control panels, microphones, and screens; all connected to the Collab Compute device. Collab Compute is available in two models, the 110 featuring a 14-core processor and 4 AI performance cores with a list price of $1,920, and the 120 featuring 16 cores and 6 AI cores with a list price of $2,760.
The second announcement is the 80 Series Touch Screen for room control and room scheduling. The device runs Microsoft Device Ecosystems Platform (MDEP) to support Microsoft control and security features. The 80 Series Touch Screen will be available in Q2-2026 (pricing not disclosed). Both the Collab Compute and 80 Series Touch Screen are manageable by Crestron’s XiO Cloud provisioning, monitoring, and management platform.
What’s the news?
January 20, 2026 – Neat announced native support for Google Meet on Neat Bar Gen 2 and Neat Bar Pro video conferencing devices. Neat plans to add support for Neat Board 32, Neat Board 50, and Neat Board Pro touch screen devices later this year.
The Workplace Collaboration MetriCast 2025 study for calling and collaboration platforms shows the continued movement from on-premises infrastructure to UCaaS, defined as multitenant, cloud-based UC and telephony services. UCaaS provides businesses with more flexibility and access to the latest features and capabilities. Businesses have a few choices for their phone architecture and, given that the migration to UCaaS is rarely a 100% cutover on day one, some companies utilize more than one platform type. In our study, 32.7% of respondents indicated utilizing multiple phone system types, including UCaaS. Today, 58.6% of businesses are utilizing just UCaaS.
This report provides in-depth details on UCaaS spending, market share and forecast, and vendor selection, along with segmentation by size and global region. Highlights of the study include the following:
- The global market size for UCaaS was $21.7 billion in 2024, up 6.5% year-over-year (YoY). Metrigy forecasts the market to grow at a 4.1% CAGR from 2024 to 2029, reaching $26.5 billion by 2029. Today a little less than half of telephony seats worldwide are still on customer-owned platforms, either managed by the company or in a dedicated hosted environment, representing significant migration potential for UCaaS. The forecast has not changed since the beginning of
the year.
There are several global and regional UCaaS providers with varying levels of capabilities. Based on 1H2025 UCaaS seats, Microsoft remains the global market share leader (21.7%), followed by Cisco (15.1%), Zoom (8.8%), and RingCentral (6.4%). For 1H2025 worldwide seats grew 4.0% to 114.0 million over year-end 2024. While there were no shifts in leadership, Zoom and European-provider Gamma had the largest seat growth in the first half of the year. Other leading providers include 3CX, 8×8, AstraQom, BlueIP, Comcast, Dialpad, Evolve IP, Fusion Connect, Gamma, Google, GoTo, Intermedia, KDDI, Lumen, Nextiva, Sangoma, SK Telekom, Tele2, Verizon, Vonage, Wildex, Windstream, and others. - 31.6% of businesses use the same vendor for contact center and UC, whether they have dedicated platforms or buy as a service (UCaaS/CCaaS). The biggest value businesses find in using the same vendor is facilitating chats among agents and other employees to resolve customer issues.
- Among those using UCaaS, 41.4% have no plans to replace their primary provider. Cost is the number one reason for looking to make a change, followed by a lack of AI features and more integrations.
- We track the percentage of each provider’s customers that plan to stay with that provider, as well as the percentage that are evaluating or planning a switch to a new provider. Microsoft, Cisco, Google, and Zoom are the top providers under evaluation for businesses looking to make a change.
The Workplace Collaboration MetriCast 2025 market study shows continued decline for on-premises PBXs. For features beyond calling, businesses now typically bolt on collaboration services such as meetings and messaging from the cloud, while some continue to utilize legacy on-premises conferencing and collaboration applications. As with declining markets, the on-prem PBX business has collapsed to just a few vendors. In order of share, Cisco, Mitel, Avaya, Alcatel Lucent Enterprise (ALE), and NEC hold the bulk of the market. A few other vendors and open-source options comprise the remaining business. Of the five with on-prem PBXs, only Cisco and ALE have their own UCaaS offerings, placing them in a unique position of having the potential to keep those calling customers on their own platforms as they migrate to cloud.
This report provides in-depth details on dedicated PBX spending, market shares, market size and forecast, and vendor selection, along with segmentation by size and global region. Highlights of the study include the following:
- While the market for PBXs has been declining since 2012, it is still a billion-dollar market globally. The global market size for PBXs was $1.9 billion in 2024, down 6.6% year-over-year (YoY). Metrigy forecasts the market to decline at a 6.8% CAGR from 2024 to 2029, ending at $1.3 billion by 2029, down slightly from our original forecast. The market decline is due to the transition to UCaaS and businesses holding onto PBX assets for 20+ years, with limited reason to upgrade core telephony solutions. Metrigy measures PBX manufacturing revenue only; it does not include revenue from management systems, service, or support in the forecast.
- PBXs are deployed worldwide, but 47.2% of revenue ($874.5 million) came from North America in 2024. Companies with over 10,000 employees represent the largest spend on PBXs in 2024, at $740.0 million, or 39.9% of the total.
- Based on 2024 PBX revenue, Cisco is the global market share leader at 47.2% share, followed by Avaya (18.6%), and Mitel (17.2%).
- 3Q25 PBX revenue declined 8.8% YoY from 3Q24. For the quarter, Cisco led global PBX revenue market share with 47.1% share, followed by Avaya (18.4%) and Mitel (17.2%). Cisco recorded 17.0% YoY decline its PBX revenue in the quarter, leading the quarterly drop.
- Among companies using on-prem PBXs, only 35.9% have no plans to replace their primary vendor. Cost and lack of analytics capabilities are the top reasons for those looking to make a change, followed by lack of AI capabilities and third-party application integrations.
- The criteria that businesses value most with a PBX is platform reliability, followed by security and technical features.
