ISG Research is happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well software providers’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Conversational AI for CX: ISG Research Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by ISG Research.
The digital transition to artificial intelligence-enabled (AI) software is transforming
ISG Research defines conversational AI as a method that enables workers to engage using human language, enhancing interactions through natural language processing (NLP), LLMs, and GPT to answer questions, gain insights and take actions. Conversational AI assists or guides workers and customers in accessing precise information that is typically not easily accessible. It enables interactions and immediate responses, providing personalized engagement and support through a variety of online channels via chatbots and virtual assistants.
This consumer- and customer-facing software operates standalone or integrated with a contact center or customer service system, supporting members of the workforce as human agents handle escalated interactions. The integration of conversational AI with agentic and generative AI platforms has now become a foundational requirement for enterprises to support the workforce effectively.
Conversational AI has experienced significant advancements since the 1950s, evolving from simple, text-based interactions like ELIZA to sophisticated systems that maximize AI and machine learning. In the 1990s, the introduction of voice recognition technologies enabled simpler engagements, followed by a shift in the 2000s to AI-driven NLP, which improved the understanding of context and intent in conversations. The rise of consumer virtual assistants like Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa over a decade ago demonstrated the potential for generalized interactions.
Today, conversational AI for the workforce capitalizes on a new generation of AI capabilities to revolutionize business processes and interactions across the workforce and with consumers. The transformation to natural, human-like dialogue—powered by NLP, machine
Enterprises need conversational AI for CX to enable intelligent engagement and operational efficiency through accurate natural language understanding and personalized interactions that yield meaningful answers. As conversational AI becomes more sophisticated, it is essential that it can draw knowledge from across business processes and organizational information to provide valuable insights. Moreover, explicit guidance is necessary to enhance productivity and ensure that the use cases and organizational changes required for success align with incremental investments.
For enterprises to succeed with conversational AI, it is crucial to integrate the technology into applications and systems to ensure that knowledge is easily accessible to the workforce. This integration will facilitate interactions with consumers and customers, allowing them to access information efficiently and engage meaningfully. Additionally, conversational AI for CX software must address the growing demands for privacy and security, as well as digital sovereignty across different countries and regions. As the adoption of conversational AI increases, the need for enhanced performance and responsiveness will scale alongside the importance of ensuring robust security and governance of the enterprise's information.
This Conversational AI for CX research aims to help enterprises navigate the rapidly evolving and complex landscape of communication and collaboration technologies, identifying software that best meets specific organizational CX requirements. This comprehensive research evaluates a full spectrum of offerings and can be used in conjunction with research on collaborative AI platforms, suites and AI agents. Unlike separate evaluations that focus on individual software categories, this research specifically explores how these technologies integrate to create unified digital workspaces that enhance productivity and engagement.
Enterprises should view conversational AI for CX as a strategic investment that enhances worker efficiency and transforms productivity in unexpected ways. When evaluating software providers, buyers should prioritize applications that seamlessly integrate interactions with consumers and customers into the digital workplace and support daily activities. It is important to consider the provider's innovation roadmap, especially regarding integration with agentic AI and AI agents to perform tasks and generate outcomes. By selecting the right conversational AI for CX software, enterprises can establish a cohesive foundation that simplifies workflows and interactions for the workforce. Additionally, organizations should focus on developing new AI-infused digital experiences to achieve long-term communication excellence in an increasingly complex and regulated digital environment.
The ISG Buyers Guide™ for Conversational AI for CX evaluates software providers and products in key areas, including platform support, intelligence and workflow, agentic AI, analytics and insights, AI overall, communication administration and integration and specific AI support with conversational AI. The research evaluates the following software providers offering products that address key elements of conversational AI for CX as we define them: [24]7.ai, 8x8, Avaya, Cisco, CM.com, Dialpad, Genesys, Google, Gupshup, Infobip, IntelePeer, LivePerson, NiCE, OpenText, Pega, RingCentral, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Sinch, Sprinklr, Talkdesk, Tata Communications, Tencent Cloud, Twilio, Verint, Vonage, Yellow.ai, Zendesk, Zenvia and Zoom.
This research-based index evaluates the full business and information technology value of conversational AI for CX software offerings. We encourage you to learn more about our Buyers Guide and its effectiveness as a provider selection and RFI/RFP tool.
We urge organizations to do a thorough job of evaluating conversational AI for CX offerings in this Buyers Guide as both the results of our in-depth analysis of these software providers and as an evaluation methodology. The Buyers Guide can be used to evaluate existing suppliers, plus provides evaluation criteria for new projects. Using it can shorten the cycle time for an RFP and the definition of an RFI.
The Buyers Guide for Conversational AI for CX in 2025 finds NiCE first on the list, followed by ServiceNow and Salesforce.
Software providers that rated in the top three of any category ﹘ including the product and customer experience dimensions ﹘ earn the designation of Leader.
The Leaders in Product Experience are:
The Leaders in Customer Experience are:
The Leaders across any of the seven categories are:
The overall performance chart provides a visual representation of how providers rate across product and customer experience. Software providers with products scoring higher in a weighted rating of the five product experience categories place farther to the right. The combination of ratings for the two customer experience categories determines their placement on the vertical axis. As a result, providers that place closer to the upper-right are “exemplary” and rated higher than those closer to the lower-left and identified as providers of “merit.” Software providers that excelled at customer experience over product experience have an “assurance” rating, and those excelling instead in product experience have an “innovative” rating.
Note that close provider scores should not be taken to imply that the packages evaluated are functionally identical or equally well-suited for use by every enterprise or process. Although there is a high degree of commonality in how organizations handle conversational AI for CX, there are many idiosyncrasies and differences that can make one provider’s offering a better fit than another.
ISG Research has made every effort to encompass in this Buyers Guide the overall product and customer experience from our conversational AI for CX blueprint, which we believe reflects what a well-crafted RFP should contain. Even so, there may be additional areas that affect which software provider and products best fit an enterprise’s particular requirements. Therefore, while this research is complete as it stands, utilizing it in your own organizational context is critical to ensure that products deliver the highest level of support for your projects.
You can find more details on our community as well as on our expertise in the research for this Buyers Guide.