This report uses the Function-First Tech Buying Framework to look at the contact-center-as-a-service (CCaaS) category.

Contenders Microsoft Microsoft sells Logic Apps as an Azure cloud service, with support from additional Azure services: Data Factory, Service Bus, Event Grid, and API Management. Strategy. Microsoft positions Logic Apps as an iPaaS offering that supports Azure cloud customers. It outsources professional services to partners. The partner ecosystem is large, and GSIs tell Forrester that their iPaaS partnership is strong and growing.

A wide range of enterprise software providers that support CRM, unified communications as a service (UCaaS), customer communication management (CCM), and contact center as a service (CCaaS) also partner with CPaaS providers. Hyperscalers, communication service providers (CSPs), and over the top (OTT) platforms (e.g., Meta), also bundle CPaaS APIs into their offerings (see Figure 1).

Forrester Wave™: Unified-Communications-As-A-Service Platforms, Q3 2025 This graphic plots vendors by their overall ranking, determined by current offering and strategy scores. This graphic has an associated spreadsheet that includes all data presented. Please access the spreadsheet for details. Figure 1 Forrester Wave™: Unified-Communications-As-A-Service Platforms Scorecard, Q3 2025 This table shows vendors’ criteria scores by current offering and strategy.

Forrester defines iPaaS as: A vendor-managed cloud service that simplifies and reduces the cost of developing and maintaining integrations between IT services via flow-based orchestration, a library of connectors, and data transformation. Developers use iPaaS to build integrations via visual configurations, writing little to no code. iPaaS decouples services from transport protocols and data schemas.

Broad adoption of identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) solutions from vendors such as Microsoft, Okta, OneLogin, and Ping Identity is leading to a partial transfer or partial synchronization of internal user identity information, from purely on-premises repositories such as Active Directory and LDAP to cloud repositories.

A strong services approach and successful customer adoption are additional strengths for the company. NICE’s vision is tied directly to customer service, with a focus on harnessing genAI and LLMs for internal-facing uses and moving into customer self-service over time. Capabilities. NICE is being more conservative with its approach to genAI and LLM technology.

The Components Of Unified Communications As A Service This figure shows the components of unified communications as a service: messaging, audio, phone, video, and files. This graphic has an associated spreadsheet that includes all the data presented. Please access the spreadsheet for details.

Market Definition Forrester defines contact center as a service as: A software as a service (SaaS)-based application that enables brands to manage omnichannel customer interactions with agents for sales and customer service, providing tools and capabilities that maximize agent efficiency while improving the customer experience (CX).

Within the IT culture, success ties to individual heroes who troubleshoot quickly, restore services under pressure, and are celebrated for saving the day. While this reinforces responsiveness, the emphasis stays on resolving immediate issues rather than anticipating or avoiding them altogether. Failed self-service. Positioned to reduce service desk demand, self-service adoption often falls short of expectations.