How the Conversation Cloud™ Earned Leader Status on Four Aspire Leaderboard Grids

By Scott Draeger, SVP of Product Marketing and Vertical Solutions 

Smart Communications is proud to see Conversation Cloud™ solutions placed in the Leader category on four distinct Aspire Leaderboard Grids in the July 2025 revision of the Aspire Leaderboard. Aspire CCS’ research recognizes early shifts in customer engagement technologies by technology capabilities, vertical industries, firmographics, location, and use cases.  

The Smart Communications team is excited to have fresh research that validates our strong market position and technology, but we’re prouder of how our customers engage with their clients every day. Visit our case study library for more on that. According to the updated vendor profile, “Smart Communications’ strategy is to empower enterprises to transform their customer communications through three core capabilities that directly impact business outcomes.”

Leadership Positions Across Four Market Categories 

Smart Communications earned leadership positions in the following categories on the Aspire Leaderboard’s July 2025 update: 

• AnyPrem CCM
• Vendor Hosted SaaS CCM
• Interaction Experience Management (IXM)
• CXP markets   

Furthermore, Smart Communications achieved a platform strength score of 97 in Vendor Hosted SaaS CCM—the highest score given to any vendor on any Aspire Leaderboard grid.  

Aspire’s scoring also reflects Smart Communications lead in Go to Market Strategy in both AnyPrem CCM and Vendor Hosted SaaS CCM, recognizing our focus on quickly solving the challenges of the highest stakes communications in highly regulated industries with leading SaaS capabilities.  

The Conversation Cloud Has Grown Since the 2024 Update 

The April acquisition of Joisto brought SmartHUB™’s powerful cloud-native archive capabilities to the Conversation Cloud in June. The addition enables our clients to seamlessly connect their communications and forms from creation to archival and retrieval and Aspire recognized this integrated approach with Leader placements in key Leaderboard grids. Check out the video below to learn more about SmartHUB:

Vendor Hosted SaaS CCM: Strong Platform Performance 

In the grid for Vendor Hosted SaaS, Smart Communications earned a platform strength score of 97. Out of 15 vendors evaluated, this represents the highest score for any vendor in any grid in this cycle of the Aspire Leaderboard. This score reflects the clear focus, maturity, and capabilities of Smart Communications’ cloud-native platform architecture.  

Smart Communications’ technology received the highest overall strategy score in this segment, supported by focused go-to-market execution. The Product and Vertical Marketing team members, including Eileen Potter for Insurance, John Zimmerer for Healthcare, Cindy Griffin for Financial Services, Sally Schulte for SmartIQ, and Chris Murphy for SmartCOMM, spend time with customers, prospects, and partners to collect data, refine use cases, and find solutions for the problems of complex communications in regulated industries.  

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Customer Success Documentation 

While Smart Communications’ investment in people contributes to Smart Communications' reputation as a reliable partner for enterprise transformation through their industry expertise and customer relationships, it also allows us to collect a lot of content. We maintain an extensive library of customer case studies and educational videos that demonstrate practical applications and business outcomes across various industry verticals, providing evidence of successful implementations. 

Our SmartIQ sample library has increased by a third since the last Aspire Leaderboard release, as more ready-to-use experiences are available for common data collection challenges across finance, insurance, and healthcare applications. Check out the video below to see how one our clients, The Bancorp, leveraged SmartIQ to reduce loan origination times by 98%, significantly enhancing the customer experience in this area: 

AnyPrem CCM: Navigating Market Evolution 

The AnyPrem CCM market reflects the present status of CCM technology as new communication applications move to the Vendor Hosted SaaS CCM market at increasing rates. As legacy technologies in the AnyPrem CCM market are decommissioned, this trend will continue to accelerate.  

Smart Communications earned Leader placement on this grid by offering a future-ready route  for organizations seeking to modernize customer and employee experiences. By providing clear migration paths away from many of the outdated technologies featured on this grid, Smart Communications empowers companies to meet the expanding needs of today’s digitally native customers as well as print-first customers. 

IXM: Advancing Interactive Experience Management 

Within the Interaction Experience Management grid, Smart Communications strengthened its position in IXM Differentiation. With a 2025 score of 67, Smart Communications broke from a four-vendor group with the same top score in 2024 to be recognized as the sole vendor with the top score in the differentiation category. Shifting to the scoring for the benefits of IXM, SmartIQ’s score of 70 represents a 40% advantage over the closest competitors, reflecting the transformational business outcomes, as demonstrated by customers like The Bancorp.