The Forrester Wave: Integrated Incident Management Platforms, Q4 2024 report reveals a market adapting to a post-pandemic reality. Leading vendors are broadening their focus to support smaller field marketing campaigns and deepening their data integration capabilities.
Four companies were named “Leaders” in the assessment: RainFocus, Cvent, SpotMe and Bizzabo. Each has unique strengths:
- RainFocus stands out for its sophisticated event capabilities and deep technology stack integration.
- Cvent retains the broadest feature set, thanks to recent acquisitions including Reposite and Splash.
- SpotMe specializes in industry-specific solutions, particularly in the life sciences sector.
- Bizzabo differentiates itself through powerful marketing and engagement capabilities.
Swoogo and vFairs earned the “Top Performer” tag, while Stova, Swapcard, RingCentral, Cisco, Splash and 6Connex were named “Contenders.”
Forrester selected 12 event management platforms based on “significant customer interest,” their ability to support live, virtual and hybrid events, and annual revenue of more than $10 million.
The results are similar to Gartner’s 2024 Magic Quadrant for Event Technology Platforms report released in March. The SpotMe platform was not evaluated by Gartner at the time, but it is now in the top four of Forrester’s report.
What this means for planners
According to the report, approximately three-quarters of event registrations were for in-person or hybrid events, confirming the strong return of in-person gatherings. Additionally, the fastest-growing segment is smaller in-person events with fewer than 200 attendees, while virtual events are becoming simpler and shorter.
The findings raise three key considerations:
- Platform selection should be consistent with your event portfolio, especially as smaller events become increasingly important.
- Data integration capabilities should be a primary consideration, not an afterthought.
- It’s critical to connect event technology with marketing and CRM systems to maximize ROI.
Prioritize data management
All of the top-performing platforms focus on maximizing the value of event data. As audience data collection becomes increasingly more restrictive, campaigns have become “perhaps the most valuable single source of zero- and first-party data.”
“Most large enterprises continue to deploy and use overlapping campaign technologies operating in functional silos,” the report states, highlighting the opportunities for consolidation that are emerging as campaign budgets remain flat or decline for most organizations.
Customer feedback is important
Forrester considers customer feedback, but it is not part of the Forrester Wave™ rankings. Bizzabo is the only company considered a favorite among customers. RainFocus and SpotMe were recognized for above-average feedback. The remaining nine did not become critical elements of the software supporting business activities. To assess customer feedback, Forrester spoke with up to three customers of each vendor and considered input from previous research.
What’s the final score?
This report helps event technology users choose the right all-in-one event management platform. It equates a company’s vision with the strength of its products. While a company’s vision is important to prospects who are, to some degree, investors, this equal weighting may not always be appropriate.
Cvent ranks highest in terms of the strength of its product, with a score of 4.56/5. RainFocus follows closely behind at 4.4. When looking at the criteria alone, both are ahead of Bizzabo (3.7), SpotMe (3.5) and Stova (3.16).
In terms of strategy, RainFocus leads with a score of 4.7, followed by Cvent with a score of 4.4. SpotMe and Swoogo followed at No. 4.
The following ranking results are based on the combined strength of product and strategy scores.
- Rain focus: 9.1
- Risk index: 8.96
- Spot: 7.5
- Bezabo: 7
- Swago: 6.6
- vFairs: 5.5
- Living room: 4.6
- Swapping cards: 4.58
- Ring center: 4.52
- Cisco: 4.48
- Splash: 3.32
- 6 connections: 3.20
Standout unique scores include “Budget Management,” where only RainFocus and Cvent received top scores. In the “Environmental Sustainability Tracking”, only RainFocus received the highest score, while SpotMe and vFairs received the lowest scores.
