Riverbed Recognized in the 2026 Gartner® Critical Capabilities for Digital Employee Experience Management Tools
- By Colleen Marinelli
- 17-Jun-2026
In the 2026 Gartner® Critical Capabilities for Digital Employee Experience Management Tools report, Riverbed was ranked #2 across every category, including IT support, endpoint operations, experience analytics, employee enablement, and cost optimization, along with consistent year-over-year score improvement.
We believe these results highlight the continued evolution of Riverbed’s platform—combining deep visibility, advanced analytics, and automation to address the most critical DEX challenges enterprises face today.
Our Performance Across Key Use Cases
The 2026 Critical Capabilities report evaluates DEX tools across five primary use cases, including IT support, endpoint operations, experience analytics, employee enablement, and cost optimization.
We believe Riverbed demonstrated broad strength and balanced performance across all categories, including:
- Cost Optimization (highest scoring use case): Supporting more efficient endpoint management and lifecycle decisions through data-driven insights
- IT Support: Enabling faster issue resolution and improved support outcomes through enhanced visibility and automation
- Endpoint Operations: Driving operational efficiency across complex endpoint environments
- Experience Analysis and Employee Enablement: Providing actionable insights into digital experience across users, applications, and devices
We feel these results reflect a platform designed to support both operational efficiency and improved employee experience across enterprise environments.
Our Perspective on Year-Over-Year Improvement
In 2026, Riverbed demonstrated year-over-year improvement across all evaluated use cases and the majority of capability areas.
We believe these results demonstrate sustained investment in the platform and continued progress across the full DEX lifecycle—from visibility to action.
A Platform Approach to DEX
As organizations evolve beyond point solutions, the ability to unify data, insights, and action across endpoints, network, applications, and infrastructure is becoming increasingly important.
Riverbed’s approach combines:
- 360° visibility across endpoints, application, and network performance
- Advanced analytics and AI-driven insights
- Automation and workflow integration to act on those insights
This platform approach enables organizations to move beyond isolated monitoring toward continuous optimization of digital experience at scale.
Why We Believe Critical Capabilities Matters
“Gartner Magic Quadrant research methodology provides a graphical competitive positioning of four types of technology providers in fast-growing markets: Leaders, Visionaries, Niche Players and Challengers. As companion research, Gartner Critical Capabilities notes provide deeper insight into the capability and suitability of providers’ IT products and services based on specific or customized use cases.”*
Together, these perspectives help IT and digital workplace leaders:
- Better understand how solutions perform in real-world scenarios
- Align product capabilities to business priorities
- Make more informed technology decisions
Learn More
Want to see how leading organizations are turning DEX insights into action?
Register for our 360° Digital Experience webinar to hear perspectives from industry analysts, Riverbed leaders, and customers – and learn how to detect issues earlier, act faster, and deliver zero disruption at scale.
*Gartner, Gartner Magic Quadrant & Critical Capabilities, https://www.gartner.com/en/research/magic-quadrant
Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Digital Employee Experience Management Tools, Stuart Downes, Dan Wilson, Robin Milton-Schonemann
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