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More Than Half of US Businesses Have Yet to Adopt Unified Communications According to New Report

November 08, 2019

By Juhi Fadia, Correspondent

According to Grand View Research, the global Unified Communications (UC) market size was valued at USD 56.33 billion in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of 16.8% from 2019 to 2025.


Along with other industry analyst firms, including Gartner, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan, IDC and independent analysts, Grand View sees continued growth in the UC market, one they define as solutions that “help organizations provide their employees with real-time access to services such as conferencing, data sharing, messaging, and phone communications from several devices, thereby improving streamlining business processes.”

“Large enterprises have witnessed rapid adoption of Unified Communication-as-a-Service (UCaaS) platform, a cloud delivery model that combines multiple channels of communication such as voice, text, chat, and e-mail, thereby offering a bundled solution,” Grand View also wrote, claiming UCaaS bundles have proven to be cost-effective as compared to deploying a single UC solution, saying also “The increasing need to reduce enterprise overhead costs and need to eliminate purchase of standalone systems have propelled the market over the past few years.”

Even as analysts cover the market, some companies who provide UC services are conducting their own surveys, including Mitel and Ribbon. Ribbon this week made a new announcement saying they will reveal the key findings from the North American results of its Unified Communications (UC) Market Insights survey during a roadshow in six major cities in the U.S and Canada from November 12 - 21, 2019, kicking off in Toronto, Canada.

The Ribbon UC Market Insights survey asked technology decision makers representing nearly 1,300 companies in North America about their UC purchasing habits and plans. Key findings from the North America survey revealed that 51% of large companies (more than 1,000 employees) and nearly 75% of smaller companies have yet to make the investment in UC technology. Of the companies that have yet to invest in UC, nearly 64% plan to do so within the next two years.

“The North American data is consistent with the overall global findings from the survey and reinforces the significant opportunity the UC market presents over the next few years,” said John Macario, Senior Vice President of Channel Marketing for Ribbon. “Our extensive experience in delivering carrier-grade Unified Communications solutions to our global customer base makes us well-positioned to capitalize on the sizeable UC digital transformation that the survey data suggests will take place.”

The research takes a comprehensive look into the purchase drivers and buying behaviors of companies ranging from small businesses with fewer than 20 employees to large enterprises with over 1,000 employees. The data shows the survey respondent’s views on UC, their preferred deployment models and the type of service providers they plan to look to when adopting UC.

Macario added, “One of the really interesting findings in the North American results is that, despite the movement of many business applications to the cloud, 40% of the respondents said they preferred a premises-based solution, followed by 30% who preferred a cloud or hosted model and 25% being open to either premises or cloud. The roadshow will detail the rationale behind the preferences and uncover more illuminating insights.”

Other Key Findings Include:

  • Those organizations who have already adopted UC services purchased them from traditional providers (34%), IT services providers (13%), cable providers (13%), equipment providers (13%), Over-the-Top providers (10%), mobile providers (6%), competitive providers (6%), and phone resellers (5%).
  • Those companies who have yet to adopt UC services plan to purchase them from traditional providers (17%), mobile providers (16%), cable providers (13%), equipment providers (13%), IT services providers (12%), Over-the-Top providers (10%), phone resellers (10%) and competitive providers (9%).
  • Sixty two percent of respondents have been the victim of an IP-based (robocalling, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), toll fraud, etc.) hack attempt.

The North American tour follows two roadshows in the Europe and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions earlier this year. Ribbon will be joined by executives from Poly in each city and will provide attendees with access to industry experts from both organizations during each of the half-day events. Following the Toronto event, the roadshow will continue to Reston, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; and San Jose, California.


Juhi Fadia is an engineer, analyst, researcher and writer covering advanced and emerging technologies.

Edited by Maurice Nagle

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