Unified Communications: The Next Six Years Projected
August 22, 2016
By Steve Anderson
Contributing Writer
We'd all like a little extra insight when it comes to most any technology out there, but insight—particularly accurate insight—can be hard to come by. The future is always changing, and any surprise development that comes along can derail any prediction, no matter how based on accurate data it may be. Credence Research recently offered up its own stab at insight, focusing on the unified communications (UC) market for the next six years.
What the Credence report had to offer was noteworthy by any measure, projecting a total value of $106.4 billion just by 2022. Much of that demand would come about as a result of increased demand for unified communications as a service (UCaaS), as more businesses take advantage of cloud-based systems instead of stocking infrastructure to support internal versions. Plus, an overall unfavorable business climate is driving reductions in travel budgets, which in turn means a greater demand for Web-based conferencing and collaboration tools, which is a large part of the UC market.
Already, these developments are becoming more visible. Back in 2014, on-premises UC represented about 57.8 percent of revenue in the UC market, and on-premises systems are set to continue growing and producing value in the market. However, the fastest growth won't be seen in on-premises systems, but rather in cloud-based / hosted solutions.
The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) market will represent the largest source of users in the market, currently accounting for nearly a quarter—21 percent—of use in its own right. Other users in the field particularly include the IT and telecom services market, as these companies are rapidly packaging up cloud-based solutions to offer to current customers as a means of differentiating themselves in the larger market. Even manufacturing concerns are getting involved as a means to augment current communications infrastructure.
Basically, businesses have increasingly realized that communications are indeed the way to go, and being able to better keep in touch with employees, colleagues, clients and customers is vital to the ongoing success of a business. Where this used to be accomplished with travel and face-to-face contact, increasingly, it's being accomplished with the face-to-face of a video conference or similar measures. It's still the same thing, for the most part, and now travel can be reserved for the most important clients that require that personal touch. Savings are savings, and the UC market is providing those savings while not sacrificing quality.
While the Credence report may not come out quite as expected, the idea that big gains are ahead in the market really isn't that unlikely. There are too many valuable points not to consider, and those are likely to make this market big in the near future.
Edited by Alicia Young