Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) has announced the release of its latest market research, ‘Latin American Web Conferencing Services Market,’ in which it finds that Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) based Web Conferencing (WC) and Real Time Collaboration (RTC) applications are gradually becoming increasingly popular in South America.

These applications are considered mission critical by Latin American companies for translating existing accounts and potential businesses into tangible real-time profit making ventures because the offerings help to significantly reduce capital and operational expenditure, increase productivity, are mobility enabled, and agile and as a result, enterprises are more than willing to invest significantly in these solutions.

The Web Conferencing and Real Time Collaboration services market, the report notes, generated more than $ 10.6 million in revenue in 2008, and is predicted to close in on $ 33 million during 2014.

"Traditionally, audio conferencing solutions comprised the preferred collaboration method in Latin America, as the friendliness of the service and affordable connection rates presented a solution that also has a small learning curve for participants," said Hugo Casiano, Research Analyst Victor, Frost & Sullivan.

"However, the integration of Web collaboration with audio conferencing and desktop video is increasing and many vendors already have an integrated product or service suite that incorporates all these mediums through the use of Internet protocol (IP)."

Although the popularity of these solutions is increasing in South America, the rate of adoption is anticipated to be slower, officials claim, than in North America and Europe. The principal reason behind this slower growth is that most customers in the region think Web Conferencing and Collaborative solutions are costlier than basic communications using VoIP and mobile handset devices.

However, companies are in the process of educating prospective customers about the significant benefits associated with SaaS, and chalking out, say officials, aggressive pricing, attractive schemes over the long term, and bundled audio and Web packages.

"Although the general climate in Latin America displays a sense of caution with regard to technology inve

tments, web conferencing vendors can leverage the current economic situation, to highlight the value add of their solutions and gain awareness," said Casiano.

"Reduced travel and increased interest in low-cost collaborative tools is expected during 2009, opening up possibilities for the deeper penetration of web conferencing services in the region."