A new report from market research firm Frost & Sullivan shows that the Latin American Web conferencing services market earned revenues of more than $10.6 million in 2008.

What’s more the report predicts that the Latin American Web conferencing services market will more than triple in by 2014, when it will reach $32.8 million.

This explosive growth can be attributed to three main factors: First, companies in the region are cutting back on travel spending in light of the global economic downturn. In turn, they are increasingly adopting Web conferencing services to fulfill the need for “live” meetings with customers, partners and prospects.

Second, companies are becoming aware that Web conferencing can be used to boost employee productivity and enhance collaboration. With hosted Web conferencing services, managers and employees can quickly set up ad-hoc live meeting between multiple workers or even groups of workers – typically with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Third, companies are also discovering that Web conferencing services cut costs in a variety of ways. Because they utilize VoIP for the audio portion, they can help companies save on telecommunications costs – especially if they do business globally and need to collaborate with partners and customers overseas. In addition, most hosted or SaaS (News - Alert)-based web conferencing services are offered on a “pay-as-you-go” model, meaning you only pay a flat (and often very competitive) monthly subscription fee for the amount of time you use the service. That means companies don’t have to make a large up-front capital investment in new software, servers or architecture – plus these services are very quick and easy to deploy.

Adding to this is the fact there has been explosion of Web conferencing services on the Internet – and this increasing competition, in turn, continues to drive down the cost of these services. This has led to increased uptake of these solutions.

"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 Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) Research Analyst Victor Hugo Casiano, in a release. "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 uptake of Web conferencing services in Latin America is gaining momentum, it is still expected to be slower than in North America or Europe, where uptake has been particularly strong, the report finds. This is mainly because there is a perception among Latin America business owners that audio conferencing delivers better value – some think of web conferencing as a relatively expensive add-on. Sustained marketing and awareness programs along with aggressive pricing, attractive schemes over the long term, and bundled audio and web packages should help in combating this challenge, the report finds.

Continuously evolving product lines, changing vendor strategies, and the growing number of web conferencing offerings with price disparity also cause confusion in the minds of customers, thus lengthening sales cycles and slowing implementation of these services.

"Although the general climate in Latin America displays a sense of caution with regard to technology investments, web conferencing vendors can leverage the current economic situation, to highlight the value add of their solutions and gain awareness," Casiano said. "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."

The report, “Latin American Web Conferencing Services Market,” is part of Frost’s “Conferencing and Collaboration Growth Partnership Service” program, which also includes research in the following markets: Latin America contact center solutions market, Latin America contact center outsourcing services market, Latin America enterprise telephony markets. Each report provides detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.