As enterprises continue to expand their global footprint, executives are searching for high tech tools to help them reign in the cost of doing business. One sector that appears to be bolstering despite the economic downturn is unified communications.

 

And companies in Asia and the Middle East, in particular, are taking advantage of the technology, a new Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) report found.

 

According to the report, UC growth in India is expected to increase at a CAGR rate of 7.9 percent between 2008 and 2015. India, the report said, is the largest buyer of UC applications.

 

With the popularity of UC, IP telephony is expected to outpace the need for traditional telephony in Sri LankaConferencingand collaboration tools applications is growing as government officials are increasingly deploying the technology, the report said. The market is expected to grow 12.2 percent at a CAGR through 2015

 

“The global economic slowdown is expected to enhance the UC growth path in the short-term,” Palani Batcha, senior research analyst, ICT practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East, said in a statement. “A few trends seen in this market are rising interest in UC applications, adoption of IP telephony, bundling of UC applications, key growth drivers namely conferencing and collaboration, and higher value proposition with integration of business processes.”

 

Conferencing solutions have grown in popularity not only for the cost savings they offer users, but their ability to help companies improve the collaborative process and boost employee productivity, The Conference Group, a provider of audio, Web and video conferencing services, said.

 

Audio conferencing lets multiple users communicate via the phone, while Web conferencing lets multiple users communicate through a computer, with the chance to share documents and participate in interactive presentations. Meanwhile, video conferencing lets participants have two-way video/audio communications between multiple parties via the Internet or dedicated network.

 

And if the past few months are any indication, conferencing solutions offered by The Conference Group (News - Alert) will likely rise again as more businesses are looking to deploy the solutions in the wake of new outbreaks of the H1N1, or so-called “swine flu” virus.

 

In a recent Insight Research report, the market for enterprise UC solutions, services and revenue was projected to grow five-fold through 2014 at a compound average growth rate of 38.7 percent. And analysts said conferencing would lead that growth.

 

 "UC spending in 2009 did not live up to my--or other analysts'--earlier predictions due to the economic downturn," Blair Pleasant (News - Alert), COMMfusion/UCStrategies principal, said at the time. "In talking with customers about their UC usage, it became clear that conferencing and collaboration has become the key to UC return on investment."

 

"The good news is that there is one bright spot and one area that will see significant increases--ironically in part due to the economic downturn," Pleasant said. "That bright spot is conferencing and collaboration."