TMCnet News
Hosted Communications Solutions To Find Takers Despite The Popularity Of Premise-Based Solutions In North AmericaDUBLIN, Ireland --(Business Wire)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50457) has announced the addition of the new Frost & Sullivan Report "North American Enterprise Communication End User Trends" to their offering. This Frost & Sullivan research service titled North American Enterprise IT and Telecom Applications Trends provides vendors, service providers, resellers, and other market participants with valuable insights into numerous telecommunications end-user trends. Another major focus of the study is the timeframe of IP telephony adoption and the specific factors driving migration. It also identifies the specific reasons end users select a premises-based or hosted telephony solution. Furthermore, in this research service, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts offer perspectives on outsourcing and service/application bundling trends. Market Sectors Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research: - Telecom services - Enterprise infrastructure Technologies The following technologies are covered in this research: - Medium-sized Enterprise: An organization with 100 to 499 employees - Large Enterprise: An organization with 500 or more employees - Hardware: Includes only telecom-related hardware such as LAN/WAN equipment and CPE-based security - Outsourcing: Refers to any telecom-related tasks performed or managed by a service provider. However, it does not imply that the provider manages the entire service/network/CPE. For instance, it is likely that an enterprise customer outsource only a portion of the tasks associated with network security. - Remote Workforce: Includes telecommuters, mobile workers, and remote branch offices - Software: Includes desktop applications such as CRM and ERP - VoIP/IP Telephony: Includes premises-based as well as hosted IP voice Market Overview Hosted Communications Solutions to Find Takers despite the Popularity of Premise-based Solutions in North America Expenditure on IT and telecom applications in North America is likely to increase substantially over the next few years on the back of robust economic growth. This trend has been catalyzed by businesses growing realization of the importance of upgrading IT infrastructure to keep pace with the rapid technology evolution. Since most enterprise customers prefer to keep their IT/telecom expertise in-house due to concerns over security and loss of control of business-critical applications and solutions, premises-based solutions are likely to continue to account for the majority of business telephony deployments. However, companies are likely to seek out providers of managed services for tasks that require greater expertise in IT and telecom. Hosted telephony, on the other hand, is likely to gain a boost through the introduction of IP-based service bundles. Such solutions offer better flexibility, features, and capabilities than time division multiplexing (TDM)-based ones. Hosted solutions are likely to find their biggest customers among smaller businesses that have more limited internal IT resources. This is one of the reasons it garners considerable revenue from the financial services, real estate, legal, and healthcare verticals, where small offices are prevalent. Since most vendors focus their direct sales efforts on larger businesses, value-added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators can focus on medium-and small-sized enterprises, which can greatly benefit from their expertise and personalized attention, says Elka Popova, Industry Manager, Enterprise Solutions. An Increasing Number of Businesses Adopt IP Technologies for their Productivity and Cost Benefits The maturity of IP telephony is evident from the large percentage of businesses that is expected to adopt this technology in the next three to four years. They are attracted to this technology not only for its ability to reduce costs but also for its productivity and efficiency benefits. To a great extent, the penetration of IP telephony has so far been hindered by the notion that it is just inexpensive, notes Popova. However, converged applications and interfaces as well as the convenience of being able to manipulate settings and functions are changing its value proposition and helping it gain further traction. This trend can be leveraged by IP solution vendors to expand their customer base with effective marketing and education efforts. These campaigns should focus on IP telephony productivity enhancing benefits. Communications solution vendors and service providers offering integrated applications or service bundles are anticipated to enjoy a significant competitive advantage in the communications market. Bundling not only offers customers a convenient one-stop shop for all their telephony needs and eliminates the hassle of dealing with multiple service providers or vendors but also alleviates interoperability concerns. Offering cost-effective bundles of productivity-enhancing applications, in addition to the basic telephony capabilities, is also expected to help vendors win more customers, even though certain end-user segments are likely to prefer best-of-breed products. For more information, visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50457 |
