The market for Unified Communications is in a constant state of flux as new trends and development push for evolutions in the industry. Vendors are consolidating, service providers are gradually moving towards the Clouds, and customers are on the look-out for partners that can help them to achieve the best success in a digitally-transforming world.
Since there seems to be no single, established pace for every country in today’s UC space, we spoke to leading consulting and research company Cavell, about how they think the market is evolving. Dominic Black, Senior Market Analyst at Cavell Group, provided his insights in a brief international overview.
How Is the Market Changing Internationally?
Starting from a European perspective, Dominic told me that different countries are currently moving at different paces. For instance, the UK and Dutch markets are making the move to cloud communications, with a lot of focus on PBX replacements. On the other hand, the Nordic markets are very mobile-focused, and there’s a lot of interesting developments happening around the potential of mobile.
“Where we’re really seeing Growth markets emerge is around France, Germany, and Italy. All these spaces are primed for exceptional growth – particularly Germany as it embraces the “All IP” strategy with Deutsche Telecom. Italy also has a great deal of opportunity around it, but it’s been held back by a lack of affordable, and reliable access – something that we think SD-Wan has the power to overcome.”
Black noted that SD-WAN will be important across the board when it comes to helping service providers deliver new cloud communication services in spaces that were inaccessible before.
How Important is Consolidation?
Consolidation has been a significant trend for UC in the last year or so. Dominic noted that many US vendors are beginning to move into the UK with new partnerships and cross-border transactions, something that the Cavell group expects to see more of in the future. For instance, Star2Star and BlueFace completed their merger at the beginning of this year.
“Being able to provide an international service is becoming more important. There are countless providers emerging in the UC space, and there’s going to have to be some consolidation if new companies want to thrive.”
Not only does size matter in today’s market, but Dominic also noted that as the communications space becomes more diverse, consolidation will become a necessary part of offering end-to-end services. “As people continue to look for more than just voice, providers will join to pool their development capabilities.”
Are There Any Countries “Stuck” With Legacy Platforms?
Black suggested that the current marketplace still needs greater education when it comes to cloud computing. As the industry evolves, better awareness will help to pave the way for better services.
From a vendor perspective, Dominic said that he believes anyone moving from a PBX world into a Cloud-computing format is going to have some difficulty making the transition. The move from a CapEX to an OpEX model is always going to be complex, and it can also be difficult to transition resellers from PBXs to Cloud solutions.
“Legacy resellers are still focused on selling the PBX, and until vendor resellers really embrace the OpEX model, they’re going to want to stick with those traditional systems.”
Getting Ahead in the International Market
According to Dominic and the Cavell group, the key to getting ahead in the international UC space is all about recognising what your “USP” is.
“Brands need to think about their specialty and what they can offer to the consumer.”
If organisations can combine a unique service offering, with the right size to span multiple countries at once, and a powerful go-to-market strategy, then they should be able to weather the storm of confusion and change that arrives alongside digital transformation (DX).
