Almost a year since Microsoft changed its enterprise UC solution from Lync to “Skype for Business”, we’re looking at the impact that the organisation has had on the UC market. The name change helped to outline the value of the consumerisation attempt in B2B IT, but up until now it’s been difficult to ascertain what the update has meant for partners of Microsoft, and the UC community.
So, let’s examine the concept in closer detail.
The Impact on the European UC Market
Since the update to “Skype for Business” rolled across the Microsoft landscape, UC device shipments have increased significantly. If you combine the change in interest with the fact that Skype for Business can be obtained through Office 365, it’s easy to see how Microsoft has opened the UC engine to an entirely new market. Today, partners of the company are seeing huge changes in the number of customers enquiring about Skype for Business integration. According to the director Microsoft Alliance EMEA for Polycom, Charlie James, the move has been positive for IT network managers in search of “easy integration and successful adoption of their solutions.”
The Change for Microsoft Partners
The Microsoft launch was bound to have some impact on the market accessed by common Microsoft technology partners, and the companies working with the organisations are now focusing on new ways to meet the expectations and needs of their end-users. Primarily, companies like Polycom are introducing new solutions, like centre-of-the-room options that allow for a simpler user interface. For partners of Microsoft, it seems that staying on top of the changing platform is all about searching for easier solutions for collaboration and integration that allow customers to expand their usability across their entire enterprise. Largely, Microsoft partners are benefitting from access to customers who want to incorporate Skype into their system, but struggle to integrate natively. Polycom and other vendors can offer video options that make Skype work for the masses.
Simply put, despite the challenge, Skype for Business has opened an entirely new market for Microsoft partners. While Skype might have been traditionally been seen as a threat for these vendors, the truth is that it actually seems to be helping them to offer a more diverse range of portfolio solutions for the European UC market. In other words, Skype for Business is helping to eliminate barriers to previously unused market sectors.
Unique Enterprise Solutions
These days, the average end-user just wants things to work. When they schedule a meeting, or send invitations from an Outlook account, they integrate with Skype for Business, and since they have other technologies in place too they want to make sure that everything runs smoothly together. The truth is that BYOD isn’t an upcoming trend anymore, it’s something that represents an essential part of business. As such, partners that integrate with Microsoft Skype for Business have a chance to offer something critical to the market.
Overall, in 2015, the EMEA UC addressable market was estimated to reach $11.4 billion by the end of 2015. However, by the close of 2023, it’s expected that the UC communications market will have expanded to a value of $96 billion. Obviously, growth is coming, and this growth is being driven hugely by a new emphasis on cloud-based solutions that offer both scalability and flexibility. Enterprises and SMEs want to be able to adopt the parts of the cloud that most appeal to them, without being restricted to packages.
Many of the partners working with Microsoft at this time have indicated their excitement for the future and their pride of being a part of the development of new and ground-breaking technologies. Innovations are coming from all sides, and as partners deliver expertise in HD video and audio, Microsoft offer the versatility and familiarity that companies to move into the cloud.
