2020 Predictions: What’s Next for UCaaS Resellers?

Looking to the future of UCaaS with Mitel

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Mitel 2020 Ucaas Predictions
Unified Communications

Published: November 15, 2019

Rob Scott

Rob Scott

Publisher

The UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) market is evolving at an incredible pace. According to Transparency Market Research, the industry will reach a value of $79.3 billion by the year 2024, driven by a variety of factors like new technologies, updated reseller models, and exciting opportunities in the cloud.

As 2020 draws closer, we’re left to wonder which trends will be the most significant for the UCaaS environment in the months to come. Already, we’ve seen significant evidence that the marketplace is changing, focusing more heavily on consolidation, partnerships, and new go-to-market strategies. Avaya’s partnership with RingCentral this year highlighted the potential for older legacy companies to step into the future through collaborations with innovative cloud-based brands.

All the while, resellers and service partners are exploring new ways of adding value to their offerings in a space where the competition is fiercer than ever. I spoke to Rami Houbby, Vice President for Cloud Sales (EMEA & APAC), at Mitel, one of the market leaders in the UCaaS environment, for his top predictions for 2020.

1.    The Rapid Adoption of Cloud Communications

Rami Houbby
Rami Houbby

UCaaS and the scalability of the cloud strategy have garnered a lot of attention in the marketplace in recent years. Unified Communications as a Service gives companies the option to offer low-cost flexible solutions for calling, messaging, and other communication services. Not only does UCaaS give companies the power to bring their stacks of communication tools together into a unified platform, it also offers an opportunity to unlock the benefits of cloud too.

In the reseller, vendor, and end-user environment, the cloud has emerged as one of the most vital tools in digital transformation. Cloud technology enables organisations to shift the responsibility for technology management to a cloud provider while taking advantage of billing models that allow them to pay only for what they use. According to Nemertes research, 19.1% of companies are using UCaaS for their calling needs, while another 12.2% of companies operate on hybrid environments that combine UCaaS with on-premises and hosted options.

In 2020, we’re sure to see the demand for cloud continue to grow, and with it, the rapid of adoption of UCaaS will increase.

2.    The Transformation of the Partner Model

As strategies for communication continue to evolve, the partner and reseller strategies embraced by companies today are changing too. In the past, UC vendors have built their brand on top of the crucial partnerships that they held with members of their channel. However, some companies, like Cisco and Microsoft are beginning to re-evaluate their relationships with resellers going forward. Self-service eCommerce solutions are allowing some vendors to deliver cloud-based solutions to customers without any need for reseller input.

End users in the communication landscape are seeing an opportunity to purchase all the services that they need online. However, this means that resellers need to rethink the way that the bring value to the go-to-market strategy. Partners will need to start thinking about how they can present themselves as a value-added component in the sales experience. Rather than just giving customers the same selection of products and services that they can get anywhere else, resellers will need to look for new ways to enhance their offering through specialist services, unique customer packages, and exciting additions to the UCaaS solution.

Some resellers are beginning to explore the concept of the master agent model, where partners can focus more heavily on things like marketing and sales, while the vendor handles things like provisioning and closing deals. This could be a fantastic opportunity for resellers who want to explore opportunities for growth in a world where self-service and eCommerce options are becoming more available but who want to work with vendors who are committed to a channel-only model.

3.    Completing the Portfolio

Just as customer expectations have evolved in recent years, the needs of users in the communication environment have transformed too. There’s more to Unified Communications than bringing voice tools into a centralised environment. Resellers need a way to offer their customers a broad range of full-fat UC, offering everything from cloud calling, to collaboration service, customer engagement tools and even contact centre solutions.

In 2020, resellers will need to ask themselves how they’re going to deliver the full-fat UC offering that their customers need. Will they be looking to a single provider to offer everything they need in a single environment? Or, could it be a better idea for today’s resellers to explore the opportunities offered by combining multiple offerings in a multi-vendor environment.

SIP-centric offerings with APIs and opportunities for customisation are becoming increasingly popular, particularly a time when companies are struggling to find the comprehensive solution that they need for innovation and growth from a single provider.

4.    Embracing the Open Platform

The rapid consolidation and development that is happening in the UCaaS market have meant that many resellers and partners offering UCaaS solutions are coalescing around a similar set of functionalities. However, as the UCaaS space continues to mature, resellers will need to find a way of differentiating their offerings if they want to gain a competitive environment. Because of this, a new generation of UCaaS platforms have started to emerge, powered by open technology like multi-application integrations and APIs.

Today resellers can build customised environments for their end users. These new and improved communication stacks avoid the need to rip and replace old technology, by allowing users to build future technology on top of existing processes. At the same time, resellers can open platforms to ensure that they’re always able to offer the latest range of intelligent features and tools to their customers.

Open platforms and APIs allow partners and customers to integrate the UCaaS features that they need into a stack that suits them. Companies can access things like click to call from within Customer Relationship Management platforms, or immersive video conferencing from within a collaboration tool.

5.    AI-Powered Communications

The growth of solutions like SDKs, APIs, and CPaaS also means that the potential of UCaaS will continue to grow going forward. Resellers and service partners will have the opportunity to consistently build out their stacks with exciting new offerings and services. For instance, AI and machine learning capabilities can be integrated within the entire UCaaS feature set, offering end-users access to everything from virtual assistants, to intelligent chatbots and predictive analytics. These intelligent integrations will have the power to make internal and external communication more immersive and valuable going forward.

With AI and APIs, resellers will have another opportunity to stand out from the crowd in the modern environment. However, these solutions will only be useful if partners connect with the right vendor. The vendors that resellers partner with need to be prepared to allow for immersive integrations, open platforms, and future growth so that resellers can continue to expand their offerings for an ever-changing marketplace.

The UCaaS Market is Growing

It’s clear to see that the UCaaS market, like many environments in the communication industry today, is in a rapid state of transformation. Resellers will need to think carefully about how they plan to embrace the technologies of the future, and which vendors will help them to achieve their goals as they move forward into 2020. The right vendor/reseller partnership will be built on a shared go-to-market strategy that supports the needs of the partner today and in the future.

 

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