Workflow Integrations Begin to Unlock Next-Level Value, says A Report Buyer Study

The UCC industry continues to evolve under the impact of multiple socio-economic and technology trends. Accelerating cloud communications services adoption (more than 25 percent globally) continues to stall investments in premises-based equipment. A study conducted by Report Buyer, a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers, published the Global UCC Industry Outlook 2018, recently.

In 2017, global UCC communications software and platforms revenues declined 6.2 percent from 2016, the only of three segments (software and platforms, endpoints, and services) to decline. Hosted and cloud IP telephony and UC services dominated by 39 percent share of global UCC services revenue.

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Cloud-based converged conferencing services (audio, video, web, screen share, chat, etc.) continue to take market share from standalone applications. Numerous enhancements were made to solution packaging to meet customer requirements and shorten the sales and implementation cycles.

Provider emphasis on customization and workflow integration increased as they seek to expand use cases and adoption. Total global hosted and cloud web and video conferencing revenues increased 15 percent in 2017.

User experience and customer experience are solidified as development and implementation priorities to ensure worker adoption of tools, enhanced customer loyalty and strong return on investment (ROI). Continuous enhancements across UCC segments were evident in 2017, with new IP phones, soft clients, and mobile support.

Usability features centered on integrations for single-pane-of-glass access, artificial intelligence (AI) for context and ease of use, as well as a consumer-like look and feel.Emerging productivity tools such as content collaboration and team spaces disrupt, revamp and revitalize the traditional content management segment.

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Team collaboration remained near the peak of the hype cycle.While not yet entirely replacing adjacent standalone tools, adoption is strong.

Daily active users are approaching 16 million, with net new users estimated to grow at a robust CAGR of 38 percent from 2016 to 2021.

In digital transformation initiatives more organizations integrate communications with business applications for increased agility and efficiencies afforded by customization through pervasively available WebRTC, open APIs, SDKs, and CPaaS.More organizations are moving UCC up the value chain by expanding digital transformation from network enhancement to workplace and workflow digitization.

Digital transformation through smarter networks, AI, improved user and customer experiences are driving new value propositions for UCC investments.

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This study provides a 2018 and 2019 outlook on developments in the following key areas:

• Infrastructure: Enterprise media gateways; session border controllers (SBC); voice and UC platforms; video conferencing infrastructure
• Applications: Business telephony; instant messaging and presence (IM/P); voicemail; unified messaging; audio, web, and video conferencing;
  web events (webinars, webcasts, virtual forums); team collaboration; content collaboration; desktop and mobile UC; enterprise social
  business/networking; communications platforms-as-as-service (CPaaS)
• Communications endpoints: DECT, VoWLAN, TDM, and IP desktop phones; soft clients; audio and video conferencing endpoints
• Services: Audio, web, and video conferencing; hosted IP telephony and UCaaS; team collaboration, VoIP access, and SIP trunking

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