The FINANCIAL — According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) H2 2014 APJ Collaboration and Video Tracker, Indian Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) market in H2 2014 was nearly flat (-0.1%) as compared to H2 2013, however, the market showed a decent growth of 6.3% over H1 2014.
With the government initiatives for decreasing the digital divide and increasing financial inclusion on the cards, the UC&C spending is expected to grow from various verticals (directly or indirectly) going forward. At the same time, the increasing adoption of software-based unified solutions is chipping away the share of their hardware-based counterparts, as demand is gravitating towards more vendor-independent infrastructure.
Key Market Segments:
The Enterprise Telephony sub-market in India witnessed the highest decline in UC&C market, with -7.9% decline year on year. However, the segment witnessed a considerable growth of 4.7% over H1 2014. The market during H2 2014 marginally recovered due to the uptake of Pure IP Telephony (Pure IP PBX, IP Phones and Voice Gateways). With the same shift from traditional telephony such as PBX/Key systems and AD phones to IP based telephony, the share of the former segment is on a declining trend.
The Enterprise Collaboration market in India witnessed growth during H2 2015 as compared to the market year-on-year. With the increasing demand for work force optimization and interaction, the segments such as mobility, unified messaging, social media, web & voice conferencing and team collaboration have become more important than ever. Further, the increasing penetration of BYOD (i.e. Bring your own device) is driving the growth in Mobility and conferencing solutions. Room based video solutions still remain to be an elite category with more and more desktop and mobility video solutions carving niche in the market.
The Contact Center market in India saw a decline of -2.3% in H2 2014 as compared to H2 2013. The segment is very much dependent for growth on the new announcements by the government and expansions/plans by the Telecom operators. Though still in nascent stage, the cloud based contact centre solutions, are seeing traction across the enterprises, big or small, with the advantages of low initial expenditure. Upcoming verticals like e-commerce, Healthcare and Hospitality along with traditional ones are expected to drive future investments.
Suman Bisht, Market Analyst – Enterprise Networking and UC&C says, “The success in market is attributed to a blend of technology, partner ecosystem, cost competence with marketing. A pro-business environment, inexorable demand for data and need for smart devices have become the cardinal points for the telcos and the enterprises that is pushing them to invest more in infrastructure. The increasing demands for workforce mobility, and optimization has taken a pivotal position for the CXOs, projecting a growth in the market.”
Gaurav Sharma, Research Manager – Enterprise comments, ” With the advent of 3rd platform based solutions (Ex: UC as a Service), UC&C spending is all set to see an incremental growth. New partnerships and alliances with regional and local players will define the next wave of UC&C investments and market shares in India in the coming quarters.”
IDC India Forecast:
Adoption of UC solutions in SMBs is sure to boost incremental revenues in the coming quarters along with the traditional verticals. Government initiatives and increasing adoption of III platform by the enterprises is pushing the need for smart network solutions that can sustain the growth of unstructured network traffic. Upcoming verticals like e-commerce, healthcare and hospitality along with traditional ones are expected to drive future investments. UCaaS is also expected to gain traction as anytime/anywhere access to the technology with relatively low CAPEX and OPEX (as compared to traditional solutions) would find interest from the market.
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