UC market in APAC is yet to grow: Springboard

[Libby]

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Unified Communications Adoptions is facing hurdles in Asia Pacific region, says a study by IT market research and advisory firm Springboard Research.

The latest research findings announced today by Springboard Research revealed that the Unified Communications (UC) market in Asia Pacific is still in the very early stages of development and faces many challenges.

The findings, part of Springboard's latest report titled "Unified Communications in Asia Pacific: Key Trends and Market Insights," point out that few organizations are aware of unified communications solutions or how their disparate communications tools or systems can be synchronized, said a press release.

According to Springboard, Unified Communications refers to the integration of disparate communications systems (wired and wireless telephone systems), devices (PC and phones) and applications (email, instant messaging, and calendar applications, as well as audio, video, and web conferencing).

These systems, devices, and applications are all integrated on a single platform accessible through a single phone number or Internet address, and not limited to a communication device or tool.

The report's findings are based on a survey of 469 CIOs, IT managers and business managers at over 400 large and SMB enterprises in Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, the release said.

"There is a definite disparity in the value of Unified Communications as perceived by different organizations," said Ravi Shekhar Pandey, research manager, Springboard Research.

"In large enterprises, the IT departments view unified communications as an evolution in convergence that organizations must adopt, while SMBs are more concerned about improving communications and finding solutions to their business problems, and therefore are paying less attention to unified communications."

Springboard said that 21 per cent of survey participants have deployed unified communications solutions and companies with more than 500 employees are the leading adopters. China leads the region in adoption with 35 per cent of Chinese respondents affirming to having deployed a UC solution, the release said

The findings also revealed that the organizations in Australia and India are more likely to deploy UC over the next 12 months than anywhere else in the region.

Pandey reiterated that a significant number of companies are planning to purchase VoIP solutions over the next 12 months.

They believe that, UC would accelerate adoption in the region as VoIP is an important aspect of unified communications and once a VoIP system is in place, organizations would be more inclined to unify communication in their organization, he said.

The report also brings to light low user satisfaction with Unified Communications, with only 13 per cent of survey respondents using UC terming their experience 'very satisfying'. A high percentage of respondents are 'somewhat satisfied', the release added.

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