Unified Messaging and Communications Markets Set to Grow as Customers Acknowledge their Benefits

Frost: Although early adopters have seen the benefits of integrated and unified messaging (UM) it is yet to penetrate the mass market in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Next-generation messaging that incorporates real-time communication is the next big thing in these markets. The need for convergence has created a paradigm shift that focuses on a unified domain instead of silo-based architecture. This is likely to boost revenues in these markets.The EMEA Unified Messaging and Communication Markets, earned revenues of €613.3 million in 2005 and estimates this to reach €1,539.5 million in 2012.

The IP telephony infrastructure market is forcing vendors to deliver on their promises on productivity benefits; thus forcing suppliers to integrate messaging and collaboration tools in their offering. In recent years, applications such as UM and unified communication (UC) have become increasingly important due to the need for saving cost beyond toll bypass.

As IP telecommunications is visible in the mainstream market, there is an increasing demand for unifying the silo-based communication infrastructures to lead to the emergence of a unified domain. The current year being a full cycle of replacement is expected to boost adoption for UM/UC; thereby help create the unified domain at the application/device layer. A majority of multinational enterprises have reached a consensus that the long-term platform for voice and data communications is IP and are deploying Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The convergence of voice and data traffic through IP will enable large-scale implementations of value-added services such as UM/UC. This shift towards IP-based services will increase the likelihood of UM and UC being implemented in the long term.

Although awareness of UM has grown substantially over the last 12 months, educating people on its function and benefits is the biggest challenge faced by both vendors and service providers. There is also a lack of awareness about the availability and benefits of UC services. Service providers have not marketed these services to end users aggressively enough. An increase in marketing activities such as advertising, seminars and exhibitions will help in overcoming this challenge.

Another obstacle undermining the growth of these markets is the lack of successful business case studies highlighting the use of UM/UC, thus making it very difficult to justify the business cases for these solutions. As a result, a majority of end users in the corporate environment have very low awareness of successful UM implementations, especially within their own sectors. UM and UC vendors need to invest significantly in educating end users and also work closely with service providers in developing the market. In addition to marketing activities, vendors also need to partner and co-market solutions to raise awareness of successful implementations among end users. These strategies are bound to increase customer awareness of the availability and benefits of UM/UC, thus driving market growth.

EMEA Unified Messaging and Communication Markets is part of the Wireless and Mobile Subscription and evaluates the unified messaging communications markets in the region. EMEA Unified Messaging and Communication Markets

Publ 20060425