Unified Communications Market

The global unified communications market was valued at USD 76.72 Billion in 2020 and is projected to register a substantial CAGR during the forecast period, 2021 – 2028. The growth of the market is attributed to the increasing purchasing power of consumers in developing countries and the expanding demand for integrated communication system from various industries.

Unified communications (UC) refer to a connection system which incorporates several communication methods in a business. A business organization may communicate with its employees, clients, and other company representatives using various methods such as phone calls, email, SMS, instant messaging, video conferencing, fax, and others. The UC solutions support enterprises to offer their employees with a real-time access to services including data sharing, messaging, phone communications from various devices, and conferencing, which in turn, enhance the streamlining processes of a business.

The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) with UC solutions has significantly helped the enterprises to achieve their digital transformation objective. Increasing implementation of AI and machine learning (ML) in the communication sector are offering various opportunities for team collaboration, which in turn, helps to extend supporting machine to machine communication. The method in which organizations manage their workflows are being continuously changed by the implementation of AI; for instance, AI is progressively switching an organization’s voice calls with virtual assistants and bots.

Enlarged implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) is helping the organizations to incorporate devices and data with the analytical IoT tools, which is resulting in an independent work environment. For instance, if a business meeting is about to be held in an enterprise’s meeting room, sensors can track the room and provide information about factors such as the number of attendees, systems used, and the length of meeting. For determining the right mix of video and non-video-based meeting rooms and also for optimizing room spending, such statistics can be useful for organizations.

Market Trends, Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

• Growing requirement to eliminate organization overhead costs as well as the requirement to reduce the buying of standalone systems are driving the unified communications market growth.
• Expanding demand for UCaaS from both SMEs and large enterprises is boosting the market growth.
• Rising trends toward mobility and bring your own device (BYOD) is expected to boost the market growth in the coming years.
• Several players offer various unified communication solutions, but the inter-operability among them can be a major concern since no player can offer all facilities and resources which fall under the unified communication heading. Such factors may hinder the market growth during the analysis period.
• Various innovations in ML, AI, and other developing technologies are presenting numerous opportunities for the market expansion.

Scope of the Report

The report on the global unified communications market includes an assessment of the market, trends, segments, and regional markets. Overview and dynamics have also been included in the report.

Global Unified Communications Market Segment Insights

On-premises segment is expected to dominate the market

Based on products, the market is bifurcated into on-premises and hosted. The on-premises segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period owing to the increasing demand for on-premises solutions due to the large initial investments and rising implementation of cloud-based solutions.

On the other hand, the hosted segment is anticipated to register a considerable CAGR in the coming years owing to the increasing implementation of cloud-based solutions in enterprises, to offer easy to manage and consistent telephony services to several office locations in various countries. The cloud-based UC provides better team collaboration by permitting users to access applications on a real time basis.

Enterprise segment is anticipated to account for a high revenue share

On the basis of applications, the market is divided into classified into healthcare, government, enterprises, and education. The enterprise segment is anticipated to account for a high revenue share during the analysis period, owing to the growing adoption of UC across organizations to provide communication tools, web conferencing, and collaboration portals. Several enterprises are moving towards people-focused work style from document-focused work style to enhance their development.

On the other hand, the healthcare segment is estimated to register a substantial growth rate due to the increasing requirement for clinical teams to access information from remote locations and the requirement for enhancing safety of the patients. The UC system has significantly helped healthcare sector by providing consultation services to the medical professionals through video conferencing and for collaborating with the colleagues.

SMEs segment is projected to account for a high revenue share

Based on organization sizes, the market is bifurcated into SMEs and large enterprises. The SMEs segment is projected to register a high revenue share of the market in the coming years owing to the significantly increasing implementation of UC solution in SMEs. In account to adopt the cloud-based UC platforms on a short-term contract basis, the accessibility of limited budget to implement combined UC platform in SMEs has supported them to primarily test and validate the advantages of this product type.

Factors such as developing new workflow patterns, increasing collaboration using virtual teams, improving business process, and eliminating human latency times are key drivers helping SMEs, thus, pushing to strategically transitioning to unified communications.

Instant & unified messaging segment is expected to constitute a large revenue share

On the basis of solutions, the market is segmented into IP telephony, instant & unified messaging, and audio & video conferencing. The instant & unified messaging segment is expected to constitute a large revenue share during the analysis years owing to their increasing implementation of the technology solution in the organizations to gain benefits such as accessing a combination of voice mail, fax, and e-mail messaging solutions in a single bundle.

This solution can be accessed with the help of user’s telephone, mobile device, or computer. On the other hand, the video conferencing segment is projected to expand at a robust CAGR owing to the rising requirement for visual communication in organizations. Video conferencing helps an organization in communicating with colleagues live from the remote locations, which help improve the teamwork and business relationships in overall industries.

North America is anticipated to dominate the market

In terms of regions, the global unified communications market is categorized as Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. North America is anticipated to dominate the market during the forecast period owing to the increasing adoption rate of innovative technologies in the U.S. The existence of numerous major players and enlarged adoption of BYOD solutions are some of the major factors driving the regional growth.

Meanwhile, the market in Asia Pacific is projected to expand at a high CAGR owing to the rising trend of mobilization in organizations. The expanding awareness about eliminating costs and demand for collaborations among enterprises due to wide establishment of industries are further contributing to the regional market growth. To enable an effective collaboration and communication, several sectors including banking and financial services (BFS), logistics, telecom, hospitality, and outsourcing (BPO) are moving towards unified communications. 

Segments

The global unified communications market has been segmented based on

Products

• On-premises
• Hosted

Applications

• Healthcare
• Government
• Enterprises
• Education

Organization Sizes

• SMEs
• Large Enterprises

Solutions

• IP Telephony
• Instant & Unified Messaging
• Audio & Video Conferencing

Regions

• Asia Pacific
• North America
• Latin America
• Europe
• Middle East & Africa

Key Players

• Siemens Enterprise Communications
• Polycom
• NEC Corporation
• Microsoft Corporation
• IBM Corporation
• Huawei Technologies
• Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Alcatel-Lucent

Competitive Landscape

Some key players competing in the global unified communications market include Siemens Enterprise Communications; Polycom, NEC Corporation; Microsoft Corporation; IBM Corporation; Huawei Technologies, Cisco Systems, Inc.; and Alcatel-Lucent.

These leading market players are using strategies including mergers, acquisition, partnerships, new launches, collaborations, and product development to build their strong position in the market. The R&D and innovation are the key strategies widely adopted by major players to enhance their competitive position in the market. These market players are providing numerous cloud-based solutions including data management, voice and video conferencing, and instant messaging (IM), to meet the increasing demand for flexible office spaces. This may help the employees to share and access the information remotely.

For instance, in July 2019, Cisco acquired Acacia Communications Inc. for USD 2.6 billion. This acquisition was likely to provide the former company a competitive edge in the field of optical component technology as well as complement the purchases of Ensoft Ltd., a software solutions company, and Singularity Networks, Inc., that offers technology for processing of data. In October 2020, ALE, a France-based national exhibition company, announced to acquire the French pavilion at the Expo 2020 Exhibition in Dubai, along with the partnership with Cofrex. Based on the theme of ‘Lights and Light’, the pavilion was aimed at strengthening France’s position in cultural, scientific, and industrial leadership. As a technological partner, ALE provided the 4,700 square meter event space with the networking and communication solutions to ensure all visitors were able to connect their devices quickly and securely.