The Australian unified communications services market is expected to double its value from 2013 to 2020, during which it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2%, according to Frost & Sullivan.
This is the forecast despite overall market growth rates declining from previous years due to uncertainty over economic conditions and the impact of Federal elections on business.
Frost & Sullivan's latest report on the Australian market notes that as organizations look for greater flexibility from their UC infrastructures, demand for hosted and cloud based UC solutions as well as managed services for UC will increase.
This shift in demand from on-premise based solutions towards third-party hosted UC solutions will be one of the key drivers for growth.
With the prevalence of trends such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Activity Based Working (ABW), the ability to collaborate and access applications from any location and any device is becoming imperative.
Telstra, Dimension Data and NEC are the major players in the Australian UC services market and possess strong vendor partnerships and the necessary reach in the local market to drive growth. While these service providers will continue to be the key players in the market, a number of global telcos and local service providers are strengthening their presence.
For example, BT has been experiencing strong growth based on its conferencing and contact centre solutions and is expected to pose a greater competitive threat to the established players. Verizon and Orange Business Services (OBS) are also increasing their footprint in Australia.
Local telcos such as Amcom and Optus are also building their respective portfolios to address the growing demand in the UC services market. In the next few years, competition in the overall UC services market will intensify, forcing service providers to differentiate their service capabilities to gain competitive advantage.