IDC Predicts that IP Contact Centers and Conferencing Applications will form the Bulk of Unified Communications Applications Market from 2007-2011

Singapore and Hong Kong, Dec 06, 2007 – According to IDC’s upcoming study Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) Unified Communications Forecast and Analysis Update, Q207, the unified communications applications revenue in the region will grow from US$448 million in 2007 to US$844 million in 2011 at 17% CAGR.

"Currently, IP contact center forms the largest share of UC applications spending. During the latter part of the forecast period, conferencing applications revenues will outperform other UC applications as enterprises get serious about improving collaboration in the region. In Q2 2007, instant messaging revenue saw the highest growth over the previous quarter," says Shalini Verma, Senior Analyst for IDC’s Asia/Pacific Telecommunications Research.

The current growth is fueled by the adoption of IP telephony in the government, banking and financial services, and services industry verticals, as well as greenfield projects in emerging markets. These industries are also likely to be the early adopters of unified communications applications including cutting edge applications such as video conferencing. Reducing the cost of communication remains the top priority of IT managers in the region, as enterprises in Asia/Pacific assimilate into the global business environment.

UC solutions require integration of existing and newer applications with IP telephony or email, in a multi-vendor environment, which will result in higher cost of implementation services. Enterprises in emerging markets deploying communication applications from scratch may deploy UC from a single vendor, lowering the cost of integration services. For the mid market, UC solutions will largely need to move towards a plug and play approach.

Lines of business will steadily start to demand technologies that enhance collaboration. There is currently a significant confusion about what UC solutions bring to the lines of business. Vendors have recognized this issue and are devoting their marketing activities to showcase their solutions and encourage early adopters to articulate the early benefits gained from deploying UC.

As the UC vendors' activities gained momentum, the enterprise market witnessed a sustained effort by the UC suppliers in terms of product launches and promotions. While the industry grapples with the definition of UC, IDC's coming study provides market forecast and vendor shares for Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) unified communications applications revenue. This tracker contains a 5-year forecast for unified communications applications revenue, which includes revenues for unified messaging, instant messaging, voice and web conferencing, video conferencing and IP contact center. It also includes vendor shares for each of the applications segments for 2006 as well as Q1 and Q2 of 2007.

Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Unified Communications Applications Revenue Share by Segments 2007

Note: IDC predicts that the growth of Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) unified communications applications revenue in 2008 will be 23%.
Source: IDC, Nov 2007

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