Western European Organizations Turn to the Cloud for UCaaS

Transcription

1 IDC TOP LINE Western European Organizations Turn to the Cloud for UCaaS Commissioned by: Verizon and Cisco Jason Andersson July 2015 INTRODUCTION Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is a fast-growing market that is currently disrupting existing unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) revenue streams as businesses across all segments and sizes are looking to adopt and implement collaboration solutions that deliver more efficiency, flexibility, and cost control. This IDC Top Line summarizes research published on UCaaS. IDC TOP LINE More and more organizations are demanding holistic solutions that leverage the benefits of integrating unified communications (UC) with the suite of collaboration applications available within the organizations. Therefore unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) emphasizes the increasingly important role that collaboration applications and services are playing in the market. Collaborative applications software and services provide the user interfaces, repositories, and computer logic required for individuals and groups of users to interact, coordinate tasks, and share information in real-time and non-real-time models. IDC first identified the 3rd Platform in 2007 and predicted that it would eventually become the new core of ICT market growth. The 3rd Platform is essentially a nextgeneration IT software foundation built on the four pillars of cloud computing, mobile, Big Data/analytics, and social business. It introduces new technology, architecture, and business models, and transforms the way users consume and interact with IT. In 2015, the 3rd Platform will account for a third of global ICT spending and 100% of spending growth. IDC has been tracking the impact of 3rd Platform technologies on the EMEA enterprise communications and collaboration market for several years and in this time we have seen how solutions providers have attempted to incorporate 3rd Platform products into customer solutions. Some of these efforts have been successful and some have not. This illustrates that while the overall direction of the enterprise communications and collaboration market is clear, uncertainties remain about the steps that need to be taken to translate the trend into viable business opportunities. In 2015, the 3rd Platform will account for a third of global ICT spending and 100% of spending growth. Nevertheless, the 2nd and 3rd Platform worlds are moving farther apart every day due to the innovative use of 3rd Platform technologies that were not possible on the earlier technology platforms, and it is essential for organizations to understand the boundaries between these platforms and adjust their priorities according to the platform on which a specific solution is based. July 2015, IDC #IDCTL02X

2 IT Industry Transformation Innovation in the IT industry runs in cycles of 20 to 25 years. The 3rd Platform is innovative in that it changes the architecture, business models, and application user experience from the 2nd and 1st Platforms. The 1st Platform was built on mainframe-class software technologies there were few applications and these were specialized and purpose-built for each customer. The 2nd Platform benefited from distributed systems that enabled the era of packaged software applications. Customers would acquire software via a perpetual right-to-use license, install it themselves, and begin to use the product. Compared with mainframe-class software technologies, application software in the distributed era was low cost, broadly available, and easy to use, with little or no training required. This enabled the development of mass software markets. Unlike the 2nd Platform, 3rd Platform applications will be designed for the consumer and enhanced for the enterprise. Business model success will depend on users' ease of acquisition and access, as well as the simplicity and transparency of pricing models. In addition, consumer feedback on ease of use and interoperability will be used to enhance the offerings. Unified Communications as a Service When UC&C is not hosted on the enterprise premises but delivered out of a provider's cloud infrastructure, the industry usually refers to it as UC as a service (UCaaS). UCaaS is fundamentally a cloud service dependent on an alternative solution composition, delivery, and consumption model. The cloud model goes well beyond prior online delivery approaches combining efficient use of shared resources, radically simplified "solution" packaging, self-service provisioning, highly elastic and granular scaling, flexible pricing, and broad use of Internet-standard technologies to make offerings dramatically easier and generally cheaper to consume. Over the past two years, UCaaS has become a popular term in the UC&C industry. The advent of cloud-based solutions and hosted IP telephony services has opened a new category of solutions primarily driven by the desire to improve communications and collaboration experiences while lowering costs and especially capex for communications systems. Deploying UC&C solutions with limited IT resources and little or no capex investment makes UCaaS an attractive proposition for businesses needing to access collaboration sessions from various locations and devices. Traditionally, on-premises UC&C deployments have been comparatively complex and costly to deploy, use, and manage. Also, due to the heterogeneity of various company sites equipped with UC&C, it often resulted in ambiguous processes for operating, maintaining, and provisioning the solution that were difficult to replicate and scale. However, as UCaaS solutions become more mature, businesses are able to deploy UC&C technologies through private or public cloud resources without having to invest in, deploy, or manage expensive on-premises equipment and infrastructure, effectively removing many of the barriers to adoption. Deploying UC&C solutions with limited IT resources and little or no capex investment makes UCaaS an attractive proposition IDC #IDCTL02X 2

3 In Western Europe, IDC has witnessed a strong increase in UCaaS interest from organizations investing in unified communications. In fact, both service providers (SPs) and system integrators (SIs) with local and global presence are opting in to offer the solutions directly to their customers. IDC conducted in-depth interviews with some of the main SPs in Europe to shed light on how fast this market is growing. To get a view of the (perceived) usage of UC&C technologies, we asked Western European organizations about their use of UC&C technologies within their organizations. We find that technologies commonly associated with unified communications such as audioconferencing (52.4%), instant communication and presence (47.6%), and web conferencing applications (41.5%) are used the most, but few respondents (28.3%) have integrated UC&C into a broader set of business applications. The most common UC&C delivery models in Western Europe are on premises (31.5%) and dedicated hosted environment (23.3%), but 13.8% say they have their UC&C deployed in a public cloud, 9.5% use a combination of hosted and cloud tools, and 7.4% combine cloud tools with their on-premises environments. Many of these deployments are likely to be combinations of standalone solutions added as a module to the existing UC environment. For example, we often find that web conferencing solutions are consumed through the cloud and integrated through native support, but they are not components of the broader UC&C contract. UCaaS Becoming Attractive in all Segments and Business Verticals Until recently, most UCaaS deployments originated as a result of large corporate transformational projects, and as such they were limited to multinational corporations. However, this tendency is changing, and UCaaS is expanding its addressable market across business size and industry verticals. An increasing number of UCaaS implementations will address these customer needs to rationalize and integrate different co-existing communication platforms (instant messaging, , telephony, etc.). Larger organizations realize benefits such as simplified global deployment, mobile support, and usage payment models, while enabling the smaller business segment to control the cost of their communications solutions. Larger corporations will also continue to opt for hybrid solutions, comprising both on-premises and cloud-based solutions. ESSENTIAL GUIDANCE The focus on mobile and cloud-based collaboration is in line with what IDC predicts to be among the main technologies of the 3rd Platform of the ICT industry, built on the four pillars of mobile, cloud, social business/networks, and Big Data analytics, driving innovation and growth. 13.8% of European organizations say they have their UC&C deployed in a public cloud. The movement of IT into the fabric of how organizations operate way beyond the traditional boundaries of datacenters and IT departments is by far the most dramatic aspect of the 3rd Platform. The logical conclusion of the 3rd Platform's innovation stage is the reinvention and continuous transformation of every industry on the planet. The industry is entering the most critical period yet in the 3rd Platform era: the "innovation stage," defined by an explosion of innovation and value creation on top of the 3rd Platform's cloud, mobile, social, and Big Data foundation. The innovation stage will also be driven by a new wave of core technologies innovation accelerators that radically extend the 3rd Platform's capabilities and applications. The strategy to provide collaboration via a cloud model is gaining ground rapidly, but organizations should take note of the following advice: IDC believes the 3rd Platform is not just a technology innovation platform: it is fast becoming a business innovation platform IDC #IDCTL02X 3

4 Focus on UC mobility in your UCaaS solution. Currently, 63% of employees with a license to use UC&C functionalities use smartphones as access points, but only 35% of organizations using UC&C have a formal fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) or UC mobility solution in place. This suggests an opportunity to improve user experience by integrating mobile communication features with those of a UC&C platform. Focus on business outcomes. Our research repeatedly shows that many organizations are still not familiar with how UC&C solutions can help them improve productivity and reduce costs. Our recent discussions with a number of Western European and pan-european SPs reveal that numerous businesses are considering purchasing unified UC&C from the cloud but they do not know how to build a justifiable business case to get the necessary support from C-level executives. Focus on understanding how UC&C can transform the business and generate additional usage. The main difference between acquiring an on-premises solution and an as-a-service solution is the focus on adoption. By looking at business outcomes, an organization can encourage use of the solution as it supports business process transformation enabled by new communication tools. Focus on integration and expanding usage. IDC research shows that most organizations using UC&C today have made the functionalities available to less than 25% of their staff. Also, usage rates of modular UC&C components such as contact center, enterprise social software, and communications-enabled business processes and others are fairly low. This suggests that customers should focus on adoption as well as how well integrated the UC&C solution is to existing business processes. Leverage professional services. Professional services will be instrumental in both implementing successful projects and expanding value to users. They have become close to indispensable for most customers, as shown in that only 13.8% of the organizations using UC&C do not consume any kind of professional services around the technology IDC #IDCTL02X 4

5 About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make factbased decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,100 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For 50 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. About Verizon Enterprise Solutions Verizon Enterprise Solutions (VES) helps clients improve customer experience, drive growth and business performance, and manage risk. With industry-specific solutions provided over the company's secure mobility, cloud, strategic networking, Internet of Things, and advanced communications platforms, Verizon Enterprise Solutions helps open new opportunities around the world for innovation, investment, and business transformation. Visit to learn more or follow our conversation on Twitter and in the VES LinkedIn group. About Cisco Systems Cisco is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. At Cisco, customers come first, and an integral part of our DNA is creating long-lasting customer partnerships and working with them to identify their needs and provide solutions that support their success. The concept of solutions being driven to address specific customer challenges has been with Cisco since its inception. Cisco has shaped the future of the Internet by creating unprecedented value and opportunity for our customers, employees, investors, and ecosystem partners, and has become the worldwide leader in networking transforming how people connect, communicate, and collaborate. Our current offerings fall under several categories: Switching, Routing, Service Provider Video, Collaboration, Security, Wireless, Data Centre and Services. For ongoing news, please go to

6 IDC U.K. Chiswick Tower 389 Chiswick High Road London W4 4AE, United Kingdom idc-insights-community.com Copyright Notice This IDC research document was published as part of an IDC continuous intelligence service, providing written research, analyst interactions, telebriefings, and conferences. Visit to learn more about IDC subscription and consulting services. To view a list of IDC offices worldwide, visit Please contact the IDC Hotline at , ext (or ) or sales@idc.com for information on applying the price of this document toward the purchase of an IDC service or for information on additional copies or Web rights. Copyright 2015 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved.