Hosted IP telephony is on the rise, says Ovum, and this will help fuel SME demand for software-based collaboration tools...
A growing number of small and medium-sized Australian businesses are deploying converged networks, paving the way for more widespread deployment of unified communications, says IT research firm Ovum.
In a new report, Ovum says while the pace of UC adoption remains slow, 26% of SMEs are currently using IP telephony on their premises, and an additional 15% are planning to use it in the next two years.
“In addition, 12% of SMEs are considering deploying IP telephony using a service provider’s hosted solution in the next two years,” says Claudio Castelli, a senior Ovum analyst based in Melbourne.
“This will represent almost 150% growth since the beginning of 2008 – albeit from a small base,” Castelli says.
However there are challenges ahead for providers. Most companies are still using conventional PBX systems, which indicates there is still a long way to go.
“In addition, unlike larger enterprises, SMEs are more price-sensitive and less worried about security and controlling policies,” says Castelli.
“As a result, they are more likely to adopt public VoIP services, such as Skype, instead of going to a telco”, explains Castelli, author of this research. “But we think SMEs will also consider telcos’ cloud-based communication offerings as long as they are reasonably priced and offer some level of enterprise-grade features.”
Castelli also notes that SMEs are open to deploying software elements of UC, with 35% already using IM and 33% web conferencing.
The increasing adoption of different types of communication applications is expected to produce more integrated approaches, resulting in the unification of all those services traditionally offered as separate silos. This will include offerings combining hosted telephony services with applications delivered in a SaaS model.
“This suggests that the starting point in the SMEs’ UC journey is more likely to be a software collaboration platform than a voice platform,” says Castelli.
