Accelerated digital transformation initiatives are compelling organizations to turn to a diverse range of UCC applications, endpoints, and services to suit their unique business communications requirements. But implementing a cohesive UCC strategy can be complex, given the intricacies of interoperability, security, compliance, scalability, and cost optimization. Further, new developments on the following fronts are complicating the efforts of UCC buyers to keep pace with industry transformation:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): The enticing benefits of enhanced user experiences (UX) achieved through automating routine tasks, harnessing predictive analytics, and employing personalizing services are tempered by data privacy, security, and governance concerns and the ability to assess return on investment (ROI).
- Workplace Evolution: Changing work styles require well-rounded strategies including modernizing office spaces to facilitate inclusive collaboration, deliver consistent UX, and flexibility to address role- and persona-based specifications.
- Cloud-Based Solutions: Effectively provisioning, managing, scaling, and securing diverse UCC infrastructure, including telephony systems, video collaboration, voice and video endpoints, content collaboration, team messaging, and third-party platform and app integrations.
- Provider and Tehcnology Selection: Identifying providers with appropriate scope of implementation, lifecycle, and support services to support the combination of reliability, security, flexibility, and robust functionality that operations, internal support staff, and the workforce require.
Moreover, to streamline UCC and simplify information management, enterprise buyers are increasingly leaning towards bundled solutions with fully integrated cloud telephony/PBX, meetings, and messaging capabilities that are bucketed under a single provider – What strategies will your technologists employ to ensure that your organization’s UCC solutions portfolio remains aligned with changing customer needs?
Revealed: Investment Plans and Purchasing Preferences of Global UCC Buyers
Frost & Sullivan finds that:
- Communications reporting and analytics software, cloud call recording and archiving, and business mobile voice and data services rank highest as UCC investment priorities for global information technology decision-makers (ITDMs).
- A combined 75% of ITDMs expect budget increases ranging from 7%-12% in the funds allocated for UCC technology investments in 2024.
- Security and reliability consistently rank among the top overall UCC solution selection factors, followed by scalability, compliance, and interoperability.
Which tools will help you analyze changing UCC preferences and investment strategies to build a robust growth pipeline?
Navigating Technology Challenges in UCC
As we advance into the digital future, unified communications will be pivotal in enhancing collaboration and efficiency within enterprises, fundamentally transforming business interactions. Now, the successful implementation of UCC systems presents the following technical challenges across different regions:
- North America and APAC: Security concerns; inability to scale with existing IT/communications solutions; and privacy/compliance concerns.
- Europe: Providing omni-channel customer experience; supporting remote/hybrid work; and inability to scale with existing IT/communications solutions.
- LATAM: Systems integration; managing multi-vendor solutions; security concerns; and privacy/compliance concerns.
Additionally, with remote work and decentralized teams solidifying as the norm, businesses feel the pressure to rapidly improve employee engagement, network reliability, and multi-channel collaboration. This makes it crucial for providers to support their enterprise buyers with tailored, customer-centric regional strategies to boost UCC adoption – How will you identify and implement technology best practices in UCC to help your customers thwart these challenges?
Harnessing Evolving Customer Perceptions to Capitalize on New Growth Opportunities
Today, the shift towards more flexible, intelligent, and integrated UCC is catalyzed by disruptive technologies, new business models, and transformative megatrends. This implies that providers who differentiate themselves with rapid innovation and a comprehensive suite of UCC services will find themselves well positioned to capitalize on emerging growth opportunities such as:
- Equipping Frontline Workers: Tapping into industry white spaces by addressing the unique needs of frontline workers, with a combination of verticalized and role-based UCC tools.
- Delivering AI-Powered UCC Capabilities: Embedding AI into UCC solutions to improve knowledge management, quality of work, customer/workforce analytics, and security/compliance, thereby reducing the risk of human error.
- Enabling “Anywhere Anytime” Access with Mobile UCC: Developing robust mobility features (desktop/web/mobile soft clients, native mobile dialer solutions, and mobile voice/data services) to accelerate workflow digitization.
- Developing Programmable Communications Solutions: Empowering developers to seamlessly integrate voice, video, chat, and messaging functionalities into business applications and workflows through open application programming interfaces (APIs).
- Capitalizing on Actionable Data: Helping customers transform the wealth of data generated from UCC software and endpoints into actionable information by leveraging customer analytics, workforce analytics, and infrastructure analytics.
Are your teams equipped to identify, analyze, and capitalize on the most lucrative growth opportunities in the UCC ecosystem?
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the growth pipeline company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class industry positioning in terms of innovation and leadership. The company’s ‘Growth Pipeline-as-a-Service’ provides corporate management teams with transformational strategies and best-practice models that catalyze growth opportunity generation, evaluation, and implementation. Let us coach you on your transformational journey, while we actively support you in fostering collaborative initiatives within the global UCC ecosystem. This journey is fueled by four powerful components, ensuring your success in navigating dynamic business and industry landscapes.
- Schedule a Growth Dialog with our team to dive deeper into transformational strategies and explore specific needs within your company.
- Become a Frost Growth Expert in your area of specialization and share your expertise and passion with the community through our think tanks.
- Join Frost & Sullivan’s Growth Council and become an integral member of a dynamic community focused on identifying growth opportunities and addressing critical challenges that influence industries.
- Designate your company as a Companies to Action to maximize your exposure to investors, new M&A opportunities, and other growth prospects.
