Research by MDS indicates that 75% of IT and telecommunications decision-makers plan to transition to a Unified Communications (UC) infrastructure within the next 12 months. This presents a significant opportunity for operators seeking new revenue streams from the business market.
However, 61% of those surveyed say they are uncertain about the concrete value UC will deliver to their organizations. This uncertainty suggests operators need to do more to validate UC’s benefits and present clearer, more compelling propositions that make the business case easier to evaluate and justify.
Positively for operators, 93% of respondents consider IT and communications services sourced from the same provider to be valuable. Still, 57% felt that increasing convergence between IT and telecoms complicates reviewing their current telecoms infrastructure. In other words, convergence is attractive but can make decision-making and evaluation harder.
There is a clear disconnect: decision-makers see potential in UC yet struggle to justify the expense. Equally apparent is a gap between what operators communicate about UC and what businesses need to hear. Many operators are not effectively articulating UC’s value, and they must evolve their sales, marketing and delivery models to present a transparent, integrated proposition for enterprise customers.
Market research from The Radicati Group projected that the UC market would grow from $4 billion in 2011 to $7.7 billion by 2015, underlining UC’s role as a lucrative revenue opportunity. Given this outlook, operators are uniquely positioned to capitalize by combining IT and communications capabilities—but only if they act decisively.
Until now, the precise scale of the opportunity and the specific actions required to validate UC investments have been unclear. The new findings underline that many businesses—particularly small and medium-sized enterprises—want IT and communications packaged together, yet operators often fail to present a clear, compelling integrated customer experience.
Operators must cut through competing messages and deliver simple, effective UC solutions. The market rewards clarity and ease of adoption: straightforward UC offerings will be more attractive to enterprises and more likely to convert interest into purchases.
To succeed, operators should develop clear propositions that emphasize UC’s tangible benefits: improved collaboration, streamlined management, cost predictability, and simplified vendor relationships. As cloud-based services and consumption-driven business models continue to reshape the landscape, communications and IT are converging further—creating an ideal environment for bundled UC packages tailored to enterprise needs.
Education is also essential. Operators need to invest in helping the enterprise market understand how unified services work, the realistic return on investment, and the steps required for a successful migration. By delivering clear messaging, demonstrable value, and an integrated delivery experience, operators can meet the evident appetite among businesses for unified IT and communications and convert it into sustainable revenue.
In short, the UC opportunity is real and growing. Operators that simplify their offerings, clarify the business benefits, and support enterprises through the adoption process will be best placed to capture this market and turn convergence into a competitive advantage.