CAMPBELL, CA–(Marketwire – Oct 5, 2011) – Market research firm Infonetics Research today released excerpts from its new Unified Communications: North American Enterprise Survey, which takes a look at the plans of organizations integrating multiple types of communication — IP telephony, e-mail, and instant messaging (IM) — into a unified and cohesive communication experience, commonly termed “UC.”
“Companies think of unified communications as much more than just integrating voice, e-mail, and presence/IM. Creating flexibility and improving productivity by providing employees with a set of devices that allows them to work efficiently regardless of location has become absolutely critical and a huge driver for implementing UC. Along those lines, the strong theme threaded throughout our new survey is the importance of mobility; vendors that effectively integrate mobility into their UC solution in a simple and easy-to-use manner will be best positioned for success in this market,” advises Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research.
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Microsoft received the highest marks from medium and large businesses participating in the survey, followed by Cisco, based on unified communications buyer criteria, including service and support, technology, price-to-performance ratio (value), and other criteria
- Following collaboration tools, the 2nd most important UC capability is mobile device integration
- Smartphones, tablet computers, videophones, and audio conferencing bridges are the fast-growing devices being deployed in unified communications architectures
- By 2012, 80% of survey respondents plan to use video as part of their unified communications architecture
- With higher-quality video capabilities coming out and declining costs, video is becoming a viable mechanism for enhancing employee interactions and reducing travel
For its Unified Communications survey, Infonetics surveyed 121 unified communications purchase-decision makers at medium and large enterprises that use IP telephony (VoIP), e-mail, and instant messaging. The report includes analysis and end-user responses to questions about UC communication devices and types, reasons for and against deploying UC, top criteria for choosing a UC solution, mobile and video requirements for UC deployments, importance of video communication features, and brand awareness. The report features enterprise ratings of 10 unified communications vendors: Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Avaya, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Mitel, Shoretel, Siemens, and Verizon.
