The Unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) market has been experiencing tremendous growth in the Asia-Pacific region and is expected to remain so till 2018, helped by strong growth in verticals that have highly mobile workforces, says Frost & Sullivan, including the high tech, professional services, logistics, travel and hospitality services sectors.
The UCaaS market is defined as an integrated communications and collaboration environment that combines or unifies voice, video and text communications delivered through hosted, cloud, and managed services. In Asia Pacific, UCaaS market is expected to grow from US$1.67 billion in 2013 to US$2.98 billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 12.4%.
"The necessity of having a highly mobile workforce aided by the increased usage of UCaaS solutions delivered through hosted/ cloud and managed platforms has been a boon for enterprise mobile collaboration in the Asia-Pacific region," says Jessie Yu, Industry Manager, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific. "Enterprises are also actively looking to integrate UC (Unified Communications) applications to reduce costs and complexities, and offer greater flexibility for their operations."
The telephony services segment is the most widely adopted market, and it is likely to maintain its prominence in the future. Although the audio conferencing services segment has matured, it is expected to remain an important segment throughout the forecast period. Mobility, video-as-a-service (VaaS), web conferencing and cloud contact centre services are expected to be the key growth service segments during the forecast period.
In order to capitalise on the growth opportunities, the service providers are strengthening their service offerings. Frost & Sullivan has evaluated the top 10 service providers in the Asia Pacific region and assessed them using the Frost Industry Quotient (Frost IQ) matrix, a proprietary Frost & Sullivan vendor assessment tool that captures the merits and challenges faced by technology vendors in their respective segments and geographies. The tool aims to provide key decision makers with a localised yet objective perspective of the industry by dividing service providers into four categories: champions, challengers, defenders and explorers.
In the Frost IQ for Asia-Pacific Unified Communications-as-a-Service Providers 2014, Telstra, InterCall and NTT Communications have been positioned in the champions' quadrant, based on a combination of market share performance and future growth strategies as determined by Frost & Sullivan research studies. In total, the top three vendors accounted for approximately 25% of the revenue generated in the segment, helped by strong partnerships as well as investments in new UCaaS technology.
Frost & Sullivan recognises the efforts made by BT, Orange Business Services, Verizon, China Telecom, Tata Communications and AT&T in the market and has placed them into the Challenger quadrant. These providers have set up the necessary infrastructure to deliver a full suite of UCaaS solutions to both large and SMB customers and are expected to move to the champions quadrant subjected to their success in acquiring new customers.
Despite the dominant position of the top three service providers, many local service providers are steadily emerging in the Asia Pacific region. This includes SingTel, which also features in the Frost IQ.
The evolution and convergence of ICT have blurred the lines of various communication platforms such as voice, video, and data. In light of this convergence, various participants in the UCaaS market, such as telecom operators, pure-play service providers or system integrators are gradually establishing their compelling positions in the marketplace with respective service offerings and targeted customer segments.
"Key challenges include the ability to offer feasible and sustainable business model, telecommunication regulatory barriers in some developing countries, and the increasing competition," cautions Yu.
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