Only Large & Medium Enterprises Opt For UC

In a recent survey by Ovum with multinational corporations (MNCs), it was
detected despite fierce budget constraints, they are upping the pace of unified
communications (UC) implementation and integration. UC rollout has progressed
painfully slowly in these huge organizations, but many individual UC
applications are now deployed, with a strong focus on video in the coming year.
Extending to mobile devices is a priority for many. According to the Ovum
survey, Email and IM are the most commonly deployed applications on handheld
devices today. There is particular interest in telephony presence features;
click-to-call from mobile applications; and single voicemail, single number and
simultaneous ringing for fixed and mobile. Many companies plan to use dual-mode
(GSM/Wi-Fi) devices. There is least interest in extending video applications to
mobile devices. "More than 40 percent have a global IPT strategy including a
roadmap for implementation throughout the company or group," said Pauline
Trotter, Principal Analyst, Ovum. The dominant model is to have a global IPT
strategy but with implementation requiring business case authority at business
unit level, according to the unit's individual needs and budgets. wth is
predicted, with around half of the interviewed sample expecting to be using some
mobile extensions within a year.

SP Speak

The above survey, which was only carried within MNCs, only reiterates the
very fact that UC has, till now, dominated the enterprise space, but small and
medium-sized businesses (SMBs) haven't really experimented with it. S Nautiyal
of Spark Technologies, one of the solution providers in India offering UC
services, explained that it is mainly the large and medium enterprises that seek
to implement UC solutions in India today. "The awareness about UC solutions is
on the rise in most emerging IT nations across the globe and India is no
exception. However, the adoption is still in its nascent stages in small and
medium enterprises (SMEs)."

Agreeing with him, Kedar Shah of Nirmal Datacomm elaborated that his
customers are mainly from the corporate sector and large organizations such as
Times of India. "India is slowly realizing the potential of UC, but the thought
hasn't crossed the minds of SMBs as yet. The reason for this is very simple.
Most SMBs are not geared towards high-tech solutions. Small companies do not
have technical bandwidth to implement UC solutions and more so, maintain it."

Both SPs were in agreement that SMBs have the same communication pain points
as enterprises, but the SMB has fewer resources, which has delayed the traction
of UC. Whether using Skype on smartphones, installing in-house IP PBXs or using
web conferencing services, SMBs are signaling their desire to utilize all
available communications and collaboration solutions, but they SMBs are not
familiar with the notion of UC, nor are they aware of the various platforms
being cobbled together through acquisitions in the IT space. What SMBs need and
are willing to pay for today are easy-to-use point solutions that can help them
enhance their business communications and collaboration skills at little cost
and without requiring heavy IT support.

Madhura Mukherjee

madhurak@cybermedia.co.in