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Unified Communications market 2008
06/05/08
87% of
businesses are looking to invest in Unified Communications solutions
in the near future despite fears about spending due to the credit
crunch. A survey carried out for Interactive Intelligence by
independent specialists Vanson Bourne revealed that only 13% of
those questioned said they were not considering moving towards a
Unified Communications solution.
A strong
message to come out of the survey was that individual technologies
that make up Unified Communications solutions such as VoIP and
Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) were driving this move.
VoIP was the
most popular aspect of Unified Communications, with 80% of
respondents citing it as a technology they were planning to invest
in as part of their customer service solution. In addition 41% said
they were interested in Interactive Voice Response, 31% in presence
management and 30% in Session Initiated Protocol (SIP).
Richard Brown,
VP Sales EMEA of Interactive Intelligence said, "This confirms our
longheld view at Interactive Intelligence that individually,
technologies such as VoIP and SIP can deliver huge benefits
internally to companies by improving their operations, yet when
brought together as a Unified Communications solution companies can
experience both improvements in customer service and internal
operations."
Key Findings
* Interest in
moving toward a unified communications solution was particularly
strong in the retail, distribution and transport sector, with 100%
of those questioned indicating they were considering moving towards
a Unified Communications solution.
* 50% of
businesses said that the credit crunch would not affect their
spending on Unified Communications solutions
* 58% of
respondents hoped to see the greatest gain through internal return
on investment, while a further 38% hoped to see both operational
improvements and better service quality for their customers.
* 80% of
respondents felt that offering Unified Communications rather than
managing the call centre as a separate aspect of the business would
benefit the enterprise as a whole.
Financial
Results
Although all
sectors felt that Unified Communications is of key importance, this
was particularly true of the financial services sector.
100% of
respondents in this sector said that they were looking to invest in
Unified Communications in the near future. 76% of respondents in the
financial sector thought that Unified Communications would benefit
business more than treating the call centre as a separate entity.
Brown
confirmed, "The financial services sector has always been at the
forefront of investing in new communications technologies to
continue to deliver better customer service to its clients.
Therefore it is no surprise to us as Interactive Intelligence that
as a sector they are particularly keen to invest in Unified
Communications and is in fact borne out by our recent experience."
Nick Gibson, editor
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