BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - The conception of new collaborative and multitask jobs, which require secure, rapid feedback is driving the adoption of unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions across Latin America.
Some companies in the region are offering UC&C solutions purely to support their employees, who they consider valuable resources. Other companies are focusing more on the potential worker efficiency and company productivity gains and using innovative applications as incentives for internal collaboration to boost product and service quality.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Latin America Unified Communications and Collaboration Solutions Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $890.39 million in 2013 and estimates this to reach $1409.67 million in 2020. The study covers enterprise telephony as well as the fast-growing segments of unified communications and video conferencing.
"The Internet and the proliferation of mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets that offer constantly improving image, voice and sharing options are changing the way businesses communicate," said Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies Industry Analyst Valeria Goldsworthy. "Leveraging the growing Bring Your Own Device trend, market participants have made new UC&C communication applications available on most mobile devices, helping industries become more competitive in this age of the global enterprise."
However, the underdeveloped Internet protocol infrastructure and lack of 3G and 4G networks in Latin America are expected to adversely impact the market for UC&C applications. The imposition of duties and taxes on imported technology in some countries across the region will also prove to be a challenge for UC&C vendors. Further, the availability of free solutions such as Skype is restricting the use of UC&C solutions, especially among small and medium-sized businesses (SMB).
Confronted with these challenges, vendors are enlarging their coverage, starting to design solutions to serve the unique needs of several market segments, and spreading the word about the Cloud as a new hardware-less platform that reduces installation and deployment costs. In addition to these measures, vendors should be looking to offer high-quality, secure UC&C solutions at competitive prices to accelerate uptake in the SMB segment.
"Already, new UC&C solutions with low implementation and maintenance costs have reached the market," noted Goldsworthy. "Once market participants strengthen their partner ecosystem, they will be well-placed to compete with their counterparts that offer free collaborative solutions."
