In terms of understanding the market opportunity presented by Unified Communications and its potential attractiveness to Cablecos, a Business Insight paper issued in 2009 estimated the market size for Unified Communications technologies is predicted to grow at a 12% CARG and reach $37.3 Billion by 2013.
The largest markets for Unified Communications are Western Europe and North America. The Western European enterprise business market can be seen as an early adopter of Unified Communications and has a better understanding of the potential return on investment.
North America is considered to be by far the single largest market for Unified Communications.
Figure 1: Telecoms Trends: Supplier Rationalization and the Move to Unified Communications [source MDS 2011, 'Connecting with Business Customers' survey, Loudhouse Research]
The Business Customer Technology Challenge
O/BSS Requirements
The challenges to exploit the business sector market are significant and Cablecos will need to present a flexible and robust solution if they are to make inroads. As a precondition to market entry, the MSO must enhance the capabilities of their existing infrastructure through the introduction of Enterprise-class O/BSS functionality, seamlessly integrating Wireless 3G/CDMA/LTE and Wireline networks for convergent offerings.
The scope of O/BSS functionality must address each step of the Order-Cash-Care value chain, ensuring a rich and seamless experience across the customer lifecycle, including:
- Multi-channel order capture for acquisition and retention activities
- Orchestration of bulk orders and service provisioning for both short-running and long-running processes, Broadband provisioning being an example of a long-running process
- Unified product inventory and number management
- Convergent rating and billing that produces a single bill for all services
- Convergent CRM that supports hierarchical account structures
- Online services that offer real-time service management and deep-dive spend analytics
- Holistic business reporting with real-time access and dashboard view
The introduction of a Unified Communications offering adds further challenges and the need for a different approach to Telecoms service delivery.
Unified Communications is not a single product, but a combination of products and services that provide users and organizations with a consistent interface experience across multiple devices and media types:
- Utility services – Network infrastructure, Customer Premises Equipment, web hosting
- Productivity tools – devices, office cells, such as Pico Cells, synchronization
- Business applications – VoIP, Conference and Collaboration, Instant Messaging, Fax to Email, document and file share
