Unified communications and collaboration market to grow at 12%

Unified communications (which primarily include voice, video and messaging based communications) and collaboration market in India is registering healthy growth year-over-year. India unified communications and collaboration market is buoyed by several factors such as growing demand for better communication models, increasing penetration of internet and growing awareness among several end user industries. Growth in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and demand from various verticals are also driving the growth of the market.

According to 6Wresearch, India unified communications and collaboration market is anticipated to record CAGR of 12% during 2017-23. Video based unified communications segment captured highest revenue share in 2016 followed by voice, message and others. Video based unified communications including video chats and conferencing (multiparty VC, desktop VC etc.) is gaining popularity. In terms of verticals, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) registered highest contribution in unified communications and collaboration market followed by education, government & public utilities and others.

According to Prijo Samuel, Senior Research Analyst, Research and Consulting, 6Wresearch: “With growing adaptation for IP based technology, IP telephony is expected to dominate in voice based communication market. Over the past few years, there has been continuous growth in IP telephony segment due to factors such as flexibility, low operating expenses and portability. As far as technology is concerned, video based communication system is gaining acceptance from several end user verticals over voice based communication.

“Using video conference as a tool is now becoming a trend across various verticals such as commercial offices, IT industries, government agencies and others. For business communications, numerous video conferencing tools such as Skype (by Microsoft), Google Hangout, etc. are popularly used.”

According to Nikunj Shrivastava, Research Associate, Research and Consulting, 6Wresearch: “Demand for unified communication models are arriving from major verticals such as BFSI, education, healthcare, and commercial offices. BFSI being the early adopters of unified communication has highest share in the market. However, education and healthcare verticals are also posting huge potential in the market.

"Additionally, using various communication technologies such as video conferencing, voice conferencing, instant messaging and mobility to provide an added advantage to the users. Also, with rising number of messaging applications instant messaging market is estimated to capture a huge chunk over the coming years.”

According to Suman Gautam, Research Associate, Research and Consulting, 6Wresearch: “Unified communications has changed the way how business communicates, enabling real time collaboration through remote locations. With government initiatives towards Digital India and growing fibre networks across India resulting in improved internet penetration, unified communication tools are witnessing immense growth in the country.

"With ease of usage and cost effectiveness of unified communication solutions, young entrepreneurs are deploying these tools within their businesses to achieve better ROIs. Further, with growing trend of E-Learning in the country, education vertical is projected to register highest growth in the coming years."

Major companies in India unified communications and collaboration market include- Cisco, Tata Communications, Avaya, AGC Networks, Wipro and PeopleLink.