Australia’s cloud communications market to reach $650M by 2020 as businesses move to softphones, cloud and mobile apps

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – More Australian businesses are adopting modern communications options, including cloud services, transforming traditional voice calls into unified communications (UC), according to new research from emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte.

Most organisations (88%) have staff that use a softphone at least once a week and Skype is the most popular application, well ahead of softphone that vendors ship with their PABX systems. A further 40 per cent of organisations are evaluating docking solutions to enable mobile devices to act as a desk phone replacement while in the office.

There is also a shift in how enterprise communications services are being procured with Telsyte forecasting cloud communications – where the customer does not own or manage PABX equipment – will exceed 30 per cent penetration by 2020. This is being driven by more options from traditional telco and non-telco service providers and will represent a market value exceeding $650M.

The Australian Enterprise Communications Market Study 2015 examines the impact of emerging technologies on business communications and how organisations can prepare for future disruption.

Telsyte Senior Analyst Rodney Gedda says organisations need to find the best ways to integrate services for holistic enterprise communications that will increasingly involve mobile devices and wearables.

“Instant messaging, presence and e-mail integration are the most deployed UC applications, but Web collaboration and BYOD integration are becoming more important as organisations look to modernise their business and support next generation employees,” Gedda says.

Telsyte forecasts UC to grow strongly in 2015 as organisations look to refresh both legacy TDM and IP-based infrastructure.

“CIOs know UC can reduce costs, which is a key driver, however, UC is increasingly as a path to optimising IT and enhancing business flexibility. This indicates a marked change from communications being seen as a cost centre to more of a productivity platform.”

Less than 5 per cent of Australian enterprises are “mobile only” and don’t have fixed line infrastructure, however, these organisations can still take advantage of unified communications through fixed-mobile convergence and cloud services.

The Australian Enterprise Communications Market Study 2015 covers the key vendors and service providers in the communication and collaboration market including: AAPT, Alcatel-Lucent, Amcom, Apple, Avaya, BlackBerry, Cisco Systems, Google, LifeSize, Macquarie Telecom, Microsoft, MyNetFone, Mitel, NEC, Optus, Polycom, ShoreTel, Siemens, Telstra, TPG, UXC Connect, Vidyo and WebEx.

For further information on the study or media inquiries contact:

Rodney Gedda
Senior Analyst
Tel:  +612 9235 5891 
Email: rgedda@telsyte.com.au

For sales and consulting inquiries contact:

Foad Fadaghi
Managing Director
Tel: +612 9235 5851
Email: ffadaghi@telsyte.com.au

About The Australian Enterprise Communications Market Study 2015

The Australian Enterprise Communications Market Study 2015 is derived from primary research of 258 Australian ICT decision makers in organisations with 20 to 20,000+ employees. The comprehensive study provides subscribers with strategic insights around:

• How the enterprise communications market is growing
• Unified communications drivers and barriers
• The return on videoconferencing investments
• The growth of cloud communications

About Telsyte

Telsyte delivers strategic insights and advisory services to businesses that are producing, or are impacted by, disruptive technologies. Telsyte publishes studies into emerging consumer and business markets and provides custom research and advisory services. Telsyte is a wholly-owned independent business unit of UXC Limited. UXC is an ASX-listed Australian IT services company and the largest Australian-owned ICT consultancy firm with over 2,500 customer organisations in the private and public sectors across Australasia. www.telsyte.com.au

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