January 25, 2012
ITEXPO Speaker: The Dynamics Within the Unified Communications and Collaboration Market
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor
Technology advancements throughout the last year have created new opportunities, new jobs and a new dynamic within a competitive market. In anticipation of its ITEXPO East 2012 event, TMC (News - Alert) talked with David Yedwab with Market Strategy and Analytics Partners, LLC. When asked the most significant technological advancement in 2011, Yedwab pointed to three: BYOD/mobility; collaboration/social and the cloud.
As for the biggest trend in his market segment, Yedwab highlighted that many have finally recognized that technology is the easy part of the adoption of Unified Communications (
News -
Alert) and Collaboration.
When asked how his company is helping customers to face their biggest challenge, he stressed that Market Strategy and Analytics Partners will work with solution delivery organizations to help in the development of their Go-to-Market strategies to address challenges expressed by vendors, providers and channels within the UC&C space.
He also believes the cloud has contributed to a slower uptake of solutions. TMC wanted to know if cloud-based communications will expedite the end of the premises-based PBX (News - Alert) market.
Yedwab emphatically stressed that the process to select the right delivery method will exist for many years to come. When asked about the possibility of Microsoft (News 
- Alert) dominance in the enterprise mobile market, Yedwab admitted the company offers value, but will likely not reach its once enjoyed dominance.
At ITEXPO (News - Alert), Yedwab and colleagues will be moderating sessions covering a number of issues impacting decision makers and vendors today – E-SBCs, Cloud vs. Premise, Enterprise 2.0 and more. In his prediction for 2012, Yedwab expects to see verticals having a much bigger impact.
The entire conversation follows:
What was the most significant technological advancement in the past 12 months and why?
Hard to pick one – maybe three:
-
BYOD/mobility – mobile devices are continuing to change how people communicate – almost daily and this change is forcing Enterprise IT departments to “open up” their access controls and support for BYOD and consumerization;
-
Collaboration/Social – finally the adoption of VoIP, IPT and SIP is taking off driven by new collaboration capabilities/needs of users and the rapid emergence of Social capabilities into enterprises – another “consumerization” phenomenon
-
Cloud – a persistent volume about and movements around cloud that may change how IT is delivered in the future – happening mostly in smaller businesses and startups but may grow to ubiquity.
What has been the biggest trend in your market segment and how is it impacting your customers?
A recognition by many that the technology is really the easy part of UC&C adoption because the business processes must change to make the solutions truly valuable and that changing methods of deployment, delivery and management are leading to more complexity and this perception may drive cloud faster.
What is the biggest challenge facing your customers today and how is your company helping address that challenge?
How do the vendors/providers/channels in the UC&C space adopt to the new selling environment where more than IT needs to be addressed – LOBs, CFOs, desktop and applications groups and other CXOs – are all part of the decision making. We work with the solution delivery organizations to assist them in developing their Go-to-Market strategies to more effectively address the enormous changes being faced by their potential customers and competition from a broader set of players.
How has Cloud impacted your business? How has it impacted your customers?
To date, I think Cloud has contributed to the slower uptake of solutions as it means that alternative deployment strategies, migration, network capability and many other factors are driving more complexity and slower decision making.
Will Cloud-based communications expedite the end of the premises-based PBX market?
No, having lived through and sold both for and against the prior cloud generation offering – CENTREX – I believe that there the decisions about whether to go to cloud or not will penetrate up from small to larger businesses and that hybrid cloud/on-premises solutions will co-exist for many years – the business, financial and technology capability decisions will be made individually as we will have a multiplicity of choices.
With Microsoft touting tight integration between its mobile and desktop OS, can it become a major competitor in the enterprise mobile market?
Microsoft is certainly flexing all of its wings in the mobile and desktop spaces as well as cloud and UC&C. Its solutions will certainly be a major contender for many leveraging its desktop dominance, while it lasts, into a significant position in the future. Not sure if will ever be as dominant again as was in the Windows/Office era.
What can attendees expect from your company at ITEXPO?
We will be moderating sessions covering many of the issues impacting the decisions users and vendors are making today – “E-SBCs: Handling Users, Applications and Enterprise Networks (DOUBLE SESSION)”, “Triumphs and Pitfalls: Hosted, Cloud or On-Premise?” and “Enterprise 2.0 Technologies and Architectures: A Critical Review”, as well as attending other sessions and many meetings.
Make one technology prediction for 2012 and consider its impact.
I have believed for many years that technology advancements commoditize almost everything. The only way to avoid this is by delivering industry specific vertical solutions. Will be seeing verticals having a much bigger impact beginning now.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
