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July 30, 2015

The Secret of the North American IP/UCC Market is All in the Product


By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

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There's an old principle in marketing circles known as the Four P's of the marketing mix: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Some amp it up a bit to the Seven P's, adding Packaging, Positioning and People. When it comes to the North American market for hosted Internet protocol (IP) telephony service and unified communication and collaboration (UCC) services, there's only one P that matters: product.


A new report from Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert), titled “Analysis of the North American Hosted IP Telephony and UCC Services Market” shows the stakes: while there were 8 million installed users in 2014, there were projected to be more than five times that number by 2021, reaching 41.9 million users. That's a market that's primed for plenty of growth.

Most of these users, reports suggest, will come from small and medium-sized business (SMB) markets, eager for new options in flexible and attractively-priced systems. Larger organizations—particularly those with substantial geographic distribution—will also be in the market, and the sheer speed of market penetration for these services should make for brisk business from competitors. Frost & Sullivan even goes so far as to spell out what will be the best in product: high-end customer support available routinely, automated sales and available consulting, regular upgrades and the best in service provisioning.

Meanwhile, Elka Popova, who serves as Frost & Sullivan's unified communications and collaboration program director offered up some comment around the market and its needs, saying “Budget and resource constraints, as well as the appeal of faster access to advanced features, and the ability to supplement limited in-house IT staff, are lending momentum to hosted services among SMBs. Among larger distributed organizations, concerted service provider efforts, in addition to maturing technologies and business models, will drive adoption.”

Image via Shutterstock

Basically, the price doesn't so much matter, nor does where it can be found or who's advertising it, so long as the product gets the job done. The SMB market wants a product that can be flexible and adaptable, while the larger enterprise field is looking for a product that can meet the need and help keep those geographically-dispersed locations more readily competing. The cost savings often involved likely help as well—any office that does a lot of long-distance or international calling can see some serious savings on this front—but it's more about accomplishing goals than anything else.

The market is set to be a very crowded one, so customers will have plenty of options to go with. Having the best product and top-notch service may not guarantee sales, but it will certainly offer the best chance to make those sales.




Edited by Dominick Sorrentino
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