The research firm recently announced a new study that predicts the EMEA UC market will grow from just over $8 billion in 2010 to $16.4 billion in 2014. The company also said that out that the use of hosted services will rise and become more dominant later on in the forecast period, and that this trend will be particularly notable in the small and mid-size business community.
John Carter, Managing Director of DMSL, says that this sends is a clear message to resellers. “IDC has only confirmed what we have seen coming for some time – hosted voice is primed and ready to go into a period of accelerated growth. With standard ADSL speeds, you are limited to some extent, but with 20Mbps and higher download speeds now being made available in the UK, the door is now open for the widespread adoption of cloud-based services. Hosted voice will be the standard bearer in this market and it will be the early adopters who win the lion’s share of the business. Now is the right time to get involved.”
Carter believes that – in the UK at least – hosted VoIP services will take off much faster than expected. “There is a real groundswell of interest in hosted voice now. We think the market will accelerate very rapidly indeed over the next 12 months. IDC is absolutely right about SMEs driving the market – that is where most of the interest is coming from. Small businesses are quick to see the benefits – that hosted VoIP is simple and cost-effective, and makes them more agile, responsive and competitive. But they still need help and advice in terms of understanding exactly what they need and setting-up and managing the services so there are great opportunities here for resellers.”
Selling hosted VoIP services also makes good sense, he points out. “It’s a competitive market but the sales commissions are attractive and hosted VoIP also generates repeat revenues. It is good, sustainable business that creates a strong bond with the customer and paves the way for resellers to offer more and extended services in the future. “
DMSL has partner relationship with a number of voice services suppliers and has been recruiting and training resellers who are eager to break into the market. Carter says that it is keen to sign-up additional partners who are keen to develop their potential in what will undoubtedly be one of the fastest-growing sectors of the IT and comms sector over the next two years.