One output of this growth is globalization. Cloud phases past geographic borders, thus making service providers seek to become pan-European. Many service providers have sought to achieve this through mergers and acquisitions, creating a climate of consolidation that anyone following this market will have noticed over this last year, with big deals such as Blueface merging with Star2Star, EvolveIP acquiring MTEL & The voice Factory, as well as Swyx, Centile and Voiceworks coming together. Also, in the last week, Gamma acquired Dutch provider DeanOne, spotlighting the energized M&A activity within the Cloud Comms market.
The international opportunity posed by Cloud is also inciting adoption of SD-WAN, further catalyzing Cloud’s ascendency and the enablement of enterprise services.
However, this growth is not evenly spread across Europe. In more mature markets such as Holland and the UK, Cloud Comms growth is very significant, whereas in other European countries such as the Italy and Belgium there has not been the same level of growth and migration from traditional fixed line to IP. Germany and France are set to lead this growth, partly thanks to incumbents such as Deustche Telecom launching their recent solutions, while some of the markets such as Switzerland, Portugal and the UK are forecast to reach over 20% penetration, with the Netherlands reaching 46% penetration, by end of 2023.
“Cloud Comms continues to grow strongly in Europe, but not all markets are reacting, equally reinforcing that there is certainly not a single market for comms in Europe. The search to grow and offer an international service is driving both service expansion and significant M&A in the developed markets.” - Matt Townend, Director of Cavell Group
This disparity around Cloud Growth in European nations has another component. Within the mature markets, cloud is a lot more than just a PBX replacement, with exciting features such as Mobility, Team Collaboration and AI (i.e. Contact Centers) taking the Cloud market to new heights and really moving it beyond voice.