Unified Communication as a Service Market Size, Market Research and Industry Forecast Report, 2025 (Includes Business Impact of COVID-19)

                                          
Industry Insights, Market Size, CAGR, High-Level Analysis: Unified Communication as a Service Market


The global Unified Communication as a Service market size was valued at USD 26.3 billion in 2018 and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 20.5% from 2019 to 2025. The growing adoption of Cloud as a Service (CaaS) model across enterprises is providing an impetus to UCaaS market growth. Cloud-based unified communication solutions have enabled organizations to transition towards cloud because of their collaborative capabilities and continuous innovation. Moreover, the diminishing barriers to enter the CaaS market have allowed new players to enter into the industry space resulting in intense competition.

Increased deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the communication sector has greatly aided organizations to cater to the digital transformation goal. AI-powered tools have allowed organizations to intuitively record calls, facilitate effortless transcriptions, and intelligently track speakers to understand the needs of users and offer relevant services. Additionally, service providers have started offering conversational-AI enabled solutions for better machine guidance, data interpretation, and faster information analysis.

The market for unified communication as a service is expected to witness a surge in adoption, as solution providers have started developing mobile-first collaboration platforms. These platforms leverage cloud and Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) for establishing seamless business communications. For instance, in 2018, Mavenir launched Mobile Business Communication and Collaboration, a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solution and mobile-first collaboration platform, designed to cater to the needs of small offices and medium organizations. Transitioning to a mobile-native cloud-based platform enables companies to ensure higher flexibility and better capacity to roll out new features. These platforms also facilitate seamless integration of business messaging and multi-identity systems for secure communication practices amongst customers and users.

Solution with respect to unified communication as a service also promotes the pay-as-you-go model for its end users, thereby allowing enterprises to redirect resources to priority areas and thus capitalizing on operating revenue for more extended business continuity. Provision to subscribe for services enables companies to practice sustainable and scalable profit generation models, thereby catering to the needs of the clients. For instance, service providers such as RingCentral, Inc. and 8x8, Inc. are offering bundled services to clients, which in return helps in overall cost saving.

Deployment Insights of Unified Communication as a Service Market

The public cloud segment dominated the market for unified communication as a service and captured a revenue share of over 74% in 2018, as public cloud facilitates reduced lead times in testing and deployment of new products. Small and medium scale organizations are the main benefactors of public cloud deployment as it provides better utilization rates and is less costly as compared to private cloud. Additionally, growing need for a flexible environment in organizations to carry out changes at a faster rate has resulted in more companies to deploy public cloud.
As compared to public cloud, private cloud solutions are gaining wide acceptance in organizations, owing to growing needs by enterprises for highly secure environments for deployment of tools and solutions. Service providers such as Avaya, Inc. and NEC Corporation offer a dedicated software that allows customers to add custom security measures as and when needed. Additionally, regulatory compliances in specific sectors promote organizations to adopt a private cloud delivery model to overcome security concerns.

Industry Vertical Insights

The IT and telecom segment dominated the Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) market in terms of revenue share in 2018. Increasing demand for transformation of IT infrastructure for upfront collaboration and communication practices is expected to drive the segment. Telcos preference for the subscription-based revenue model has allowed them to redirect resources to other lines-of-business for effective utilization. Digital channels provide IT administrators with access to essential organizational data, which can be further leveraged for employee collaboration, customer engagement, and to manage workflows.

The BFSI sector has gained significant revenue share owing to increasing demand for improved customer engagement and support. Rising adoption of private cloud model by banks to safeguard sensitive information is providing an impetus to industry growth. Furthermore, unified communication as a service allows financial firms to exercise scalability essential for large-scale implementation, such as integrating account monitoring, phone assistance, chatbot-enabled messaging, and mobile transactions. Additionally, deploying cloud solutions facilitate flexibility and reduces the overall cost and time, thereby enhancing customer experience.

Regional Insights of Unified Communication as a Service Market

North America dominated the global market for unified communication as a service in 2018. The regional market for unified communication as a service is quite mature and has witnessed a wide deployment of on-premise and cloud solutions. As these solutions are nearing the end of their life cycle, companies are looking to upgrade their communication infrastructure by transitioning to solutions with respect to unified communication as a service. The upgradation requirements in several small and midsized businesses have contributed to revenue growth in the region.

The Asia Pacific region is expected to exhibit considerable growth over the forecast period owing to greater deployment of hosted Private Branch Exchange (PBX) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions. The emergence of SMBs and the rising trend towards the adoption of cloud solutions in countries such as Australia, Japan, and China is expected to offer attractive growth prospects. Furthermore, the growing need for flexible office spaces in the region is expected to drive the industry.

Furthermore, the competitive landscape in the Asia Pacific region is mostly concentrated by domestic players with service providers and system integrators becoming competitive in recent years. This competitiveness has enabled service providers to expand their service portfolio in developing countries. As a result, there has been continuous improvement in the infrastructure of these countries leading to the growing cloud services capabilities, which in turn is expected to boost regional growth.

Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) Market Share Insights

8x8, Inc.; ALE International; Avaya Inc.; and Cisco Systems Inc. are some of the major players operating in the market for unified communication as a service. Key players are integrating their products and services with AI and machine learning to provide differentiated products. For instance, RingCentral, Inc. has partnered with ThetaLake, Gong.io, and Velvetech to facilitate the delivery of real-time and post-call AI enabled voice analytics services to global customers.

Service providers who were providing pure-play unified communication as a service are now expanding horizons to include host of other communication services via cloud. This need has emerged to gain competitive advantage over the leading players. Further, as large enterprises are expected to drive the market for unified communication as a service, key players are recognizing the potential of cloud technology and are showing strength to capitalize on this trend.

Segmentations, Sub Segmentations, CAGR, & High-Level Analysis overview of Unified Communication as a Service Market Research Report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2014 to 2025. For the purpose of this study, this market research report has segmented the global Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) market report based on deployment, industry vertical, and region:

Deployment Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019 - 2030)

  
Public Cloud
  
Private Cloud

Industry Vertical Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019 - 2030)

  
Automotive
  
Education
  
Healthcare
  
BFSI
  
Hospitality
  
Real Estate
  
Legal
  
IT & Telecom
  
Others