North American Unified Messaging Enterprise Solutions Market

Vendors Need to Re-Position UM and Develop More Creative, Up-to-Date Marketing Messages

Unified messaging (UM) is only now emerging from two years of stagnant growth. Core issues restraining its deployment are the rather limited value proposition of basic UM solutions and the large amounts of legacy infrastructure installed at enterprises' premises. Vendors must try to re-position UM by emphasizing the addition of enhanced capabilities such as mobility access based on the utilization of automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) software. Offering and aggressively promoting real-time capabilities, whenever available, will also help send a new message to the market about the benefits of novel, more sophisticated UM systems.

This Frost & Sullivan research examines the North American UM enterprise solutions market. This study offers up-to-date analysis of current and future trends and their anticipated impact on revenue opportunities, discusses success factors, and suggests strategic recommendations to vendors for better competitive positioning.

Improved Employee Efficiency and Productivity Drives Enterprise Deployments

UM allows individuals to check voice, fax, and e-mail messages from a single device using a single password, while in or out of the office. Access to business communications anywhere, any time substantially enhances employee productivity and overall enterprise profitability. Unfortunately, the actual cost savings and revenue gains accruing from UM solutions' deployment is often difficult to quantify. Vendors need to develop case studies outlining the benefits of UM to specific industries and perhaps bundle it with other applications for a more compelling value proposition.

"Continued enhancements such as adding ASR and TTS support to enable access to voice, fax, and e-mail messages via a telephone user interface (TUI), as well as integrating real-time communications and evolving UM into the concept of unified communications (UC), will help vendors target a greater variety of customers," says the analyst.

Market Will Witness Accelerated Growth Around 2005

Improved UM capabilities and the growing need for enterprises to realize cost savings and increased revenues through the utilization of advanced technologies will drive future demand. Around 2005-2006, increased shipments of new telephone systems, companies' replacement of existing infrastructure purchased to ensure Y2K compliance, and the adoption of third generation (3G) wireless technologies enabling individuals to view their messages inexpensively over web-enabled mobile devices are likely to boost UM.

"As the global economy starts recovering toward the end of 2004, vendors are likely to be able to leverage an improving enterprise spending climate and the enhanced capabilities of UM to generate substantial revenues, if they manage to send an appropriate positive message to the market," says the analyst.

1 | NORTH AMERICAN UNIFIED MESSAGING ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS MARKET

  Market Overview

      1. Executive Summary



      2. Introduction and Scope of the Study



      3. Market Overview and Summary of Findings

  Market Issues and Trends

      1. Industry Challenges



      2. Market and Technology Trends



      3. Market Drivers



      4. Market Restraints

  Future Outlook

      1. Measurements



      2. Demand Analysis



      3. Pricing Trends



      4. Revenue Forecast

  Competitive Landscape Analysis

      1. Competitor Profiles



      2. Market Share & Competitive Landscape Analysis



      3. Strategic Considerations



      4. Award