Cloud Based Software To Play Important Role In New Zealand UC Market

Cloud solutions will become one of the main drivers of the Unified Communications (UC) market in New Zealand, says Frost and Sullivan.

The global consultancy recently compiled its New Zealand Unified Communications (UC) Market 2013 report, which predicted that the country’s UC market is set to benefit from steady growth over the next six years.

This was despite unstable economic conditions leading organizations to reduce their IT spend last year, representing a 4.5 per cent decline in the market’s value from 2011.

However, according to Frost and Sullivan, regrowth is in sight for the Unified Communications market in New Zealand, and cloud based solutions will be one of the factors driving the charge. This will be of interest to any business looking at cloud options such as business strategy software to increase its efficiency and cost savings.

“Demand for hosted and cloud based solutions is also beginning to gather momentum as organizations increasingly prefer more flexible solutions that offer usage based pricing,” Audrey William, head of research for ICT practice at Frost and Sullivan ANZ, said in a November 6 statement.

“The shift from on-premise to cloud based solutions is tightening profit margins in the UC market. Vendors and channel partners have realized UC related services (including managed services and cloud based solutions) are the growth engine of the future.”

Cloud-based Unified Communications solutions have traditionally benefited businesses in areas such as telephony and video conferencing to enhance collaboration across the organization.

As the cloud is increasingly recognized for its collaborative value, businesses are likely to implement it in other areas as well, such as strategic planning.

Strategy mapping software such as StrategyBlocks harnesses the power of the cloud to bring the organization together, effectively communicating its strategy and goals to the people responsible for executing it.