Demand for cloud video conferencing drives market consolidation
Cloud-based video conferencing is skyrocketing in the enterprise as employees comfortable with video in their personal lives demand the same capabilities at work. With growing demand for cloud video conferencing capabilities, a number of vendors have entered the market, ranging from stand-alone service providers to cloud communications providers expanding their service portfolios.
Revenue in the cloud web and video conferencingmarket reached $2.75 billion in 2017 and is continuing to grow, according to Frost & Sullivan analyst Alaa Saayed. But, as the market grows, so does the competition.
"Cloud video has shifted from a niche, new technology to a mainstream commodity," said David Maldow, founder of market research firm Let's Do Video. "Customers will start looking for these solutions from established big names rather than new, small, disruptive market entries."
Growing demand for all-in-one cloud-based communications and collaboration licenses is affecting enterprise demand for stand-alone cloud web and video conferencing services, according to Saayed. Organizations are moving toward converged platforms that make it easier for users to switch between different modes of communication, making the market ripe for consolidation.
Evaluating the current vendor landscape
The cloud video conferencing market has seen a flurry of activity in the last few years as vendors have attempted to strengthen their service portfolios to meet changing business needs. Most notably, startups Pexip AS and Videxio announced in 2018 that they would merge under the Pexip brand; LogMeIn completed its acquisition of Citrix's GoTo portfolio in 2017; and in early 2018, Viju and VisionsConnected merged to form Kinly.
Today's cloud video conferencing market includes providers that range from established vendors, such as Microsoft and Cisco; to stand-alone providers, such as Zoom and BlueJeans; to market-adjacent providers, such as Slack and Flock, which offer video conferencing within their platforms.
Established vendors like Microsoft, Cisco and Google are disrupting the enterprise communications and collaboration market by building their own all-in-one ecosystem of endpoints, apps and tools, which threatens existing service providers, Saayed said.
"Smaller providers can become attractive acquisition prospects for larger, more established companies due to unique patents or easily transferable customer bases," Maldow said.
Telephony-centric vendors are also moving their stand-alone communications portfolios to all-in-one unified communications-as-a-service licenses. Many major cloud service providers are repositioning their services to fit today's employee needs, which makes market consolidation inevitable, with vendors acquiring or merging with other providers, Saayed said.
"The remaining participants will be those that deliver a tightly integrated platform or those that deliver a point solution that complements the tightly integrated platform," he said.
For organizations evaluating cloud video conferencing options that are concerned if their chosen vendor is at risk of being acquired, Maldow said to focus on employee workflows first.
"You don't want to change the way your team works due to your choice of vendor," he said. "It doesn't help you to choose a vendor that appears less likely to be acquired if your people won't adopt and use their products".
source searchunifiedcommunications
Industry Unified Communications News
Latest Jobs
-
- Outside IR 35 CONTRACT SC CLEARED Cyber Security Operations Analyst SPLUNK ES- UK REMOTE- £500 a day.
- N/A
- 500
-
6 month contract Outside IR35 Operational Cyber Security Analyst. Hands on Splunk Security Enterprise and Security clearance is required As is someone that holds SC clearance. SOC and Vulnerability management experience. Vulnerability Analysis / Management - Tenable
-
- SailPoint Consultant
- Sweden
- Upto €80,000
-
SailPoint Consultant is need for this rapidly expanding global business, The business is currently in the middle of a SailPoint Deployment, they require an experienced Consultant who is able to help them on this Journey You will be responsible for helping to configure and deploy SailPoint as well as on board applications onto the platform You will also work with the business to understand workflow and process to help align the way the business works to ensure that the business gets the most from the deployment We are looking for an experienced SailPoint consultant who has experience with both Deployment and BAU work and is interested in joining a business which is at the start of an interesting IAM Journey
-
- SOC Manager Security Operations. SIEM, Threat / Vulnerability, IR, SOC Service- Exclusive
- United Kingdom
- 90,000+
-
SOC Manager- SIEM, Threat / Vulnerability, Incident response. Exclusive Project. Management and on growth growth of Security Operations Centre capability. Managing and maturing the team, technical services line and fronting client engagements where needed. An in-depth technical background is essential, experience across SOC SIEM/ Threat Hunting (IR) tools, processes, techniques, operational is a MUST. The role will include, but not limited to; evolving the technical process, building operational capability, managing and hiring team, involved at a high level overviewing policy/playbooks, fine turning of the go-to-market collateral etc.
-
- Contact 12 month- Security Operations- Tanium Engineer / Analyst.
- United Kingdom
- Dependent on experience
-
Security Operations engineer / Analyst with Tanium for a 12 month contract. Experience configuring using, managing, supporting troubleshooting Tanium's suite of end point solutions is essential. The opportunity is due to a client expanding its international capability to a follow the sun model. To be involved in spinning up a European capability. Based in the UK. English essential and ideally being fluent in French.