Cloud communications will grow 27% annually through 2021

More and more companies are realizing that the digital transformation is essential to ensure a long-term viability and success. Within this evolution towards digital, the movement of information technologies and the communication to cloud-based solutions give many organizations a competitive advantage, increased business agility, and faster and cost-effective access to advanced features. Advantages that UCaaS provide to businesses A recent report by Frost & Sullivan titled “Finding the best fit when moving to cloud UC solutions” determines the advantages that cloud communication services provide to companies, explaining that way the reasons for its rapid growth:

• They provide a quick and easy access to advanced features and collaboration.
• They reduce costs because infrastructure and expensive equipment are not necessary, nor the company has to deal with the maintenance and updates.
• They facilitate the integration of multiple tools and technologies (voice, data and video) under an environment of unified communications UCaaS.
• They encourage and facilitate mobility.
• They freed internal resources that can be dedicated to more strategic tasks that contribute to productivity.
• They reduce the risk of technological obsolescence and therefore also the costs.
• They allow the organization to focus on its own business tasks.
• They provide access to technological knowledge of higher grade.

A present and future trend All these benefits as a whole, improve the ability of companies to increase their revenue and profitability, and explain the rapid growth that the UCaaS market is experiencing.  To name just one example, according to a survey conducted in 2015 by Frost & Sullivan among 1,786 IT managers in the US, 35% of companies had already adopted cloud communication solutions, and another 49% stated that they would have done it by the end of 2018. Moreover, this growth is expected to remain flat about 27% annually through 2021; and although growth rates will be lower year after year due to a higher base of adoption, the net number of annual users will grow steadily over the next five years. Finally, Frost & Sullivan concludes his report by noting that despite the benefits in terms of productivity, flexibility and profitability that UCaaS provides, companies that choose to adopt cloud communication services should evaluate aspects such as infrastructure, end users’ needs, IT staff’s skills or risk and security thresholds, as a first step that allows selecting the best cloud communications service and provider.