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By
Tara
Seals
INTERNATIONAL AGENTs
SECTION
Selling the European Cloud
A Skyrocketing Opportunity
for Partners
T
he rapid growth
of the European
cloud and unified
communications and col-
laboration (UCC) market is
creating opportunities for
both European and interna-
tional channel partners – and
North American partners
looking to expand their cus-
tomer footprint. More and
more partners are seeking a
path to tapping the market,
which shows no signs
of slowing down.
Businesses in Eu-
rope looking to gain
a competitive edge are
adopting hosted commu-
nications solutions to gain faster
access to advanced features and more frequent
functionality upgrades. Continued economic challenges are
also forcing businesses to choose hosted solutions as they
allow greater flexibility for rapid growth or downsizing.
Analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the market
earned revenues of $3.32 billion in 2014 and estimates this
to reach $17.93 billion in 2021.
“Tight IT budgets and limited in-house IT expertise
are pushing small and medium-size businesses to outsource
communications solutions to expert third parties,” said Frost
& Sullivan Digital Transformation Program Director Elka
Popova. “For large, distributed organisations, avoiding the
cost and hassle of integrating multi-vendor solutions com-
bined with greater ability to support remote and mobile
workers are driving their move to the cloud.”
The retail, professional services and IT sectors in
Europe have been early adopters of hosted IP and UCC
services. In some countries, public sector organizations are
also moving to hosted communications. The presence of
multiple distributed sites as well as OPEX-based IT bud-
gets are driving demand for hosted IP telephony and UCC
services in other sectors as well.
However, businesses
with specific custom-
ization, integration or
security requirements
continue to choose
premises-based solu-
tions over hosted ser-
vices. Fear of losing
control over commu-
nications capabilities is
another factor prevent-
ing some firms from
outsourcing telephony
and UCC solutions.
Lingering con-
cerns about qual-
ity and reliability
also prevent some businesses from
migrating to IP-based communica-
tions systems and services.
Channel support is critical for service pro-
vider success in Europe, the firm found. A barrier to broader
hosted IP communications adoption has been traditional
telecom resellers’ limited experience with cloud technologies
and recurring revenue business models. Many perceive host-
ed services as a threat to equipment sales and their cherished
relationships with equipment vendors.
Technology maturity, new architectures and business
models, and greater awareness of cloud communications and
their advantages are increasingly addressing these barriers to
hosted services uptake in Europe. The wider availability of
hosted solutions also means enterprises can find the best fit
for their specific needs.
“In the future, greater incumbent carrier focus on
next-generation services as well as mergers and acquisition
among smaller providers will expedite industry expansion,”
said Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Program
Manager Robert Arnold. “Continued solution enhance-
ments, such as better mobility support and tighter integra-
tion with other communications and productivity apps, will
reinforce the appeal of hosted IP telephony and UCC in
the European market.”
22
Channel
Vision
|
January - February 2016