Economic slowdown enhances adoption of Unified Communication solutions in Middle East market, notes Frost and Sullivan

According to a Frost & Sullivan study, currently, India leads the region's UC market in terms of total spending and better overall awareness of UC, whereas Bangladesh, with strict regulations on VOIP, comes last.

According to Lavanya Palani Batcha, Senior Research Analyst, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East, "The global economic slowdown is expected to enhance the UC growth path in the short-term. A few trends seen in this market are rising interest in UC applications, adoption of IP telephony, bundling of UC applications, key growth drivers namely conferencing and collaboration, and higher value proposition with integration of business processes.

The Saudi Arabian UC market is characterized by heavy spending from the Government and Oil and Gas companies. IP telephony adoption has been constantly on the rise, with the Government providing scope for large size deals. This market has been least affected by the global economic recession and with a CAGR of 5.2% between 2008 and 2015, the UC market is expected to continue on its growth path.

The UAE UC market has witnessed large-scale deployments of IP telephony, triggered by the presence of international business and finance organizations in the country's key business centers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, the UAE market has been beset by economic difficulties and the CAGR projection for UC market from 2008 to 2015 is 5.9%. Conferencing and Collaboration applications market has a strong potential for growth in the country, having witnessed high level of adoption of UC in 2008.

The Egyptian UC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.1% in the forecast period from 2008 to 2015. High levels of interest in IP telephony has resulted in good adoption in the country. With a huge potential in the domestic IT/ITeS market and with good support from the Government towards ICT initiatives, the Egyptian UC market, especially the Contact Center applications, is anticipated to grow at a brisk pace.

India has good potential for growth of UC applications as demonstrated by the CAGR of 7.9% in the period from 2008 to 2015. With continued adoption by several key verticals such as BFSI, IT/ ITeS, etc., the Indian market is anticipated to weather the economic slowdown and emerge as a strong market for UC vendors.

The Sri Lankan market is yet to see any significant deployment of UC applications. However, IP telephony is gaining traction, especially amongst larger enterprises and with favorable regulations, IP telephony adoption is set to grow, outpacing the demand for traditional telephony. Conferencing and Collaboration applications, especially Video Conferencing, have witnessed good traction, especially with the Government. The CAGR for this market is expected to be 12.2% between 2008 and 2015.

Bangladesh faces challenging market conditions such as restrictive regulations on IP telephony, poor awareness levels, and inadequate infrastructure, which have proved to be impediments to the growth of UC. However, with changing Government perceptions on VOIP and better awareness, the UC market is anticipated to grow at a higher rate in the forecast period from 2008 to 2015. CAGR in this period is likely to be 17.8%.