Ready for the Managed UC?
Posted by John Wesselman on Wed, Jan 20, 2010
I just came across a very powerful article, "Managed service providers: Outsourcing unified communications applications" written by Katharine Trost of Nemertes Research, that presents numbers that indicate that the Unified Communications (UC) boom has only just begun. What was even more interesting is that there is a dramatic increase in organizations considering a UC implementation through a managed service provider (MSP).
Here are some of the important facts that she presents:
- Leaner IT departments - "67% of organizations are decreasing their IT staffs, by an average of 17%."
- Increased adoption of UC - "In 2007, just 17% of organizations were deploying UC, meaning they were using at least one unified communications application. By 2008, that figure increased to 47%. This year, that number has grown to 60%."
- Considering an MSP for UC deployment - "65% of organizations are using, or evaluating, some flavor of managed services at one or more of their locations. That's quite an increase from the 46% we saw in 2007, and 27% in 2006.
- Switching to an MSP after challenges of self-deployed UC - "Generally telecom staffs use an MSP after finding IP telephony more difficult to manage than expected, especially on a 24 × 7 basis."
As indicated in the article, the managed/hosted UC business sector is poised for great things. It amplifies the question we at Smoothstone have asked prospective customers for years: "Why would you want to implement, manage and maintain your communications platform yourself, when we can do it for you- better, more reliably and with a lower overall total cost of ownership (TCO)?"
Well, the people have spoken and their actions answer that question quite well. There IS a better way!
Contact Smoothstone today at (800) 773-3037 to learn more about the many ways our Managed Unified Communications solutions can transform your enterprise communications infrastructure.
John Wesselman
