The unified communications and collaboration (UCC) market has been evolving for the past decade, transforming the way businesses communicate, and facilitating employee collaboration. Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is poised for major growth. Just take a look at the dynamic businesses listed in Gartner's 2019 Magic Quadrant report, in which LogMeIn was named as a challenger.
This growth is thanks in part to the new 5G wireless standard, which will change mobile communications dramatically. Think larger bandwidth, higher speeds, and more efficient processing power. As 5G evolves, UCaaS will facilitate the consolidation and delivery of even more robust solutions for communications and collaboration alongside it.
Increased Speed and Reliability
A 5G environment that is 20 times faster than 4G. Increased speed and data processing capabilities will enable artificial intelligence technology processing massive amounts of data in near real-time. More powerful online collaboration tools that include reduced latency and faster connectivity will be supported. Reports say 5G wireless will catalyst broadband service to the next level, enabling higher speeds from the office, at home, and mobile -- and supporting a new generation of remote collaboration features.
The ability of 5G to facilitate anytime, anywhere mobile connectivity also promises to un-tether remote workers from broadband and and wifi connections. 5G will make it easier and more seamless for road warriors to stay connected. This is coming at a time when digital natives are expecting more flexible work environments, and the ability to work from anywhere. Remote workers will be able to collaborate instantly, sharing content and connect to colleagues via high-quality and seamless video conferencing.
An Inflection Point for 5G
What's most exciting is that this year is a tipping point. Deloitte says that 2019 marks an inflection point for 5G. By the end of 2020, Deloitte predicts that 5G handset sales will represent approximately 1 percent of all smartphone sales. Beyond that, sales should explode in 2021, the first year in which retailers will sell more than 100 million 5G handsets.
Thanks to the power of 5G, unified communications as a service will enable companies to consolidate remote connectivity tools. In fact, the demand for all-in-one cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions is already rising. A recent report from Frost & Sullivan found that 68 percent of UCaaS buyers prefer all-inclusive bundles; and our own research with Ovum* revealed that IT leaders were poised to invest more in communication and collaboration tools over the previous year.
What's more, business and consumer end users are demanding a simple experience for all their audio, video, and chat communications – whether on mobile, desk phone, desktop, or in-room. At the same time, IT leaders and business owners want an integrated deployment and management experience from a single partner that they can trust to help them manage their specific UCC needs.
Transformation of the UCC market is on the horizon and it's going empower remote collaboration on steroids. As telecommunications operators begin to deploy 5G to take advantage of is increased speed, lower latency, and higher capacity, businesses and consumers will benefit from much faster, more seamless collaboration.
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*2019 Global UCC Survey conducted by Ovum
