According to the latest market study by ABI Research, as 3G and 4G mobile network deployment expands worldwide, and more enterprise employees adopt smartphones and media tablets, many ICT industry players are assessing the upside potential for mobile video collaboration services.
Some consider this market to be primarily about video conferencing applications on the mobile device. However, the most immediate return on investment is likely gained when mobile video collaboration is used to support business processes -- particularly service operations.
"For business operations support, there are over 500 million employees worldwide that could benefit from mobile video collaboration services. However, by 2017 less than 2 percent of these employees will generate service revenues, totaling about $500 million worldwide," said Dan Shey, enterprise practice director at ABI Research.
The current low frequency of use creates much of the disparity between the size of the addressable market and prior enterprise adoption.
ABI believes that while mobile video collaboration applications would provide valuable productivity benefits for enterprise employees, few actually apply these value-added services in their daily routines.
Other barriers to progress include limited consideration by IT leaders about how to integrate video applications into existing business processes. Many also don't have access to the IT infrastructure or services to store, manage, and efficiently use their captured video.
Privacy and legal concerns about video use in some industries -- such as healthcare -- are also inhibitors to further adoption. Then there's the existing use of digital cameras, whose still images are often considered to be good enough for current needs.
Shey adds, "This market is still in its infancy, but video suppliers and even network operators can help spur adoption now by providing pricing and packaging that addresses the large differences in need and potential usage across their employee base."
The ABI study assessed the drivers and supplier environment for mobile video collaboration products and services across seven world regions. Also included in their study is a solution review of the primary mobile video collaboration providers.
