Skip to main content

Cloud-Based Conferencing Revenue will Reach $4.1B

Even the most reluctant CEOs have discovered that supporting their remote workers was less disruptive than they anticipated. Moreover, productivity often increased as jubilant workers were freed from the noise and other distractions at their employer's poorly designed open-plan offices.

Short audio or video conference meet-ups have replaced the typical 1-hour long mind-numbing in-person meetings that were common at many enterprises prior to the pandemic. Legacy business leaders that were not previously Agile converts have now embraced these online collaboration tools. It's amazing.

Conferencing Solutions Market Development

Global end-user investment on cloud-based web conferencing solutions will grow 24.3 percent in 2020, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner.

Global workplace restrictions spurred by the coronavirus pandemic will expand the cloud conferencing user base throughout 2020, but growth may actually taper off in 2021 as the lasting effects of a remote workforce render conferencing services commonplace.

End-user spending on cloud-based conferencing is projected to reach $4.1 billion in 2020 -- that's up from $3.3 billion in 2019. It is the second-fastest-growing category in the unified communications (UC) market, behind spending on cloud-based telephony, which is forecast to reach $16.8 billion in 2020.

According to the Gartner assessment, overall UC market end-user spending is projected to decline by 2.7 percent in 2020 and return to growth in 2021, as cloud telephony initiatives regain momentum.

"Cloud collaboration investments will buoy the UC market downturn as remote work initiatives spurred by the COVID-19 outbreak drive conferencing adoption and market growth," said Megan Fernandez, senior principal analyst at Gartner.

Gartner now predicts that by 2024, in-person meetings will account for just 25 percent of enterprise meetings, a drop from 60 percent prior to the pandemic, driven by remote work and changing workforce demographics.

As a result, there is a higher demand for convenient access to videoconferencing and other collaboration tools. Cloud-based conferencing service providers will support the increased adoption with new offerings that further advance user productivity.

In 2020, new premises-based telephony investments will likely drop sharply as existing installed telephony system life spans are stretched and investment priorities shift to the cloud providers.

"Cloud telephony adoption will experience a 'push and pull' from competing market pressures," said Ms. Fernandez. "Overall, the market will be negatively impacted by organizations that were planning near-term premises to cloud migrations but are now extending legacy life spans instead."

However, cloud-based telephony will experience a boost once its benefits are recognized, namely the ease at which it can accommodate a changing workforce, update and extend existing features, and integrate with adjacent applications.

Outlook for Conferencing Service Applications Growth

The cloud-based telephony market is projected to grow by 8.9 percent in 2020 and 17.8 percent in 2021 as the transition to online communication gains new momentum.

"As a result of workers employing remote work practices in response to COVID-19 office closures, there will be some long-term shifts in conferencing solution usage patterns. Policies established to enable remote work and experience gained with conferencing service usage during the outbreak is anticipated to have a lasting impact on collaboration adoption," said Ms. Fernandez.

The traditional C-suite must realize, you can't go back to the old way of doing things. Change is inevitable. This progress is unstoppable. Embrace the 'next normal' and move on.

Popular posts from this blog

Demand for Quantum Computing as a Service

The enterprise demand for quantum computing is still in its early stages, growing slowly. As the technology becomes more usable, we may see demand evolve beyond scientific applications. The global quantum computing market is forecast to grow from $1.1 billion in 2022 to $7.6 billion in 2027, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). That's a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.1 percent. The forecast includes base Quantum Computing as a Service, as well as enabling and adjacent Quantum Computing as a Service. However, this updated forecast is considerably lower than IDC's previous quantum computing forecast, which was published in 2021, due to lower demand globally. Quantum Computing Market Development In the interim, customer spend for quantum computing has been negatively impacted by several factors, including: slower than expected advances in quantum hardware development, which have delayed potential return on inve

AI Semiconductor Revenue will Reach $119.4B

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) and/or the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will guide Generative AI initiatives within the large enterprise C-Suite. They may already have the technical expertise and experience to understand the capabilities and limitations of Gen AI. They also have the authority and budget to make the necessary investments in infrastructure and talent to support Gen AI initiatives. Enterprise AI infrastructure is proven to be expensive to build, operate and maintain. That's why public cloud service provider solutions are often used for new AI use cases. AI Semiconductor Market Development Semiconductors designed to execute Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads will represent a $53.4 billion revenue opportunity for the global semiconductor industry in 2023, an increase of 20.9 percent from 2022, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "The developments in generative AI and the increasing use of a wide range AI-based applications in data c

Global Public Cloud Spending to Reach $1.35T

Most digital transformation is enabled by cloud solutions. Worldwide spending on public cloud services is forecast to reach $1.35 trillion in 2027, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Although annual spending growth is expected to slow slightly over the 2023-2027 forecast period, the market is forecast to achieve a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.9 percent. "Cloud now dominates tech spending across infrastructure, platforms, and applications," said Eileen Smith, vice president at IDC . Public Cloud Services Market Development IDC believes that most organizations have adopted the public cloud as a cost-effective platform for hosting enterprise applications, and for developing and deploying customer-facing solutions. Looking forward, the cloud computing model remains well positioned to serve customer needs for innovation in application development and deployment -- including as data, artificial intelligence