According to Frost & Sullivan, the unified communications services market in Australia is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14 per cent until 2019.

The analyst firm attributes this growth to increasing demand for managed services for unified communications, demand for hosted voice and contact center solutions and increased uptake by the small and medium business segment; the government and the banking and finance sectors.

Also, as per the firm, managed services accounted for about 35 per cent of overall unified communications services revenues in 2012. The segment is expected to experience strong growth as organisations prefer to use managed services for their audio and collaboration infrastructure.

Moreover, in terms of applications, voice-based solutions and conferencing solutions together accounted for the majority of these services revenues in 2012. For hosted conferencing solutions (audio, video and web), Australia remains one of the largest markets within the Asia-pacific region, with hosted audio conferencing generating majority of the revenues.

Further, the cloud-based unified communications model represents a major shift for unified communications channel partners who were previously focused on professional services and support services. Many channel partners are realigning their strategies to be in a position to capitalise on future customer demands.