Frost & Sullivan Releases World Premises-Based Web Conferencing DataFrost & Sullivan Releases World Premises-Based Web Conferencing Data

SaaS-based web conferencing continues to dominate, but premises-based revenues grew for the first time at a higher pace than SaaS, primarily due to UC.

My colleague Roopam Jain recently published her latest study on the worldwide premises-based web conferencing market. Clients can download the full report at frost.com. Here are some highlights:

* Premises-based web conferencing software revenues grew by 14.6% in 2009 reaching $263 million globally. Growth in this market saw a significant ramp-up in 2009 due to the growing penetration of UC solutions, which encompass web conferencing capabilities.

* While SaaS-based web conferencing continues to dominate the overall web conferencing market with an 81% revenue contribution, premises-based revenues in 2009 grew for the first time at a higher pace than SaaS, primarily buoyed by strong growth in UC.

* In 2009, Microsoft OCS (now Lync) moved to the number two market-share position.

* Revenues are expected to reach $1.13 billion in 2015, supporting a widening user base, with a projected revenue growth of 27.6 percent (CAGR2009-2015).

* Growing business need for collaboration, globalization, strong cost cutting imperatives, and emerging green initiatives are the main drivers for adoption throughout the forecast period.

* As the North American market matures beyond 2012, strong growth will be driven by faster regional adoption. APAC’s current contribution to overall revenues is significantly greater for premises-based solutions than in the hosted services market, due to the longer history of and preference for premises-based in the region. Europe, where UC solutions are gaining traction, will represent the fastest growing market over the forecast period.

* Mobility is hot and will remain a key focus in 2011. Conferencing vendors are introducing new form factors to support the growing need for mobile collaboration.

* Video integration with all forms of collaboration will remain a key area of technology focus, and web conferencing vendors report higher usage when they incorporate desktop video in their solutions.

* Social media integration is fast evolving to become a meaningful business differentiator. By integrating social media with web conferencing and business processes, vendors are providing meaningful data mining, and a more interactive user experience.

Please join me for a Frost & Sullivan webinar tomorrow, Thursday March 17, www.frost.com/ictchannel on the hosted and premises-based web conferencing markets, which will also highlight research from our latest end-user survey.