This is indicated by a survey based on 4,800 cases worldwide made by Ribbon and presented during its annual conference, last week in Washington. According to the report, only 41% of the companies with more than 1,000 employees that participated in the survey implemented UC (Unified Communications). The adoption percentages decrease in companies with fewer employees, reaching only 10% of incorporation of UC in firms with 1 to 20 employees.

Among the organizations that have not yet invested in UC technology, 68% of large companies (more than 1,000 employees) plan to adopt some form of UC in the next 2 years. The same trend is maintained in the case of medium-sized companies, with 67% of respondents with 21 to 100 employees and 71% of respondents with 101 to 1,000 with purchase intention. The figure is more modest, although auguring because it is a universe of greater number, for the segment of small businesses (1-20 employees), in which 46% of those consulted consider incorporating UC.

"Clearly, the value of CU resounds in all markets and industries regardless of the company’s size," said Patrick Joggerst, CMO & VP of Business Development at Ribbon.

Today traditional operators and IT companies are the main providers for those who already use UC. Among the latter, 39% bought their service from "traditional" providers (local operators in the United States and national operators in the rest of the world), and the next 30% was divided equally between competitive operators and IT service companies. On the other hand, mobile telephone operators only accounted for 4% of the purchases identified by surveyed participants.

Business opportunities per provider change in those who have not yet purchased UC services. Respondents in this category expect to buy these services from traditional providers (21%) and mobile operators (16%), followed by cable companies, competitive operators, equipment suppliers and IT services companies (11% each).

Those who participated in the global Ribbon survey are: 4,800 decision makers in companies with between 5 and more than 1,000 employees in 23 countries, in a wide range of industries. The countries included in the study are: Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Spain, United States, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States.