Small and Medium Enterprise Business Communications in the UK

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Demand for new products and services, including unified communications

This view is illustrated in figure 3 below. We would expect to see the reverse situation from the installed base – those starting from a very low base would have the highest momentum. In the majority of cases this is so, but the big winner is VoIP, with the second highest momentum of the selection surveyed. The next best result is for mobile devices (PDAs, Smartphones), again showing that mobile personal productivity facilities and email on the move are considered to be of real business use by respondents.

The HSDPA result illustrates again that many leading-edge users want to have the advantages of broadband in a mobile setting – unsurprising given the results about mobility later in this study. Whether HSDPA is the technology that will deliver on that desire, or whether a different technology will prevail, is open to question. 3G has been around for some time and is still waiting for popular applications to catch on; there is clearly demand for high-bandwidth mobile services, but again, the technology that will deliver those services is still open to question.

Figure 3

Buying momentum (planning to invest - already have)

Figure 4

Which of the following best describes your company's plan for telephony, mobile phones and internet in the coming year

So what are the aims of those spending plans? The surprise in figure 4 is that only 22% named saving money as their prime objective. Slightly more – 23% - haven’t thought through what they need, or don’t plan to. More than half – 55% – want to manage their current situation more effectively, want new services, or are actively considering a single-supplier solution (although only 6% are doing the latter). That represents a lot of people potentially interested in a more effective approach in their communications. It also signals clearly what they are looking for – the predominant interest is in new services and applications, with 33%.