According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Unified Communications as a Service Market," The unified communications as a service market size was valued at $27.04 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $118.8 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 16.3% from 2022 to 2031.

Unified Communication addresses communication issues in new ways by delivering an integrated platform where all these applications are in use for providing and combining multiple enterprise communication channels, such as voice, video, personal and team messaging, voicemail, and content sharing. As a result, companies adopt unified communication as a service to use tools to create multichannel sessions. Thus, employees can collaborate effectively and make business value in real-time settings. In addition, unified communication as a service allows employees to work regardless of the endpoint, location or network used to access the platform resulting in market growth.

Moreover, the remote work trend has pushed IT to adopt technologies that support a decentralized workplace, positioning unified communications as a service market forecast and a convenient technology for enterprises. Unified communications as a service also offer solutions including automated transcripts, smart tracking of speakers, and intuitive call recordings, which, in turn, contributes toward Ucaas market growth. Furthermore, surge in integration for cloud-based solutions due to inherent feature of cost-effectiveness and easier to scale in unified communication across different end-use industries, contributes toward significant expansion of the UCaaS market.

Depending on enterprise size, the large enterprise segment held the largest share in 2022 and is expected to remain dominant in ucaas market size during the forecast period. Large enterprises are seeking ways to improve collaboration and productivity among their employees, which drives the demand for UCaaS solutions that enhance communication and collaboration. However, the small and medium-sized enterprises segment is expected to witness the highest growth in the upcoming years. It is easy-to-use and manageable, which helps in reducing the need for in-house IT support and freeing up resources to focus on other areas of the business attributed to the surge in demand for UcaaS solutions.

Region-wise, North America held a significantly growing global unified communication as a service market forecast, due to the region’s increasing demand for enhanced end-user services; U.S. and Canada currently dominate the regional market for North America. The main drivers of the growth of the unified communications as a service market in this region are increase in demand for 5G high-speed networks, surge in the trend of mobility and bring your own device (BYOD), and growth in migration from legacy systems to cloud-based communication services are the primary factors that drive the growth of the unified communications as a service market in Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, and LAMEA. 

During pandemic unified communications as a service industry expanded due to the rising adoption of technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. This is because AI capabilities enables faster and more accurate manual task completions. In addition, the introduction of 5G technology during the pandemic period enabled high-speed internet that boosted the market as video and audio-conferencing need high speed and low latency in the connection, which is easily provided by the 5G network. As a result, COVID-19 outbreak has caused business leaders to turn towards unified communications as a service market analysis to provide enhanced communication services. Further, key players enhanced their communication tools to provide better services to employees. For instance, in May 2020, Zoom Video Communication Inc. for unified communications-enabled organizations to add up to 52 weekly minutes' worth of productivity per employee, reduce IT troubleshooting time by 75%, and decommission a number of redundant technologies valued at up to tens of millions of dollars annually. It also improved organizational resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, improved employee and customer satisfaction, and boosted employee collaboration. Such factors have propelled the growth of unified communications as a service during the pandemic.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

• By delivery model, the managed services segment accounted for the largest unified communications as a services market share in 2021.
• Region-wise, North America generated the highest revenue in 2021.
• On the basis of organization size, the large enterprises segment generated the highest revenue in 2021.

Key players profiled in the report include Avaya, Inc., BroadSoft, Inc, BxB, Inc, Cisco Systems, Inc., Genesys, Microsoft Corporation, Mitel Networks Corp., NEC Corporation, RingCentral, Inc., Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Market players have adopted various strategies, such as product launches, collaboration & partnership, joint ventures, and acquisition to expand their foothold in the unified communications as a service industry. For instance, in February 2022, Vodafone Business and RingCentral launched ‘Vodafone Business unified communication with RingCentral, that offers message video phone (MVP) with Vodafone’s mobility and 5G capabilities to give customers more choice, flexibility, and simplicity to workforce collaboration and remote working. Vodafone Business unified communication as a service with RingCentral was launched in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Portugal, Singapore, Spain and Sweden. Such factors helped the unified communications as a service market to grow.