January 11, 2012 via Wainhouse Research Bulletin -- We asked our team to make some predictions for the unified communications & collaboration industry in 2012, with a few rules: nothing too obvious, make it reasonably possible (it's not April Fools, yet), and it's ok to disagree! Note the new names and read on in the bulletin to hear about some welcome additions to WR. Meanwhile, we'll revisit these prognostications in December 2012 to see how well we did.

Web Conferencing

• The Freemium model for introducing people to web conferencing gains traction in a big way for SMB's, with virtually every major vendor offering some useful free offering by end of year.

 -- Andy Nilssen

Distance Education and e-Learning

• The year will see more textbook publishers and/or Learning Management System vendors decide to tackle Blackboard head-on in the education market by purchasing smaller web conferencing or lecture capture vendors -- or OEMing the technology.

-- Alan D. Greenberg

 

• The demand that web conferencing and lecture capture systems be integrated with LMS platforms will accelerate; by end of 2012 our surveys will tell us that another 5% of the installed base will have integrations deployed.

 -- Alan D. Greenberg




Hosted & Managed Collaboration Services

• After a rocky start, on premises & hosted Unified Communication (UC) deliver real benefits and gain strong client uptake, except for Lync-based audio & web conferencing, where independent brand and service preference drive greater use for services both standalone and integrated into UC.

• The CSP collaboration services channel will gain momentum in 2012, especially in non-traditional, non-enterprise segments, where channel partners, especially resellers, will be in a strong position to service these segments. Similarly, 2012 will see the emergence of one or two new power players in the CSP services channel sales arena. In a market currently dominated by the partner programs of InterCall and PGi, rapid channel-serviced market growth and channel partner demand for increased levels of service and vendor options will result in the emergence of alternative partner sales programs within the CSP space. Possible contenders include BT and/or Arkadin.

 -- Scott Walters

Video

• Major UC integrators like Dimension Data, Logicalis, and Carousel will give the legacy players a run for their money in the videoconferencing managed services space.

 -- Ira M. Weinstein

• Huawei will become the #3 worldwide enterprise videoconferencing vendor in 2012, measured by both revenues and units.

 -- Andrew W. Davis

• Blue Jeans Networks will be acquired by a major carrier looking to beef up its videoconferencing as a service portfolio.

 -- Andrew W. Davis

• Cisco will divest itself of all its consumer products by Halloween 2012.

 -- Andrew W. Davis

Mobility

• Continuing their rapid (and stealthy) invasion of the corporate workspace, the use of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) for video communications will more than double.

 -- Mark R. Mayfield

• Cellular network performance and capacity will increase enough to host high quality videoconferences on tablets and smartphones, but metered data plans will hinder usage while on the go.

 -- Ira M. Weinstein

Audio

• We'll see increased demand for better sound in the conferencing experience, as end users finally realize that the image -- whether it's 3D, "immersive", "telepresence", or holographic -- is worthless if you can't hear what they're saying.

 -- Mark R. Mayfield

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