New analysis from global growth consulting company, Frost & Sullivan (www.commapps.frost.com), Asia Pacific Enterprise Telephony Applications (ET Apps) Market CY2005, reveals that revenues in this market - covering 12 major Asia-Pacific countries ex-Japan - totaled US$77.2 million in 2005 and is forecasted to be worth US$589.9 million by end-2012.
“As IP (Internet protocol) deployments continue at a rapid pace, CIOs (chief information officers) are increasingly seeking ways to utilize the underlying IP platform to increase productivity and reduce costs,” notes Frost & Sullivan industry manager Prasannavadan Gaitonde. “Companies are moving to the next stage of utilization of their voice networks beyond the standard benefits of TCO (total cost of ownership) reduction and toll bypass towards enhancing productivity and integrating applications in their business processes.”
As a result, applications on the telephony platform are finding greater acceptance and are likely to provide the next level of growth for enterprise communications. Vendors are responding by building applications and forming partnerships with third party application developers in order to tap the market.
The integration of voice with business processes provides for better customer service and helps to improve productivity within enterprises. Hospitality, healthcare, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and, to a certain extent, retail and manufacturing, are some of the industries that have started deploying ET apps in order to increase productivity.
Despite the favorable outlook, the Asia-Pacific ET apps market is wrought with significant challenges. Among the restraints is the difficulty in justifying tangible ROI (return on investment), especially for productivity-based applications. Most enterprises do not have the metrics to measure the savings brought about by the increased productivity of the workforce or the greater customer satisfaction resulting from improved efficiency. The high cost of IP telephony end-points are also an added challenge, as well as the lack of standardization of voice platforms and the requirement for vendors to shift from product sales to solutions-selling.
“Solutions sales have longer selling cycles and require an understanding of customers’ business needs, rather than purely offering a lower priced commoditized product,” says Gaitonde. “This often proves challenging for vendors and their sales channels, who for years have been used to selling products.”
Given the enormous potential for ET apps in the Asia-Pacific region, vendors will do well to further educate the market, demonstrate quantifiable ROI, and target specific verticals for niche applications. In addition, further collaborations with third party developers will also ensure that the right set of applications required in the industry are developed.
