The UC&C Vendor Landscape
Annual Summit Review of theStrengths, Cautions, What’s New for Industry Leaders
Blair Pleasant, President, CommFusion
Dave Michels, Principal Analyst, TalkingPointz
Landscape Highlights
• The UC product market is mostly mature
– IP telephony, presence, phones, and mobile – Still evolving in WCC and CEBP
• Shift to the cloud continues
– Does not appear to be a fad
– Multi-tenant providers moving up-market
– Volume will enable price drops for Multi-tenant – Too many vendors; major shake-outs are coming
The Landscape
• 8x8 • Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise • Avaya • Cisco • Interactive Intelligence • Microsoft • Mitel • NEC • RingCentral • ShoreTel • Thinking Phones • Unify • Vonage Business8x8
Strengths
• Very robust offering, UCaaS Leadership positions
• Integrations to both Google Apps and Microsoft O365 • Integrated Video
• Full contact center offering
8x8
Cautions
• Limited messaging solution (if you care) • Flash based collaborative client
• Large scale deployments are yet to be proven
• Enough resources to support growth & customer base?
8x8
What’s New
• More success moving up-market; recent major wins • Lots of Contact Center acquisitions & new capabilities
-Quality Software Corp., DXI; new analytics capabilities, VCC Global, integration of Virtual Office and VCC
• New partners - Arrow
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Strengths
• Claims access to funding
• Significant leadership changes • Solid UC product capabilities
• Potential explosive growth in China (maybe) • Global
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Cautions
• Geographic coverage will be changing • Effects of Chinese ownership
• Weak distribution presence in NA • Unify now French
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
What’s New
• New CEO and CFO & “streamlined exec mgt team” • Launched Teamshare Collaboration
• Expansion in APAC, market expansion in US & China • Vertical focus on travel/hospitality & others
• Positioning themselves as Cloud Service Provider • New name? Not yet
Avaya
Strengths
• Contact Center Leadership • Huge installed base
• Managed services growing 100% YoY
• Embedded communications for Google Apps, Jive, SalesForce (Esna)
Avaya
Cautions
• Losing market share, esp. in enterprise
• Behind on cloud (focused on private cloud) - very confusing story
• Lost marketing momentum
• Midmarket IP Office cloud hosted by partners - ScanSource, Carousel
Avaya
What’s New• Focusing more on Mid Market • Full Stack bundles
• Recent acquisition of Esna • Betting big on network focus
• Partners - HP, VMware (hybrid cloud), Google,
BT (co-branded wholesale hosting of UC & CC solutions) • HP delivering Avaya Private Cloud Services (APCS)
Cisco
Strengths• #1 in WW network installed base; leverages this “anchor” • #1 in current year IP Telephony revenues
• HCS: 150 provider partners; 40% market share?
• Broadest voice & video endpoint portfolio in industry • Voice/Video/Web conferencing leadership
- Telepresence and WebEx • Marketing muscle
Cisco
Cautions• Minimal innovation with Jabber
• UCC is one small part of the company
• New management may de-emphasize this lower-growth Cisco unit
• Betting on hardware devices vs. soft clients? -- IP Phones, video units
Cisco
What’s New• Focus on Spark
• Spark integration with CUCM and Telepresence
• “Enabler in the cloud” – helping partners build new services • Cisco Collaboration Cloud - new platform for delivering
cloud-based, real- and non-real time collaboration services • Rowan Trollope now also responsible for IoE
Interactive Intelligence
Strengths• All in one platform, single UI
• Successful cloud offerings - CCaaS delivery model • 55% of revenue is recurring
• 95%+ of cloud customers are new to ININ • Microsoft alliance for contact center
• Strong balance sheet to fund transition to cloud • Founder MoJo
Interactive Intelligence
Cautions
• Enterprise telephony is less mature • Perceived as contact center vendor • PureCloud is not mature
• Hybrid - premise & cloud have different code bases • PureCloud Interesting - Unproven
Interactive Intelligence
What’s New
• PureCloud Collaborate • PureCloud Communicate • PureCloud Engage
• PureCloud next generation tech (WebRTC and AWS) • Expanding global presence
Microsoft
Strengths• Leverages Office “anchor”
• Both Skypes enable intercompany federation • Market penetration of Skype, Lync, and
Office 365 for IM, P-P, conferencing
• Very Global - major share in 127 geo-markets • Ecosystem strength - phones, headsets, etc.
Microsoft
Cautions
• Third-party contact centers -- a lot of them • Requires multi-vendor solutions (and SIs) • O365 S4B Cloud PBX initial functionality • Options for multi-vendor interop
• E5 Suite ramifications
Microsoft
What’s New• Office 365 E5 at end of year with PSTN calling
• S4B Preview Program - Skype Meeting Broadcast, PSTN Conferencing, Cloud PBX, new security features, eDiscover, Customer Lockbox
• Microsoft-supplied PSTN connections or Azure ExpressRoute
• Pivoting from premises to cloud-first • Strategy centered around O365
Mitel
Strengths• Playing every angle: premises and cloud; wholesale, retail, supplier
• Merger-driven growth; 2x revenue, Int’l., new platforms • Parity across premises, cloud, hybrid
• Complete suite of services (managed services, PaaS, etc.) • Cloud or hosted success and installed base
Mitel
Cautions
• Too many options & platforms
• Becoming the “consolidator” - more acquisitions • Product roadmap consolidation continues
• 3rd party for SMB cloud contact center - LiveOps • Activist Investor
Mitel
What’s New
• Shift in focus with Maviner
• The only vendor featured in all 5 ‘comms’ MQs - UC, CT, CCTR, UCaaS, and MMUC
NEC
Strengths
• Global
• $40B revenue company • Very strong in verticals • 3C DoT secure
NEC
Cautions
• Has had difficulty with the cloud
• Weak Marketing and Analyst Outreach • Overlapping Portfolio with 3C and SV • Technology Lags Market
NEC
What’s New
• Launching UNIVERGE Blue
• Combining apps across product lines – e.g. CMM • 3C and SV integrated to UC platform
• “Smart Enterprise” vision & portfolio
RingCentral
Strengths
• Comprehensive - voice, UC, video, WCC (Glip), conferencing
• RingCentral Connect as a platform for integrations & workflows with business applications
• Strong marketing, good market mindshare • Partners - AT&T, BT, Dell, etc.
RingCentral
Cautions
• Third-party contact center offering
• Move upstream may provide challenges • No large customers
RingCentral
What’s New
• Acquired Glip
• Partnership with Zoom • Upper Right MQ UCaaS
ShoreTel
Strengths
• Established SMB/Mid market simple premises play • Next generation common platform released
• Consistent growth and profitability • Significant R&D in past two years
ShoreTel
Cautions
• Simple? Product is becoming more sophisticated • Unproven new product
• Sky Status and Migration unclear • North American focus
ShoreTel
What’s New
• ‘Connect’ common platform • ShoreTel Sky becomes Legacy • Expanding internationally
Thinking Phones
Strengths
• Track record with enterprise
• Rich technology platform - WebRTC, APIs • Mature Channel Strategy
Thinking Phones
Cautions
• Branding – low profile, light marketing • Small Company (<500 EE)
• Contact center expansion from voice centric (Contactive)
Thinking Phones
What’s New
• Major recent wins • New funding - $57M
• Expansions in US and EMEA • Gmail, Office365 integration
Unify
Strengths
• Huge installed base, esp. in Europe • Leading global provider of UC and CC • Solid, flexible technology base
• First UC vendor with WCC (Circuit) • WebRTC
Unify
Cautions
• North American GTM
• Significant staff reductions
• Having difficulty selling Circuit
Unify
What’s New
• Sale pending to Atos
• Continuing senior management changes
Vonage Business
Strengths
• Strong marketing and brand awareness • Strong leadership
• Google Apps/SFDC integration
Vonage Business
Cautions
• Two tech stacks (business and consumer) • Part of stack dependent on Broadsoft
• Acquisitions take time to integrate
Vonage Business
What’s New
• Implementing BroadSoft roll-up
The UC&C Vendor Landscape
Annual Summit Review of theStrengths, Cautions, What’s New for Industry Leaders
Blair Pleasant, President, CommFusion
Dave Michels, Principal Analyst, TalkingPointz
Marty Parker, Principal Consultant, UniComm Consulting
