The various pieces necessary for the unified messaging market to reach its explosive potential have fallen into place, according to a report recently released by the Pelorus Group, “Unified & Integrated Messaging.”
“Worldwide UM revenues will increase from $49.9 million in 1997 to $970.7 million in 2002,” the company said. “Worldwide service provider revenues will grow from only $26.8 million in 1997 to $2.3 billion in 2002.”
This optimistic forecast is a dramatic turnaround from the relatively sluggish growth to date. The first UM products were introduced about five years ago, but the market proved slow to develop as demand for such services were limited to the mobile worker market, the company said.
“Despite the attractions, several barriers have limited acceptance,” the Pelorus Group said. “Most vendors and users have not been able to cost-justify the investment in UM products. Other issues such as difficult and costly installations have also impeded market acceptance.”
Since then, things have changed in that carriers now require UM services as much if not more than their subscribers do. The churn issue alone is enough to justify UM spending, the Pelorus Group said.
“The primary force driving the network provider market for UM is the tough competition between network operators to offer new services and their search for services that will `bond’ users more and reduce churn,” read the report.
“UM helps wireless operators address one of the main issues of maintaining and growing profit margins. Competition in the wireless industry is leading to poor customer retention, and UM can be a key differentiator for wireless providers. UM increases call revenue as subscribers call more often and stay connected longer to check for messages.”
Paving the way for this scenario is the growing number of communication options, and with them the need to manage the various messages left on each. For instance, one well-connected subscriber could find himself or herself with voice mail messages on cellular, office and home phones, as well as fax and e-mail messages on both office and home accounts. An integrated solution allowing subscribers to access all these messages via a single phone number becomes more valuable as more means of communications become available.
“The allure of multiple-media message notification and access, plus the added convenience of message management, is enticing many large and small companies to embrace UM,” the company said.
As such, the Pelorus Group said it believes service providers, including cellular and paging companies, will offer UM as an enhancement to their basic service offerings, be it in the form of a service bureau or as part of the network.
“And more frequently than not, UM will not be the end product in and of itself, but part of a bundled offering integrated with collaborative tools such as video and audio conferencing, one-number follow-me services, whiteboarding, and document sharing,” the Pelorus Group said.
With this greater emphasis on UM services and products comes a shift in their marketing and distribution paradigm. The target market is defined as the mobile work force, small office/home office workers and telecommuters.
Already, there are several unified messaging products on the market expected to gain rapid acceptance. The more well-known services available now take the form of virtual personal assistants using voice recognition and text-to-speech technology, such as Wildfire Communication Inc.’s Wildfire Electronic Assistant, Webley Systems Inc.’s Webley and General Magic Inc.’s Portico services.
Also, Sun MicroSystems Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc.’s Octel Messaging Division recently announced collaboration on a unified messaging platform that would deliver voice mail, e-mail and faxes to any subscriber device, including wireless devices and Internet sites.
The Pelorus Group is an independent market research firm and training company dedicated to the telecom industry.
