PALO ALTO, Calif.-Although the Latin American unified messaging market has developed more slowly than expected, potential still exists, especially in enterprise solutions, according to new research from Frost & Sullivan.
The research group believes uptake of unified messaging in the region is slow due to end users favoring traditional modes of communication and resisting new technologies; a widespread lack of standard customer relationship management and communication processes; and recently reduced enterprise information technology spending.
But, as advanced communications standards develop and improve, demand for unified messaging solutions is likely to increase. “Given that Latin American clients typically do not replace internal systems frequently, assuring clients that support will continue to be available long after the initial investment has been made can increase uptake of unified messaging solutions,” explained Frost & Sullivan analyst Paulo Hoffmann.
Separately, the Yankee Group released its new “Latin American Handset Market in Transition” report, which predicts the future of the wireless handset market in the region.
According to Yankee, operators owned by America Movil, Telecom Italia Mobile and Telefonica in Mexico are migrating to GSM/GPRS technology, while Brazil’s Vivo and operators owned by BellSouth and Verizon have chosen CDMA2000 1x networks. The group expects TDMA to represent the majority of sales for the short term but predicts it will drop off after 2004, at which time GSM/GPRS phone sales will take the lead.
