Almost Half of European Organisations Unable to Deploy Unified Communications Technology Across All Sites
LONDON, April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Research commissioned by Easynet finds European firms are not making the most of UC technology, despite understanding its benefits
Enterprise usage of Unified Communications (UC) across Europe is lagging behind demand according to a survey commissioned by global managed services provider Easynet.
Having access to the latest networking technologies such as UC across all business sites was acknowledged by all organisations as bringing important business benefits with 60% seeing improved business efficiency and 45% improved business agility.
The survey was carried out on IT decision-makers at companies with over 1,000 employees across sectors in UK and Europe to gain their perception of the types of services their Communications Service Providers (CSP) are most adept at offering. Companies across Europe manifestly showed their trust in their CSP to deliver UC with 85% of companies across sectors saying they trusted or completely trusted their CSP to deliver it. Notwithstanding this level of trust, and despite requiring the technology, almost one in five companies are still not using their service provider to gain access to this mature technology.
The research showed that less than a third (29%) of organisations' Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructure is currently able to fully support UC technology across all sites, while almost half of enterprises surveyed (49%) said they would require network upgrades at some of their sites or locations to fully benefit from the technology.
More significantly, the research revealed that even enterprises that have adopted UC, are not using it to its full potential and therefore not gaining the full benefit of the technology.
The degree of UC network readiness varied across countries but even in the most prepared countries, the Netherlands and Belgium, less than half (40% and 37% respectively) believed they could roll out UC at present. In the UK this figure was a meagre 28%.
The study also disclosed a large diversity in network readiness amongst industries. The sectors most able to roll out UC across the enterprise were telecoms (40%), business and consumer services (41%) and IT/computer services (38%), those with the least UC-ready networks were found to be manufacturing (19%) and banking/financial services (21%).
Adrian Thirkill, UK MD for Enterprise at Easynet said; "Companies across sectors recognise the business advantages of running Unified Communications across their enterprise, yet this research highlights that only just over half of European organisations are currently able to do so. Intelligent or Hybrid networks remove the need for massive upgrades and CSPs delivering these can help organisations make the most of their corporate networks and maximise the return of their existing UC investments in order to be as efficient and competitive as possible." He continued: "Running services across large, complicated and disperse enterprise networks has become a standard requirement. A CSP with broad range of networks, an understanding of their customers' sectors and proficiency in implementing the latest technologies can really make a difference to the way enterprises run their business."
About the research:
The survey was carried out by global technology market research company, Vanson Bourne, in Nov-Dec 2014 across Europe on IT decision-makers of companies with over 1,000 employees across all sectors. In total 660 interviews were undertaken from: UK (200), France (100), Germany (100), Italy (100), Spain (100), Belgium (30), Netherlands (30).
About Easynet
Easynet is a leading managed service provider with over twenty years' experience delivering integrated networks, hosting and unified communications solutions to national, international and global customers. Enhancing these core areas of expertise is a range of complimentary services including colocation, security, voice and application performance management.
Easynet has established relationships with key vendors, government bodies and industry standard accreditors and operates to a number of recognised industry standards, including ISO9001, ISO14001, OHSAS18001, ISO20000 and ISO27001. Easynet is also one of a select number of managed service providers approved and appointed by the Government Procurement Service to assist the UK Government in its mission to create a network of networks.
Easynet's mission is to deliver integrated solutions that enable an organisation to collaborate more effectively, operate more efficiently and improve customer engagement by their connecting people, sites and machines in a secure and reliable way.
Customers include Sports Direct, EDF, Bouygues UK, Anglian Water, Bridgestone, Q Park and Campofrio Food Group.
Twitter @EasynetGroup
LinkedIn Easynet Group
Web easynet.com
Does your organisation's wide area network (WAN) infrastructure currently enable Unified Communications (UC) to be rolled out?
Multiple
Multiple CSPs CSPs
Base: all managed managed by
respondents Total Single CSP in-house integrator
Yes, our network
infrastructure can
support UC without
upgrade 29% 31% 29% 23%
Yes partially, but
some sites and
locations will
require an upgrade 49% 41% 53% 48%
No, our current
network
infrastructure
cannot support
effective rollout
of UC 10% 12% 8% 16%
Don't know 12% 16% 10% 13%
Base 660 181 415 64
Base: all
respondents Total UK France Germany Italy Spain Belgium Netherlands
Yes, our
network
infrastructure
can support UC
without
upgrade 29% 28% 36% 22% 33% 22% 37% 40%
Yes partially,
but some sites
and locations
will require
an upgrade 49% 53% 46% 61% 48% 54% 23% 13%
No, our
current
network
infrastructure
cannot support
effective
rollout of UC 10% 9% 5% 11% 11% 10% 20% 10%
Don't know 12% 11% 13% 6% 8% 14% 20% 37%
Base 660 200 100 100 100 100 30 30
Base: all 1000-3000 3000+
respondents Total employees employees
Yes, our network
infrastructure can
support UC without
upgrade 29% 27% 31%
Yes partially, but
some sites and
locations will
require an upgrade 49% 56% 43%
No, our current
network
infrastructure
cannot support
effective rollout
of UC 10% 10% 9%
Don't know 12% 7% 18%
Base 660 329 331
Business
&
Base: all Banking/financial consumer IT/computer
respondents Total services services services Government Manufacturing
Yes, our
network
infrastructure
can support UC
without
upgrade 29% 21% 41% 38% 22% 19%
Yes partially,
but some sites
and locations
will require
an upgrade 49% 55% 47% 52% 40% 58%
No, our
current
network
infrastructure
cannot support
effective
rollout of UC 10% 10% 5% 5% 26% 4%
Don't know 12% 14% 8% 6% 12% 18%
Base 660 71 66 66 58 67
Table continues
Media, Retail, Utilities
Base: all entertainment distribution (inc. oil Other Other
respondents & leisure & transport Telecoms & gas) commercial public
Yes, our
network
infrastructure
can support UC
without
upgrade 34% 23% 40% 28% 31% 27%
Yes partially,
but some sites
and locations
will require
an upgrade 44% 55% 37% 53% 54% 41%
No, our
current
network
infrastructure
cannot support
effective
rollout of UC 9% 10% 12% 6% 8% 11%
Don't know 13% 12% 12% 13% 7% 21%
Base 32 69 43 32 85 71
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