The market for unified communications (UC), the technology that allows staff to access a corporate communications network from any device, is set to double over the next few years, with particular growth forecast for the Middle East.
According to the US researcher International Data Corporation (IDC), the market for UC in the Middle East, Europe and Africa was worth US$8 billion (Dh29.38bn) last year but it is predicted to rise to $16.6bn by 2014.
Nora Freedman, a senior analyst at IDC, says the results "show that end users have become more sophisticated about their understanding of UC, as well as having higher expectations".
IDC believes growth in UC is being driven by small and medium-sized businesses wishing to streamline their operations by giving staff access to all of their electronic communications, including e-mail and SMS from any PC, smartphone, tablet or other access device.
Forrester, the international research company, agrees the UC market is about to take off with technology advances such as the increasingly widespread adoption of the new signalling software called session initiation protocol (SIP).
"The next 10 years will deliver open architecture, extended borders, enterprise social media, SIP expansion, and cloud-based collaboration and communication services," Forrester reports.
The company believes the typical UC phone of the future will be a touch-screen device with an embedded camera and wireless headset providing new features such as videoconferencing.
Richard Thurston, a senior analyst at the research company Ovum, says there are three new services that are driving the adoption of UC.
"The first is instant messaging and the second is telephony presence, the application that allows you to see if someone is at their desk or out of the office before contacting them," says Mr Thurston.
But he adds the third application, videoconferencing, is potentially the most interesting and that although top-range videoconferencing is today largely the preserve of big multinationals, the technology will soon trickle down to small and medium-sized organisations.
Top-range telephony conference systems of the type used by some multinational corporations now enable telepresence, which allows people to feel they are actually in another office.
Cisco has developed telepresence features such as a camera that enables users to look each other in the eye. Earlier videoconferencing involved ignoring the video image of the person at the other end of the line and staring at a camera lens above a screen to achieve the same effect. Other enhancements can include floor-length wall screens to create realistic images of people attending a meeting.
"This is enabling businesses to reduce costs by replacing expensive travel plans with effective face-to-face video meetings," says Mr Thurston.
The Middle East, in particular, is expected to experience growth in the adoption of videoconferencing technology. Web conferencing is to grow in the UAE by 20.97 per cent each year between 2010 and 2015, Ovum says. This growth rate is higher than the global average of 18.24 per cent.
"The Middle East as a whole is a substantial growth region for the technology," says Mr Thurston.
"Web conferencing is enabling ways of working, enabling employees to be more productive. Now video is part of web conferencing, we expect that more businesses will adopt the technology. It's an integral part of [UC] that businesses need to consider."
Analysts believe videoconferencing will drive the adoption of UC by reducing corporate travel costs and enabling more staff to work from home or remote locations. The Middle East, with its geographically pivotal position, is placed to benefit hugely from videoconferencing, which can slash corporate travel costs.
"The cost savings based on the reduction of travel costs often support the business case for video expansion," Forrester reports.
"Expanded use of video will evolve business processes in the next 10 years."
Other applications for UC likely to benefit Middle East companies include remote sales support, with which companies can extend their local sales teams by videoconferencing in senior sales support staff from the head office to a sales pitch taking place in another country or on another continent.
Similarly, in-depth staff training can be carried out without the need to fly employees to a central location and accommodate them in business hotels.
Its enthusiasts claim that high-definition, top-of-the-range videoconferencing can also be used to hold virtual business partner meetings and even contract negotiations between companies, something that is generally done only face to face.
But the downside of UC is the security nightmare it can create. By running the corporate communications network across all types of devices, companies multiply an existing security threat several times over, as well as creating new potential gateways for cybercriminals to enter. This is particularly true of small companies with limited IT resources.
Analysts believe that rather than try to assemble and constantly update and protect a software architecture they have built themselves, many companies will prefer to outsource the running of the UC network to an internet player offering cloud computing through connection to a huge computer bank.
The kind of cloud-based IT service now being offered by companies such as Microsoft will also drive the take-up of new services such as videoconferencing and corporate social networking.
Social networking, as popularised by websites such as Facebook, is now mutating into a new form of corporate communications, enabling staff to keep in constant contact across different time zones and geographies.
Overall, the rapid adoption of UC over the next decade is set to have the effect of allowing Middle Eastern companies of all sizes to operate on a truly global basis.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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The White Lotus: Season three
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
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