2012 North American CXO Investment Plans for Managed and Hosted Communications and Collaboration Services

• Publication date: January 2013
• Report size: 55 pages

Rapid technology evolution and the proliferation of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) tools are increasing the cost and complexity of managing and upgrading the enterprise information and communications (ICT) infrastructure. Most businesses perceive their ICT infrastructure and IT operations as relatively ineffective in enabling the organization to pursue broader business objectives. Opportunities are available for hosted and managed...

Rapid technology evolution and the proliferation of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) tools are increasing the cost and complexity of managing and upgrading the enterprise information and communications (ICT) infrastructure. Most businesses perceive their ICT infrastructure and IT operations as relatively ineffective in enabling the organization to pursue broader business objectives. Opportunities are available for hosted and managed service providers to relieve some of the burden on in-house IT staff and enable them to focus on more strategic tasks, thus helping customer organizations gain a competitive advantage.
Research Objectives
The primary objective of this research is to assess North American C-level executives’ attitudes and strategic plans regarding their organizations’ use of hosted and managed communications and collaboration services, as well as the use of implementation and integration services related to unified communications and collaboration (UCC) tools. Supporting this primary objective, this research will also:
•Identify business and technology challenges that can be addressed with hosted and managed services
•Measure current and future adoption of hosted and managed services
•Determine the perceived benefits/adoption drivers and perceived challenges/adoption restraints related to hosted and managed services
•Compare perceptions and demand for hosted and managed services across different verticals
•Compare demand for hosted and managed services by company size
•Assess the potential for deploying various UCC tools using hosted and/or managed services
•Identify customer preferences for using different providers of UCC services in general and providers of implementation and integration services more specifically
•Determine executive decision makers’ intentions with regard to IT and communications budgets, including trends in allocating budgets to new technologies and to maintenance and support services
•Analyze budget allocations by industry and by company size

Telecommunication Services Industry in the United States

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Research Objectives and Methods 5
Executive Summary and Implications 9
Corporate Demographic Profile 15
Business and Technology Challenges 18
Trends in Hosted, Managed, and Implementation/Integration Services 21
•Hosted versus Managed Services 22
•Types of UCC Tools within Hosted and Managed Services 25
•Hosted and Managed Services Usage Changes 26
•Hosted and Managed Services Future Intentions 28
•Hosted and Managed Services Drivers and Benefits 29
•Restraints of Hosted and Managed Adoption 32
•Implementation and Integration of UCC Solutions 34
Budgets 38
•Percent of Budget Allocations for Communications and Collaboration 39
•Future Changes in Communications and Collaboration Budget 40
•CXO Position and Degree of Influence on Budget 41
•Budget Allocations by Industry 42
•Budget Allocations by Company Size 43
•Budget Allocations to C&C New Technologies by Industry 44
•Budget Allocations to C&C New Technologies by Company Size 45
•Budget Allocations to C&C Tools Maintenance by Industry 46
•Budget Allocations to C&C Tools Maintenance by Company Size 47
•Reasons for Increase in Future Spending 48
•Reasons for Decrease in Future Spending 49
The Frost & Sullivan Story 51