ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
Digital drives new
generation of collaboration
Technology platforms like cloud and mobile and changing
workforces are creating a new generation of video enabled
collaboration solutions. By Arun Shankar.
T
he unified communications
and collaboration sector in the
Middle East is growing rapidly
with companies investing in unified
communications and video solutions
to enhance productivity and IT costs.
There is tremendous opportunity for
As-a-service model in the region. The
convergence of voice, video, and data
communications around a shared IP-
based infrastructure, allowing users to
easily make a call, send a message, or join
an audio or video conference, is bringing
benefits to businesses.
According to Andy Brocklehurst,
Collaboration Architectures Lead, Cisco
EMEAR, there are three principal global
drivers for the increasing demand for
unified communication and collaboration
solutions. These are human resources,
travel and facilities. Asks Brocklehurst?
“Are your channel partners mapped to
these three drivers? This is so early, Most,
of our partners are like us. Both Cisco and
our partners are making the transition
and these are the things we create here
and roll out.”
Unified communications’ evolution is
now closely linked to the ability to leverage
the continued growth in mobile devices
entering the business environment. With
mobile growth rates set to remain robust
for the foreseeable future, the dependence
on tablets and smartphones is only set to
increase. “As bring your own device trend
continues to take hold of organisations, we
see mobile devices playing an increasingly
prominent role in enabling a variety of
business communication channels,” says
Ahmad Zureiki, Collaboration Lead, Cisco
Middle East.
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Andy Brocklehurst, Collaboration Architectures
Lead, Cisco EMEAR.
As unified communications vendors
innovate to better serve the growing
base of workers who spend more time
on tablets or smartphones than at desks,
they will also need to give greater focus
to enabling people to customise and
personalise how they use their own devices
for work, making flexibility and ease of
use even more essential. “This is where the
role of the channel partner also becomes
very important,” adds Zureiki.
Digital transformation driving
UC as a service
Leading unified communications and
collaboration solutions vendors have been
taking digitisation and industry trends
into account and introducing newer
versions of these solutions. Cloud is the
way of the future. Transitioning to the
cloud is critical for companies, where they
can buy cloud and on-premises solutions
based on whether want an OpEx or CapEx
purchasing model.
Ahmad Zureiki, Collaboration Lead, Cisco
Middle East.
There is a major market transition
happening, one that will affect how people
work, live, learn and play, the pervasive
adoption of video. Video is an essential
part of effective collaboration and we
are seeing more and more organisations
beginning to incorporate video into their
businesses. Organisations are looking to
video applications, such as telepresence,
to improve collaboration, to get closer to
customers, and to transfer knowledge across
the organisation and into various teams.
Virtual meetings are the norm for
today’s on-the-go and geographically
dispersed workforce. The only question is
whether participants will join these virtual
meetings from a mobile device or from
the device on their desks. In the Middle
East, workers are looking for choice
and flexibility, and yet they also want a
consistent and simple experience.
Migration to a cloud based, pay-as-
you-go model, will also radically change
the basis of purchase in the first case as
Issue 13
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS