Worldwide revenues in the Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) market grew 6,9% YoY and 2,4% sequentially to $15,9- billion in the second quarter of 2023 (2Q23), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Unified Communications & Collaboration Tracker.
For the full year 2023, worldwide UC&C revenue is forecast to grow 8,6% YoY to $64,7-billion. This represents an upward revision of roughly $500-million from the previous quarter’s forecast. In volume terms (units/lines/licences/seats), the worldwide UC&C market grew 11,4% YoY and 2,9% sequentially in 2Q23 to $620,7-million. Compared to the previous quarter, the gap between value and volume growth rates expanded further, indicating continued downward pricing pressure per unit sale.
“Remote collaboration needs continue to grow and evolve with the changing dynamics led by the return to work coupled with new innovation from vendors – especially on the AI front,” says Jitesh Gera, research manager, Unified Communications & Collaboration at IDC. “Moreover, public cloud Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions integrated with telephony continue to be in strong demand as businesses increasingly look to unify their employee and customer communication channels with a strong foundation in voice. The hardware market is currently in flux as vendors look to develop innovative meeting room equipment to offset the sharp declines in IP telephones and enterprise videoconferencing systems.”
Meanwhile, worldwide revenues in the Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) market grew 13,2% YoY and 4,6% sequentially to $3,8-billion in 2Q23, recovering from a sequential decline during the previous quarter.
“This segment is evolving as buyers focus on tangible benefits as well as automation across a diverse range of channels,” says Courtney Munroe, research vice-president, Worldwide Telecommunications Research at IDC.
Although it is a challenging segment for CPaaS providers, Messaging continues to account for the bulk of the CPaaS market sustaining its 67% share in 2Q23. For the full year 2023, CPaaS revenues are expected to grow 12,4% YoY to $15,6-billion a downward revision of $127-million from the 1Q23 forecast.
UC&C company highlights include:
* Microsoft’s UC&C revenues rose 20% YoY to $6,8-billion in 2Q23, accounting for a 42,8% share of the market, up 40 basis points from 1Q23.
* Zoom’s UC&C revenue grew 2,5% YoY in 2Q23 to $1,1-billion. It accounted for a 6,8% market share, staying relatively flat compared to 1Q23.
* Cisco’s UC&C revenue fell 19,3% YoY in 2Q23 to $951-million, but its market share grew, albeit just 11 basis points over 1Q23, to 6%.
CPaaS company highlights include:
* Twilio continues to lead the worldwide CPaaS market with a 24,1% market share, up 68 basis points from 1Q23. Its revenues surpassed $913-million in 2Q23, growing 15,8% YoY.
* Sinch followed in second place with 15,8% market share, down 49 basis points from 1Q23. Its revenue grew 0,8% YoY to $600-million in 2Q23.