Modern-day communications have advanced at such a rapid pace that it is now possible for remote teams and workers to communicate, and collaborate effectively using value-added tools and technologies that includes Web-based collaboration services.
A survey by F&S suggests that the new class of value-added online services is a powerful enabler for efficient communication between groups of distantly located people, requiring huge investments in a complex and expensive infrastructure.
"Web-based collaboration services integrate tried-and-tested forms of collaboration such as Web conferencing and instant messaging with newer technologies such as workspaces, wikis and podcasts," notes Dominic Dodd, Sr. analyst- Frost & Sullivan.
"They form a core component of the growing 'Software as a Service' (SaaS) market," adds Dodd.
The Global Web-based collaboration services market has generated revenues of $682.7 million in 2005, estimating this to reach $2,644.5 million in 2010. Web conferencing contributes a significant portion of revenues. F&S states that this is likely to change over the forecast period, as synchronous or real-time and asynchronous collaboration service technology will increasingly merge due to the growing need for tools like shared virtual workspaces and online collaborative authoring of documents.
The services will receive a strong boost with resurgence of new business start-ups, increasing globalisation, deployment of broadband communications. A lot of opportunities exist for service providers in a wide spectrum of companies like small office-home office (SoHo), small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), large global corporations as well as remote and tele-workers.
SMBs in short, represent a particularly attractive target group since they need to access and harness power of collaboration services but are unable to invest substantial amounts in complex technology or skills to support it. For large businesses, a key driving force is the need to communicate effectively across company boundaries and firewalls.
While the market has numerous participants, both large and small, solutions offered by major global software vendors and enterprise communication systems manufacturers will dominate the market. This could limit growth opportunities for Internet-based business communications and collaboration services. The battle for desktops of workers, who need to collaborate, is gathering pace with Web-based collaboration services that pose a distinct challenge to the prevailing dominance on-premise software solutions of major manufacturers.
