Web Conferencing to Lead the Growth of Collaboration Solutions in India

India's economy is one of the fastest growing in the world and was largely insulated from the 2009 recession that affected the entire world. The country is primarily supported by its Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), which continue to grow in spite of turbulence in the international market. However,Large Enterprises also contribute towards the strong position of the country in the global arena. Though the economic situation in India is on a high, all organisations are always on the lookout for cost effective solutions to keep their operational and communication costs in check. In this context, web conferencing solutions seem to lead the way and become the preferred choice. Leading Industry research group, Wainhouse Research expects that many more companies in the country will adopt such solutions in next 5 years.

To support the rapid economic growth and need to collaborate between diversely located businesses the need for the fast adoption of remote conferencing and web-based collaboration solutions in the corporate sector of India has increased. Though conferencing solutions have existed in the country for close to a decade, India still remains at a nascent stage in terms of its implementation. According to the Wainhouse report, the conferencing market of the country was valued at US$ 90 million in 2010 of which 82 per cent of this figure rests on the shoulders of audio conferencing, while web conferencing accounts for just 15 per cent and remaining 3 per cent share of the total demand is for video conferencing solutions.

At present, audio conferencing enjoys the market share in this field primarily because it is the most cost effective option. However, the experts at Wainhouse believe that the demand for attended and unattended audio conferencing will decrease by 8 and 22 per cent, repetitively, in the next five years. On the other hand, web conferencing will grow by a stupendous 19 per cent, riding high on the demand for collaboration solutions. Seeing this demand for online collaboration solutions, Conferencing Service Providers (CSPs) like Arkadin ConferIndia have begun offering combined audio and web conferencing solutions under a 'One Rate' model. This type of pricing model allows users to access both types of solutions at the same rate.

The demand for conferencing solutions in India mainly originates from its prominent commercial centres - the metropolitan cities. As per the data released by Wainhouse, 96 per cent of the users opt for on-demand solutions, while just 4 per cent host high profile meetings using operator-assisted conferencing and collaboration solutions. The research firm also mentions that the market will grow slowly initially but post a cumulative 14 per cent growth in the next five years. In terms of valuation, the country's projected revenue growth would be US$ 171 million by 2015, close to double of the US$ 90 million that it earned in 2010.

Therefore, the future seems bright for CSPs like Arkadin ConferIndia that aim to capitalise on the Indian market and tap its full potential in coming times.

Data taken from 2011 Asia Pacific CSP Market Sizing & 5-Year Forecast (Wainhouse Research)

http://www.giiresearch.com/report/wai210167-2011-asia-pacific-csp-market...