Unified Communication refers to the consolidation of many communications tools—chat, text, voice and video, and much more—into one platform. Your phone, computer, and even television are now extensions of each other. Your favorite starship captain might have had a name for it, but we call it UC. It’s here and it’s taking over business.
Here are some current forecasts and statistics worth checking out:
- According to an AT&T/IDG survey, 72% of organizations have deployed at least one UC or cloud communication application; over 50% of the 1,000 organizations surveyed expected to fully integrate UC by 2016.
- Information Week had a survey of their own of 488 businesses that showed 44% have UC systems deployed and in use, with an additional 13% planning to be up and running within 12 months. This is up from just one year earlier in 2013, when 38% had UC systems deployed.
- According to another Infonetics survey, over $1 billion was spent in the last quarter of 2014 on videoconferencing software and hardware. That means in 2015, we’ll likely spend $4 billion for videoconferencing equipment.
- Infonetics forecasts VoIP and unified communications services to grow to $88 billion market by 2018.
- Frost & Sullivan make a similar prediction, estimating that by 2019, the North American market alone will reach $9.35 billion.
With big numbers like that being tossed around, you need to rely on experts to help you make sense of it for your organization. The good news is that there’s no shortage of authorities ready to share their views with curious readers. Throughout the year, GetVoIP has followed the biggest thought leaders, news reporters, and opinion makers in the field of Unified Communication.
Here, listed by the number of followers, are our fifty favorite UC experts to follow on Twitter in 2015.
- Jeff Pulver @jeffpulver
- Brandon Kruse @kruz
- Bas Kooijman @bkooijman
- Evan Kirstel @evankirstel
- Alec Saunders @asaunders
- Jon Brinton @JonBrinton
- Rich Tehrani @rtehrani
- Dave Michels @DaveMichels
- Bruce Marler @brucemarler
- Tom Keating @tomkeating
- Sheila McGee-Smith @McGeeSmith
- Blair Pleasant @blairplez
- Andy Abramson @andyabramson
- Craig Walker @cwalker123
- Ronald Gruia @rgruia
- Brian Riggs @brian_riggs
- Irwin Lazar @imlazar
- Ward Mundy @NerdUno
- Jon Arnold @arnoldjon
- Matt Landis @matthewlandis
- Tom Arbuthnot @tomarbuthnot
- Olle E. Johansson @oej
- Steve Blood @SteveJNB
- Mark Dixon @c1pher
- Jeff Kagan @jeffkagan
- Randy Wintle @UCMadeEasy
- Suzanne Bowen @suzannebowen
- Doug Mohney @DougonIPComm
- Elka Popova @epopova
- Tommy Clarke @itommyclarke
- Rob Arnold @RobArnoldUCC
- Diane Myers @dianemyers
- Braun Mincher @BraunMincher
- Chris Norman @voipnorm
- Jonathan Rosenberg @jdrosen2
- Henry Dewing @hwdewing
- Fred Posner @fredposner
- Alaa Saayed @alaasaayed
- Jonathan McKinney @ucomsgeek
- Chris Talbot @northerntalbot
- Sandra Gustavsen @smgustavsen
- Cameron Reid @CloudLync
- Alan D. Percy @AlanDPercy
- Alan B. Johnston @alanbjohnston
- Kevin Kieller @kkieller
- Neil Darling @NeilDarling
- Marty Parker @martyparkeruc
- Andrew Prokop @ajprokop
- Mark Collier @markcollier46
- Reuben Yonatan @reubenyonatan (last but not least, I’d like to include our very own CEO in this year’s roundup)
Although we think this is a pretty solid list, by no means do we believe it to be comprehensive. If you have any other suggestions for the list, please leave them in the comments.
Additional shout out to:
51. Stephanie Watson @steffwatson
Here is a public Twitter list of the above UC experts so you can easily subscribe to them all at once.
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