Friday, December 7, 2007

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Convergence, Open Environments Push Professional Services Take-Up

Parsippany, NJ December 7, 2007 According to the just released “InfoTrack for Enterprise Services –Professional Services Report, November 2007,” convergence and IP telephony (IPT), wireless, Internet, video, instant messaging (IM), intelligent PDAs and converged applications combined with the migration of proprietary voice systems and presence servers to an open environment vastly increases complexity and geometrically boosts the need for Professional Services. This is especially true of the small and medium business (SMB) market where, similar to the Managed Services marketplace, retailers and e-tailers are building Professional Service capabilities.

The report depicts the convergence-relative Professional Services market in terms of channel composition and participant market shares. Primary and secondary research was utilized to develop this report. Detailed information on the channel structure within Enterprise Business (501+ employees), Medium Business (101 to 500 employees) and Small Business (2 to 100 employees) was derived through secondary research and interviews with service providers, distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), managed service platform vendors, technology e-tailers and technology retailers.

“The addition of Professional Services to the retail and e-tail channels indicates a strategic initiative to maximize the emerging market opportunities in the small-business segment,” says Warren H. Williams, vice president/senior program director for InfoTrack for Enterprise Services and author of the report. “The availability of Professional Technical Services at the low end of the business market may impact the channel structure of manufacturers in the IPT and converged applications market, and will become a major route-to-market consideration as IPT and converged voice applications migrate to software running on commercially available hardware.”

For example, 26 percent of VARs plan to add IPT to their solutions portfolios, and 43 percent plan to add wireless in the 2007/08 timeframe, which will increase competitor density along with the need for companion Professional Services as well as to provide an opportunity for manufacturer channel expansion or channel refinement.

Overall, Williams believes the shift of the telephony market to a software model coupled with low-cost Professional Services will have a decided impact on the winners and losers in the SMB market and, potentially, all markets requiring a re-evaluation of routes to market and partners. He also thinks unified communications will draw many Professional Service providers to the traditional IPT vendors’ space, especially as the solution evolves to software.

Here are a few other findings from the “InfoTrack for Enterprise Services –Professional Services Report, November 2007:”

   >> Potentially, the good news is that there should be renewed interest in all channels carrying IPT and converged application solutions. However, price and margin may become dictating factors relative to channel recommendations.

   >> Retailers are attacking very small business with Product and Professional Services. From a channel perspective, this means manufacturers should consider partnering with e-tailers, retailers and small VARs with SMB market-segment solutions. They also should consider opening channel negotiations with system integrators and VARs planning to carry IPT and wireless solutions.

   >> For manufacturers with Professional Services capabilities, consideration should be given to developing scaled offers to be re-sold by existing and new channels. For manufacturers without Professional Services capabilities, consideration should be given to developing partnering relationships with Professional Service Providers and/or the implementation of their own capabilities, which could be built or bought.

For more information on this report, please visit
http://www.telecomweb.com/iespro1107/
or contact Mike O'Neill at moneill@telecomweb.com or at 973/602-0114.

About TelecomWeb

TelecomWeb encompasses global market-intelligence InfoTrack reports; daily e-letter TelecomWeb news break; TelecomWeb wireless, TelecomWeb broadband and TelecomWeb policy content packages; tariff consultancy Tarifica; and the Web-based business-telephony-product database TelecomTactics. To learn more about TelecomWeb, please visit www.TelecomWeb.com.

About the InfoTrack for Enterprise Services (IES) Program

The InfoTrack for Enterprise Services (IES) Program publishes six comprehensive, primary research studies each year. Its Managed Services track includes a semi-annual report that combines detailed competitor profile information, market trends and issues analysis, managed service offer details, end-user primary research, and market sizing and forecast data on the managed-services market. Other IES program tracks focus on the market for maintenance and professional services. For more information about InfoTrack for Enterprise Services, please visit www.telecomweb.com/marketresearch/enterprisesvcs/ or or contact Mike O'Neill at moneill@telecomweb.com or at 973/602-0114.

Contacts:
Debra Baker, managing editor, dbaker@telecomweb.com