Unified Communications Market Surges on COVID Lockdown Demand


Unified Communications Market Surges on COVID Lockdown Demand

Unified Communications Market Surges on COVID Lockdown Demand

Unified Communications Market Surges on COVID Lockdown Demand


The market for unified communications (UC) products has performed strongly in the first 19 weeks of the year as home workers and students scramble for online collaboration tools, according to new CONTEXT data. We found that the total addressable market (TAM) for the UC industry through distribution increased by 15.7% year-on-year across Europe's top five countries.

Cameras and headsets

The pandemic, and the government-mandated lockdowns that went into effect across Europe in the early months of 2020, have had a major impact on society. As so often is the case, this is also reflected in the technology landscape. Thus, it's perhaps no surprise that demand for UC surged when workers and their children were confined to their homes.

The top three UC segments, which accounted for a combined 80% of market revenue, bear this out. Revenue from sales of Collaboration Cameras (to enable video conferencing) increased 59.1%, and that of Collaboration Headsets surged by 25.6%. By contrast, IP Phones saw a decline in revenue of 10.2%, most likely due to the fact that they're mainly used in offices.

Spain leads the way

Although they went into lockdown at slightly different times, all five countries displayed double-digit UC revenue growth over the period. Spain, which was one of the first countries to close schools and businesses, recorded the biggest growth, at 60%. Poly performed extremely well here, recording revenue sales growth of 124% year-on-year in the first 19 weeks of 2020, resulting in a 12% gain in market share. Jabra was also responsible for much of the growth seen in Spain, with an increase of 114%. This enabled it to claim second spot in the market with 37.8%, just behind leader Poly (38.1%).

Elsewhere, Italy (27.4%), Germany (24.6%), the UK (15.1%) and France (14.9%) all recorded strong sales growth during the period. CONTEXT will continue to monitor this fast-changing market as lockdowns are relaxed across the region, empowering channel businesses to make better informed strategic decisions.

By SN


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