NEWS
End user spending on communications
services in South Africa will grow in 2017
End user spending on communications
services in South Africa is forecast to
total R122 billion in 2017, a 0.7%
increase from 2016, according to
Gartner, Inc. “The forecast growth rate
is slight, mainly due to shifts to less
expensive legacy service offerings as
competition heats up,” said William
Hahn, Principal Research Analyst at
Gartner. This slight growth in spending
on communications services in South
Africa in 2017 compares favourably with
the global market, which is forecast to
show a 0.2% decline.
Business customers are applying
effective pressure to service providers
to get shorter contracts, lower and
more accurate pricing, and shifting to
software-defined architectures that
improve their ability to order only
what they need at the time growth
occurs. End user mobile data and
voice spending is forecast to total
R95.5 billion in 2017, a 1.2% increase
from 2016. “Spending growth in this
segment is slowing, mainly due to
increased competition between the
major providers as market penetration
increases, as well as decreased
emphasis on voice usage,” said Hahn.
In South Africa, the decline in spending
on voice services offsets gains from an
increase in data connections. “Many
users engage in substitute messaging,
such as IM chat, and the predominance
of prepaid billing can accelerate this
trend,” said Hahn.
Cloud-based video conferencing
changing the face of business
With its Lifesize Cloud solution,
SkyGroup Communications is offering
reseller partners and clients the option
to enjoy an easy to use and affordable
cloud-based video conferencing
solution, based entirely on your
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The solution requires little hardware
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ownership and is 100% hosted and
managed in the cloud.
“Meeting face-to-face still outplays
email chains and lengthy conference
calls, in which employees are often
found multi-tasking,” states Marius van
Wyk, Operations and Technical Director
at SkyGroup Communications.
“While business is aware that video
conferencing and calling is the answer,
10
INTELLIGENTCIO
many still find the cost of larger
boardroom-based solutions inhibitive.” and you can use it to extend a corporate
message to everyone in a business.
Additional business benefits of the
solution include managers and recruiters
being able to use video streaming and
recording in their talent acquisition
strategies. Video is also an excellent
means to ensure knowledge sharing Calls can be made via desktop app or
a browser via browser-based calling,
and can include up to 50 participants.
Meetings and calls can also be
scheduled directly in Google Calendar or
Microsoft® Outlook.
www.intelligentcio.com