Ten Unified Communication Stats Every CIO Should Know

(Below is a recent “Need to Know” blog post from ATC partner, Star2Star Communications.)

In the search engine era, breaking down the incredible volume of available data into meaningful, digestible chunks can be extremely difficult. In the technology industry in particular, information overload can be a major obstacle in the search for insight. But as in any aspect of life, pared information is generally easier to absorb and understand. For that reason, we’ve compiled 10 critical UC-related stats all in one place for your perusal:

1. 62 percent of survey respondents say improved employee collaboration is a top business driver for UC. – Information Week, 2014 State of Unified Communications
2. The global market for UC and VoIP services will reach $88 billion by 2018. – Infonetics, 2014 “VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers” report
3. On average, CIOs report that their companies realize just 43 percent of technology’s potential benefits. – Gartner, 2013 “Hunting and Harvesting in a Digital World” report
4. SMB spending on cloud solutions will grow by almost 20 percent over the next five years. – IDC, “Cloud Computing in the Midmarket: Assessing the Options in 2013” report
5. Work-from-anywhere jobs increased by 118 percent in 2013. – Flexjobs, “Work-from-Anywhere Jobs Increase 118%”
6. In 2013, 29 percent of the global workforce was considered anytime, anywhere workers. – Forrester, “2013 Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends” report
7. Cloud computing saves businesses more than 15 percent per user on average. – Computer Economics, 2014 “The Economic and Strategic Benefits of Cloud Computing” report
8. Of the 60,000 to 100,000 small businesses negatively affected by Hurricane Sandy, up to 30 percent are estimated to have failed as a direct result of the storm. – Small Business Majority, 2013 “Climate Change Preparedness and the Small Business Sector” report
9. The healthcare industry will invest $5.4 billion on cloud computing by 2017. – MarkersandMarkets, “Healthcare Cloud Computing (Clinical, EMR, SaaS, Private, Public, Hybrid) Market – Global Trends, Challenges, Opportunities & Forecasts” report
10. By 2016, 30 percent of BYOD strategies will leverage personal applications, data and social connections for enterprise purposes. – Gartner.com topics, BYOD

Whether it’s disaster recovery, mobile productivity or better collaboration, UC is improving a wide array of operations across numerous verticals. As the saying goes, the numbers don’t lie.

Click here to read Star2Star’s white paper about the true value of UC.