Unified Communications as a Service (Ucaas) Market - Forecasts from 2024 to 2029

The United Communication As A Service (UCaaS) market is projected to grow from US$51.012 billion in 2024 to US$155.191 billion in 2029 at a CAGR of 24.92%.

Unified Communication as a Service is a cloud-based communication platform that integrates video conferencing, file sharing, chat, and telephony, among other tools, on a single interface. The platform is a modern approach over conventional communication networks and serves an organization’s multi-functional needs, which enhances its overall operational efficiency and workplace productivity. 

Unified communication as a service offers high scalability for communication networks, which assists large firms in expanding their communication channels, adapting to the dynamic environment, and gaining more customer exposure. Moreover, the high flexibility provided by UCaaS further allows the user to select an appropriate communication tool that suits his/her requirements.

Security features of Unified communication as a service, such as multi-factor authentication, data encryption, and firewall, safeguard private data and communication from unauthorized access, hacking, or breaches. As a result,  UCaaS provides a modern communication approach that offers a comprehensive collaboration platform to organizations across various industry verticals with the added benefits of scalability, accessibility, and security.

Unified Communication As A Service Market Drivers:

Growing work-from-home or remote working trend had bolstered the market expansion. 

 The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the remote working trend, which offers cost-effective and productivity benefits. Moreover, the bring-you-own device trend is also on the rise, which has contributed to the increase in market demand for remote working solutions and software. The multi-channel communication and collaboration tools provided by the UCaaS, owing to which the solution has become an ideal choice to address the current demand. 

Full-time employees based in major economies are showing interest in remote working owing to its cost-effective nature. According to the data provided by the Global Survey of Working Arrangements (G-SWA) for April-May 2023, work-from-home prevalence was higher in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, with full-time employees working on an average of 1.4 fully paid days from home weekly. 

The booming demand and adoption of cloud-based solutions have propelled the market growth. 

Technological adoption is booming, and organizations are looking to implement investments in improving their IT infrastructure that would digitize their communication channels. The comprehensive suite of cloud-based communication and collaboration tools provided by Unified Communication as a service requires less maintenance and offers businesses the opportunity to simplify their employee workflow. Additionally, favorable investments undertaken by governing authorities in promoting a cloud computing environment have led to a further upward market trajectory for unified communication as a service.

UCaaS' cost-effective nature has stimulated the market growth.

Unified communication as a service provides a wide variety of options that make communication easy among employees and their clients. Likewise, the cost associated with deployment, staff training, licensing, and other operational costs varies depending on the size of the firm and can impact the demand for the solution. 

According to the “Unified Communications as a Service Total Cost of Ownership 2023,” research study released by Metrigy in January 2024, which covered 42 industry verticals across the US and Canada, a wide range of costs inclusive of licensing, third-part performance, administrative management, and training are considered while analyzing the total operational cost. Hence, on average the companies spent US$791 on licensing and US$4,429 on IT employee training every year. The study further stated that major firms such as Microsoft are one of the leading UCaaS solution providers for larger organizations. 

Unified Communication As A Service Market Segmentation Analysis

The healthcare sector is set to grow at a constant rate.

End-user-wise, the unified communication as a service market is analyzed into the BFSI, IT & Telecom, retail, healthcare, public sector, education, and others. The healthcare sector is expected to account for a considerable market share and is poised for constant growth fueled by the high applicability of UCaaS solutions to improve communication and collaboration among staff, patients, and caregivers, establishing a secure route for messaging, telemedicine services, and video conferencing. With the rise of remote work and telehealth services, the demand for UCaaS in the healthcare sector is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.  

Unified Communication As A Service Market Geographical Outlook

North America accounted for a significant share of the global unified communications as a service market.

Geography-wise, the unified communication as a service market is divided into North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The North American region is set to account for a significant market share and will witness the quickest market expansion fuelled by the booming cloud computing in major regional nations, namely the USA and Canada. The well-established presence of major market players such as Microsoft, Zoom Communications Ins, and Verizon, which have formed close ties with leading business firms across varied industry verticals, mainly BFSI, IT & Telecom, for their cloud-based solutions inclusive of UCaaS, also fuels regional market growth. 

Moreover, favorable government initiatives and investments to bolster industrial digitization, such as “Industry 4.0,” coupled with the growing remote working, are acting as additional driving factors for the regional market growth. For instance, according to Statistics Canada, the remote working trend has witnessed a significant increase post-COVID pandemic, with the percentage of Canadians working from home increasing from 7.1% in May 2016 to 20.1% in May 2023. 

Unified Communication As A Service Market Developments:

• January 2023: Atos entered into an exclusive negotiation with Mintel Network to sell the former’s Unified Communications & Collaboration Services businesses, which also provides cloud-based unified communication as a service. The acquisition would further expand Unify’s geographical footprint, serving over 75 million users globally. 
• July 2022: Ericsson completed the acquisition of Vonage Holding Corp, which would enable the former to provide a comprehensive portfolio of communication solutions, including CCaaS and UCaaS. The acquisition was part of Ericsson's plan to expand its mobile network business in enterprises.  

The Unified Communication As A Service market is segmented and analyzed as:

By Application

• Enterprise Telephony
• Meetings (Audio/Video/Web Conferencing)
• Messaging
• Communication-Enabled Business Processes

By End-User

• BFSI
• IT & Telecom
• Retail
• Healthcare
• Public Sector
• Education
• Others

By Geography

• North America
• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• South America
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Others
• Europe
• Germany
• France
• United Kingdom 
• Spain
• Others
• Middle East and Africa
• Saudi Arabia
• UAE
• Israel
• Others
• Asia Pacific
• China
• Japan
• India
• South Korea
• Indonesia
• Taiwan
• Others