Unified Communications and Collaboration

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Meet the Experts

Photo of Denise Lund
Denise Lund

Research Vice President WW Telecom and Unified Communications

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Jitesh Gera

Research Manager, Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C)



IDC's Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) service is supported by a cross-functional team of IDC analysts to provide a holistic view of how multiple markets intersect in the journey toward UC&C. It examines unified communications — a combination of directory, routing, and the management of communications, presence, and mobile access to deliver seamlessly integrated voice, messaging, collaboration, and video applications — from multiple technology and services angles. It also examines the integration of conferencing and team collaboration apps in the market's UC&C solutions. This unique IDC service delivers in-depth UC&C forecasts, UC&C vendor competitive analysis, and a comprehensive UC&C taxonomy.


Markets and Subjects Analyzed


  • Top UC&C ecosystem vendors and service providers
  • Cloud UC/UCaaS vendors and service provider offerings as part of UC&C solutions
  • Unified messaging, including email, fax, instant messaging, and voicemail
  • IP PBXs and IP phones
  • Web, audio, and videoconferencing solutions
  • UC&C integration with a subset of collaborative apps, namely conferencing and team collaborative apps
  • Business costs and benefits of UC&C
  • Drivers and inhibitors of UC&C adoption
  • Deploying UC&C solutions
  • UC&C best practices

Core Research


  • Worldwide Unified Communications and Collaboration Forecast
  • Unified Communications and Collaboration Taxonomy
  • IDC's U.S. Enterprise Communications Survey: Unified Communications and Collaboration
  • IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Unified Communications and Collaboration Vendor Analysis
  • IDC TechScape: Unified Communications and Collaboration Technologies
  • IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Videoconferencing Vendor Analysis
  • IDC Market Glance: Unified Communications and Collaboration

In addition to the insight provided in this service, IDC may conduct research on specific topics or emerging market segments via research offerings that require additional IDC funding and client investment.


Key Questions Answered


  1. What is the worldwide total available market for UC&C for infrastructure, hosted and managed voice, UC collaboration apps, and other UC&C segments?
  2. What are the most compelling customer use cases for UC&C?
  3. What is IDC's assessment of the strategies and capabilities of the different UC&C ecosystem solution providers relative to each other?
  4. What are the market dynamics, drivers, and inhibitors of UC&C solutions?
  5. How is AI impacting the UC&C ecosystem of providers and changing the adoption and use of UC&C solutions in the market?

Companies Covered