Unified Communications – What you need to know?

By Wholesale

How does Cisco’s acquisition of BroadSoft benefit the Optus network of wholesale partners in Australia, and how can we help them capitalise on the opportunities it presents?

These were the questions we aimed to answer when attending BroadSoft Connections 2018 – one of the world’s largest unified communications (UC) industry events.

The conference, held in Miami USA this year, was a unique opportunity to hear first-hand Cisco’s roadmap for BroadCloud, which powers the Optus Cloud-UCX platform. It was also a chance to network with global service providers to learn what is working for them in their markets, as well as engage with the conference’s 1,300 attendees – including industry experts, customers, and partners.

The big takeaway from BroadSoft Connections was that the future of UC is in the cloud. In fact, Cisco predicts by 2020, Cloud UC deployments will surpass the on-premise PABX system. Cisco  actively encouraged service providers to move their UC products into the cloud and announced plans to integrate its Webex collaboration functionality into BroadSoft’s BroadCloud platform

BroadSoft Connections positioned the mid-market (100 – 1,000 employees), as the priority and growth opportunity in the market for service providers. The growth potential of this market is ‘astounding’ and ‘relatively untapped’, according to BroadSoft, with annual growth estimates at 25 per cent.

Growth in the mid-market is being driven by businesses who are becoming more familiar and comfortable with cloud solutions. Increasing adoption of UC is also helping accelerate innovations in the market, as vendors like Cisco commit more R&D.

No longer confined as a simple communication tool, UC is evolving as a team-based collaboration  tool. Cisco are designing their products around this guiding principle, from omni-channel communication platforms through to virtual whiteboards and video conferencing.

The strategies and UC trends outlined at BroadSoft Connections are good news for Optus’s wholesale partners.

Optus was the first tier-one telco in Australia to offer BroadSoft’s cloud-based UC portfolio. This gives Optus partners a distinct advantage as providers look to migrate services to the cloud and remove the complexities of legacy solutions.

The evolution of UC  is an opportunity for us as an industry to deliver more value to businesses and end-users. We’re looking forward to applying our learnings from BroadSoft Connections and helping our network of service providers realise their potential in the exciting space.

To find out more about how Optus can help your business in the UC space, click here or contact your account manager today.