The market for professional services across all business size segments is expected to increase as individuals increasingly demand unified communications (UC) applications in the workplace. This is according to a recently released report published by InfoTech, a division of T3i Group.

The proliferation of unified communications technologies is being employee driven as they seek such features as instant messaging (IM), smartphones, video and IPTV (News - Alert). The increase in deployment of such capabilities is driving the need for increased planning and policies. In addition, corporate networks are also being taxed by current trends, such as “green” movement and teleworking.

The report, “InfoTrack for Enterprise Services: Professional Services Market Analysis,”  found that enterprise and small to midsized business (SMB) IT decision-makers are concerned about network infrastructure complexity and risk, both of which are being heightened by the multiple end-points and user-driven applications associated with unified communications.

The drive within the industry is creating an immediate need for professional services opportunities that include security and network assessments, and design and planning, with more than a quarter of IT decision-makers indicating that these services are a priority.

The report examined a dozen established professional services segments, such as security, network, unified messaging, contact center/CRM, design and planning. It also evaluated the impact of smartphones, video and “presence” applications on both planning and management.

Decision-makers from all business segments highlighted security as their foremost priority. A third of these individuals, half of international respondents and more than a quarter of small businesses plan to use a security assessment service to review their network infrastructures for security threats.

Roughly a third of decision-makers intend to follow up with a security planning and design service to implement new hardware and software solutions that will help protect their technology investments and business processes.

The study found that more than 50 percent of IT decision-makers plan to support smartphones to the same standard as desktop computers and a similar percentage envision the use of video/IPTV within their networks for sales, training/education and security monitoring applications.


For these same individuals, IM poses the greatest uncertainty as 41 percent stated that IM should not be allowed for ad hoc use and 34 percent found implementation of specific IM rules necessary.

"As businesses adopt presence, mobility and video services, decision-makers across the spectrum of customer segments see the need for professional and skilled support," commented Susan Hobart, Vice President and Senior Research Director at T3i Group, in a Wednesday statement. "Service providers with broad capabilities and name recognition will be the most successful, as we found familiarity with the provider is one of the top three selection criteria."

The growing demand for increased functionality and services within the telecommunications market will have far-reaching implications as far as IT departments and other decision makers are concerned. The challenge is in embracing those technologies that benefit the business and rejecting those that pose a threat and expecting employees to accept such a position.