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The industry is rapidly adopting Western European standards, therefore world-class service and high-quality telecommunication products need to be offered to meet local business customer expectations. Unified communications (UC), which offer better productivity, increased efficiency and improved customer service, while not yet widely deployed, is becoming increasingly popular in the CEE region. Poland and Hungary, the two largest regional markets outside Russia, are the leaders in unified communications adoption.
"EU membership has gradually opened up the economies of the CEE countries, increasing competition between regional businesses and foreign companies" – says Dorota Oviedo, Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst from Unified Communications and Collaboration group. "Competitive pressure, as well as the ever-increasing number of mobile and multitasking employees, force local companies to look for new ways of cost saving and enhancing productivity."
The ability to communicate effectively with people inside and outside an organisation has become crucial in building a competitive advantage. UC tools enhance employees' collaboration, and availability "anytime, anywhere" enables businesses to deliver the best services in the shortest time.
"Multinational organisations with offices in the CEE region were among the first to deploy UC in order to extend and unify their communication systems," adds Oviedo. "Nevertheless, there are also local early adopters – both large enterprises and medium-sized companies." Public administration organisations have shown strong interest as well, especially as they are looking to modernise their ICT infrastructure, taking advantage of European Union funds.
A good example is Bydgoszcz City Council in Poland, where the UC solution deployment brought many organisational improvements, including "anywhere, anytime" access to information and communications in a secure environment with business continuity upgrades. It also enabled the flexibility of mobile working, thus employees are no longer desk-bound. Productivity gains in everyday City Council work also translate into better European Union funds management and usage - one of the priorities for the city of Bydgoszcz. "Additionally, investors have easier access to relevant public administration officers thereby shortening the procedures and speeding the decision making process," says Dorota Oviedo.
The CEE region offers substantial market potential for UC vendors. However, at present, only a few UC deployments have been completed. The current economic environment has strongly affected local investment plans, and many Eastern European enterprises have decided to delay their deployment projects.
Many of the vendors interviewed by Frost & Sullivan, showcased mainly recent examples of successful advanced contact centres deployments, but only a few of actual company-wide UC adoptions.
The contact centre market is continuously growing in the region with many Greenfield investments. "Improvement of customer service, coupled with other benefits achieved by the early adopters among contact centres, will likely trigger broader UC adoption in the enterprise environment in the coming years," concludes Oviedo.
If you would like to know more about Unified Communications Market in CEE region or/and in Europe, please contact Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at Joanna.lewandowska[.]frost.com. Please, include your full name, company name, title and contact details.
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joanna.lewandowska[.]frost.com 
