As 2024 comes to an end, a few commentators from across the UC channel give their verdict on the year and how it was for them and the wider sector.
John McKindland, head of partner channel UK, Sona Business
We have seen some channel vender M&A this year especially in the Alt Net arena and although inevitable, it has happened faster than expected. Long-term it will be for the channel to bring networks closer together, driving further investment and bringing an already diverse product range to a wider audience.
In terms of key trends this year, the PSTN countdown clock continues to tick across the UK. In addition, there has been a lot of consolidation in the channel over the last year and the number of top tier communication providers has shrunk. But we have also seen the next batch of resellers striving for growth, brand building and looking for more white label solutions to bolt into their portfolios.
Our biggest challenge this year has been building a proposition that differentiates from the market standard and ensuring we can deliver value and profitable white label solutions for our partners. We have focused on our network capabilities only onboarding Layer 2 products and services and targeting specific vendors in the Alt Net community to deliver our services.
Network projects upgrading from GPON to XGS-PON over the last year have gathered pace and have expanded the reach of symmetric speeds of up to 10Gbps This has had a major impact delivering a high bandwidth lower cost proposition across the regions to a wider audience. Building a high-capacity high speed network for Digital Britain is going to be critical for economic growth in 2025 and beyond.
Vendor and reseller consolidation will continue in 2025, and we will see the addressable market shrink slightly, however we will also see continued vendor product development and competition, which can only be good for the channel. The contact centre market has rallied in 2024 with greater choice available from vendors. With better connectivity and reliability now available to a wider audience we will see a continuation in the deployment of cloud contact centres with omnichannel capabilities with channel partners looking for vendors such as Sona to provide a single proposition of a secure hosted contact centre with high-speed reliable connectivity.
Jamie Hughes, UK sales director, Evolve IP
2024 has been a fantastic year for us. We’ve introduced many new products and services, and we’ve seen significant growth in our partner base in the UK and US. We’re now proud to be a Top 10 UK service provider, and we’re gaining recognition as a major global player.
This year, our customers have increasingly recognised that it’s the overall cost of doing business, rather than just the cost of licenses, that truly matters. While some licenses may appear inexpensive upfront, they often come with hidden costs – poor service levels and platform instability can quickly turn what seemed like a great deal into a long-term expense. Additionally, as many customers approach the end of their three- or five-year contracts, they are reassessing their technology choices in much larger numbers. This shift means resellers need to continuously raise their game to meet evolving expectations and provide more value.
One of our biggest challenges has been navigating regulatory processes and ensuring that our partners, who hold commercial contracts with their customers, can overcome any associated hurdles and avoid hefty fines. This has required investment from Evolve IP from a personnel and commercial expense, as the international play is often what Evolve IP is referred to. Additionally, the rise of AI has been a major driver of conversation, but the reality is that for some players in the channel, it’s still more of a buzzword used to attract business, rather than delivering tangible benefits to users.
Technological advances have had a significant impact this year. Customers are becoming more knowledgeable and confident, often preferring to handle tasks themselves. As a result, our ability to offer managed services and DIY solutions has proven to be a major advantage. Ten years ago, running a phone system or managing a contact centre required a specialist, but today, many key changes can be made through a self-service approach. This shift toward greater customer autonomy has reinforced the need for us to remain agile.
I anticipate that many of the trends from 2024 will continue to gain momentum in 2025. Fixed mobile convergence will remain a key area of growth, and refining solutions to enhance business operations and customer experience will be a central focus. AI will play a significant role in driving these improvements. Ultimately, 2025 will be about making technology more intuitive, productive, and seamless for users.
Fredrik Hörnkvist, co-founder, Boom Communications
2024 has been a year of success for Boom Collaboration as we continue to expand our presence around the world, now operating in more than 30 countries, as part of an aggressive growth strategy.
In recent years the video conferencing market has been a rollercoaster ride offering two distinct ways forward – with dedicated in-room systems on the up, while bring your own device (BYOD) alternatives seemed to be heading down, particularly for many larger organisations. But 2024 has seen a dramatic return to BYOD deployments. Wider industry analysis mirrors our own findings that the use of individual devices is taking over. From our conversations, sales and interest from around the world, it’s an 80/20 split.
In terms of technological advances, this year AI in many ways is still at an early stage but its impact is gaining traction and will continue to grow over the coming years. Some video conferencing elements have been around for a while such as echo cancellation in mics and speakers, together with ambient noise reduction. Hardware does have embedded features but platforms such as Teams and Zoom are now joining the AI party to further enhance the end user experience. The key is not to go too far too fast but to keep the user experience simple.
Looking to 2025, for us it’s all about creating better meetings simply. This ethos will remain throughout 2025 as we continue to elevate the user experience to deliver the highest quality remote meetings that are as natural as possible. The latest technologies such as AI as well as our one cable connection ZYGO hub will help us raise the bar even higher.
