InfoTrack for Converged Applications (ICA)

Contact Center Report 2006
 

InfoTrack for Converged Applications is an ongoing market and competitive intelligence program focused on telephony-related applications which are quickly evolving based on IP (converged) technologies.  These applications are recognized by manufacturers, resellers and end-customers as important tools to improve employee productivity and increase external customer satisfaction, thus adding value to an IP-based telecommunications infrastructure.  ICA databases and models are used to track, analyze and forecast application endpoint and system shipments, installed base, market shares, manufacturer revenues and industry trends.

Application Categories
The major categories of applications which are tracked include:
•    Messaging (Voice Messaging and Unified Messaging)
•    Contact Center
•    Unified Communications
•    Mobility
•    Conferencing/Collaboration

Program Deliverables
The ICA program consists of the following elements:
•    Reports on manufacturer shipments, associated revenues and market shares by global region
•    End-point and system units sorted by size categories (where appropriate)
•    Global coverage segmented by US, Canada, APAC, CALA, EMEA
•    Forecasts for each application
•    Data provided on TelecomWeb in both pdf and Excel format for client manipulation and development of graphics
•    Consultative call-in support

Reports
Existing reports include:

1H07 Contact Center Report North America
1H07 Contact Center Report Global
Full Year 2006 Messaging Report
Full Year 2006 Contact Center Shipments
1H 2006 Contact Center Shipments
1H 2006 Messaging Report
2005 Report on Messaging and Contact Center Shipments

Program Benefits
•    Allows manufacturers to utilize data to enhance their market positions through press releases and announcements.
•    Enables manufacturers to compare their sales and shipments with those of competitors, determine the market/revenue opportunity and understand which manufacturers are selling/leading in which applications
•    Helps manufacturers and channels understand the drivers of and inhibitors to, sales of applications.

Relationship to Other InfoTech/TelecomWeb Programs

ICA has two companion programs, which when utilized by clients in a combined fashion with ICA, enable them to improve their planning and forecasting, product/system development and marketing and sales performance:

• InfoTrack for Enterprise Communications tracks global shipments and revenues of telephony systems (IP-PBX, PBX, KTS/Hybrid, Centrex and Hosted).  When this information is used in conjunction with ICA reports it enables manufacturers to judge how quickly markets are growing (US and globally) and to determine how much of the PBX/Key/IP Telephony end point market is penetrated with applications vs. available market opportunity.  For more information go to IEC.

• TelecomTactics is a sales support program consisting of a web-based database of telephony and applications systems functionality for numerous manufacturers, a monthly newsletter covering changes and announcements in the industry and call-in support.

•  Manufacturers use TelecomTactics to track popular features when deciding on adding new functionality and to assess attractive market segments for specific systems and features.

• Salespeople identify and highlight the strengths of their products versus those of competitors.  The average TelecomTactics user reports increasing sales win rates by 14%.

• Account Executives stay current on product features, allowing them to quickly provide knowledgeable bid responses and enabling them to be perceived as responsive and consultative resources resulting in increased sales wins and shorter sales cycles.

• Product Managers compare features and functionality of competing offers, using this intelligence to guide product and feature development.

• Dealers evaluate and compare competitors’ products rapidly in an unbiased way. They can format reports for clients easily, saving hours of preparation time.

• Enterprise IT/Telecom Managers evaluate alternative products and systems available in the market , reduce the amount of time and resource needed to gather this information and evaluate vendor claims against a third party objective database.

For more information go to TelecomTactics.