The unified communications market starts off very strongly in 2021

30-05-2021 by MNP

Sales of products dedicated to unified communications have increased in value by 60% since the start of the year. In France, the market grew by 124%.

Despite its high level in 2020, the growth of the European unified communications market is not weakening, according to Context. Between January and mid-May, sales of products in this category made by IT wholesalers soared 60% in value compared to the same period the previous year. On the French market, they more than doubled (+ 124%), while they appreciated by 90% in Germany, by 58% in Italy and by 66% in Spain. Finally, no country in Europe experienced an increase of less than 55%, except the United Kingdom where growth was limited to + 26%.

Across the continent, April revenues declined slightly from the monthly average for the first quarter of 2021. But last month's sales were 70% higher than in April 2020, and 72% higher. % compared to April 2019. The excellent results in April were made possible by the good performance of all segments of the Unified Communications market. The most dynamic were those of cameras (+ 337%) and microphones (+ 105%).

The return to the offices changes the product mix

“The unified communications market has exploded since the start of the pandemic, driven by demand from homeworkers and students. This trend continues today as users continue to rely on these tools to improve their productivity, ”says Sam Naman of Context. “Another factor that contributes to the health of the market is the adoption of new video communications technologies. Many companies are in the deployment phase on all their sites, ”he adds.

For the rest of the year, Sam Naman expects the increase in sales to slow down, in particular because employees are gradually returning to their employers' premises. This explains why segments of unified communications products traditionally associated with business use (display systems, room systems) experienced strong growth in April. Even IP phones, whose sales slumped in 2020, saw double-digit growth (+ 16%) last month.