Report: Communications Industry Spending to Rise in 2010

Yankee Group has released a new report that revisits its top 10 predictions for 2009 to explore the changes that have already taken place. The report titled “Yankee Group’s (News - Alert) 2009 Predictions Reloaded” also provides an outlook for the second half of 2009 and beyond.

 

Earlier, Yankee Group predicted that 2009 would be a watershed year for the communications industry. The first half of 2009 was filled with economic anxiety, declining consumer confidence and widespread industry pessimism. However, Yankee Group is reportedly expecting communications spending to rise in early 2010. Recent data supports this notion, which said shows that 68 percent of respondents are planning to maintain or increase spending in the next three months.

 

The report predicts that the wired switch port sales will decline for the first time in history. However, wireless LAN is transforming into a primary source of connectivity for many enterprises. The Yankee Group survey data said that 89 percent of enterprises offered WLAN access in the office in 2009 as against 57 percent in 2006. The report said that the demand for cloud computing is on the rise as enterprises seek zero-capex solutions.

 

According to a recent Yankee Group survey, more than 75 percent of IT decision-makers are considering a Software-as-a-Service, or “SaaS (News - Alert)” application for customer relationship management or sales automation.

 

Another observation is that desktop virtualization will replace PCs. Yankee Group survey results indicated that 64 percent of enterprises have some form of a production deployment of desktop virtualization. This is essentially a huge shift from 2008 when Yankee Group earlier revealed only 10 percent had the technology deployed.

 

According to David Vorhaus, senior analyst at Yankee Group and co-author of the report, the dynamic first half of 2009 has set a new stage for the communications industry wrought with both challenges and opportunities. Amid the economic gloom, dollars are flowing only in very specific ways. Vorhaus said that cautious optimism remains the order of the day.

 

An independent technology research and consulting firm, Yankee Group is a source of deep insight and counsel on the impact of global connectivity revolution on enterprises and consumers.