BroadSoft Survey Shows Users See Mobile Phones as UC Devices

VoIP company BroadSoft has conducted a survey about mobile phone usage in the workplace. Surprisingly (or not?), mobile phones are replacing physical ones in the workplace. Here’s what VoIP-centric VARs should know about the marketplace …

The BroadSoft 2011 Mobile Enterprise of the Future Survey was conducted by Cohen Research Group, who surveyed 400 IT decision-makers in enterprises across the United States and the United Kingdom. Here are some highlights from the results:

Findings also show 76 percent of those same IT decision-makers also make decisions about UC and VoIP technology, which may or may not come as a surprise to VARs working in this area. Similarly, 62 percent of those same decision-makers believe expanding UC needs are a top priority. That’s good news for 2012. Interestingly, most companies surveyed put their own mobile phone network operator at the top of the list for the “best positioned” to drive UC needs. Microsoft and Google were runners-up.

What does this translate to for VARs? For starters, it means mobile device management could dovetail into VoIP and UC opportunities. It will be interesting to see if big-name vendors such as Microsoft and Google start tailoring their offerings to mobile devices like Cisco has already started to do.