Russian Unified Communications Market. TAdviser 2024 review

In 2023-2024, the leading players in the Russian UC market supplemented and developed the functionality of their solutions, improved user interfaces, built effective support work - in a word, they tried to take maximum advantage of the help provided by foreign suppliers to improve their positions in the market, expand the circle of customers, enter new industries and expand into the markets of friendly countries.

The company, which celebrated VINTEO its decade in 2023, released a new version of the software servers AEROSPACE FORCES VINTEO.

We have implemented several dozen updates, and the VINTEO Mobile mobile application and the VINTEO Desktop software client have also received new useful features, − says Dmitry Seryi, deputy director and co-founder of the company.

Also, according to him, a full-fledged VINTEO service division has been launched - a set of programs focused on comprehensive support for customers and partners in the implementation and operation of the company's products. Over the year, the capabilities of this unit have grown significantly. A full-scale Service Desk was deployed to work on technical requests from users, significantly improved query processing and incident response rates, regulated processes, industrial programs and certified trainings were launched, internal and external application tools for monitoring and effective operation of VINTEO VKS solutions were finalized and fully implemented, centralized feedback collection and analysis capabilities are implemented to further improve products and expand their functionality.

"This is an additional team of specialists who not only responds to customer requests and solves problems that require an immediate solution, but she herself, together with the development team, is looking for flaws in the product code, sets tasks for developers to release a release with improvements," − explained Dmitry Starovoitov, General Director of SBK JSC.

NOTA, the developer of the DION corporate communications platform, according to Dmitry Denisov, made every effort to develop its VKS service into a full-fledged unified communications platform: it added new functions, services and modules to it.

VK Tech is developing the VK WorkSpace corporate communications platform, which includes mail, messenger, video conferencing service, cloud storage with document editor. In 2024, a large messenger update was released in VK WorkSpace. New features were added: creating and organizing folders, archiving and docking chats, managing notifications. And earlier, video conferencing tools were significantly expanded - users were able to conduct webinars, moderate and record calls and receive recordings through the bot.

Also in 2024, VK Tech specialists continued to work on developing tools for fast and seamless transfer of company data from third-party services - migration from Google, Microsoft and more has become available to businesses. In terms of on-premises solutions, the development of mail archive migration tools, calendar events, and user rules continues. For commercial customers, it became possible to import files from foreign cloud storage into Disk on the VK WorkSpace platform.

In 2024, we began introducing the VK WorkSpace communication platform for large customers for tens of thousands of workplaces. For example, we signed an agreement with RusHydro. At the first stage of the project, more than 20 thousand employees will begin to use the cloud version of the VK WorkSpace platform. By the end of 2025, it is planned to bring the total number of users to 40 thousand. The position of our company has also strengthened in the segment of On-premises solutions. A new project has been launched to introduce the VK WorkSpace platform in Rosseti, one of the world's largest electric grid holdings. At the first stage, it is planned to connect 100 thousand employees of the holding to VK WorkSpace, "said Anton Ten, Commercial Director of VK WorkSpace at VK Tech.

The desire of large businesses, industrial enterprises and telecom operators to strengthen digital sovereignty and the growth of corporate clients with a large number of licenses were key factors in the increase in TrueConf's revenue. According to Dmitry Odintsov, the company continued its expansion into international markets. As a result, the largest manufacturer of military aircraft and helicopters in India Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the leader in the extraction of iron ore Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited, Nuclear Atomic Power Station, switched to independent systems TrueConf (NAPS), Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health and Clinics in Vietnam, Agribank DakLak Vietnamese State Agricultural Bank, Bangladesh Coast Guard, Indonesian Naval Academy (AAL), Brazil drilling company Foresea Drilling Services Ltd., as well as some other organizations.

Note that VINTEO also began promoting developments to foreign markets - to the regions of the Middle East, Africa and Asia with the construction of a partner business model.

For MTS Link, this period has become a time of transformation, notes Pavel Potekhin, executive director of the company. Changing the brand from the familiar Webinar brand to MTS Link reflected an updated strategy aimed at creating a unified communications platform for business. Last year, MTS Link introduced the Boards service - an interactive collaboration board that allows you to visualize ideas, draw up any type of schemes, plan projects and conduct brainstorms, and launched its own development of a − module for conducting hybrid meetings Link Rooms. And this was the public release of the MTS messenger Link Chata.

SATEL has been remembered for several interesting projects over the past years. One of the most significant − the modernization of the corporate telephone communication system of Promsvyazbank based on the developer's own solution - the RTU unified communications platform. Another major project was implemented for one of the production sites of Polymetal. SATEL specialists built a private LTE network for the Amur Hydrometallurgical Plant, which was an important step in the implementation of the company's digitalization strategy.

One of the significant achievements of the company Informtechnika and Communication"" was the introduction of the functionality of federations. It allows you to combine independent servers ROSCHAT different organizations into a single structure (subscriber directory, calls, conferences, chats, etc.). This makes it possible to organize working groups within several organizations, increases the efficiency of secure communications and expands the options for applying the solution.

To create a federation, you need to configure additional security settings, user whitelists and blacklists, a role model within the federation, etc. Each ROSCHAT remains independent and is managed by its own organization, the federation is an add-on over existing client communication systems.

MTS Exolve recalled that the cloud communication platform of the same name was launched in 2023. At the start, the developers focused on the voice channel. Accordingly, the platform was originally focused on voice traffic. Later, text channels, SMS communications were added, development to the omnicommunication API took place.

In one API, you can send a text, voice message, get feedback, use it all automatically, "says Vasily Sazhko, Product Director of MTS Exolve.

MTS Exolve provides such opportunities as:

• Organization of hotlines and cloud contact centers for prompt communication with customers.
• Create personalized solutions based on data analysis.
• Enabling voice assistants.
• Integration with core CRM systems for contact and feedback management.

We have increased our expertise in the field of unified communications, became partners of most Russian UC vendors and expanded the portfolio of products we offer, − said Yakov Shapiro, head of multimedia and UC areas at Jet Infosystems.

According to him, new versions are constantly tested in the laboratory, and then unfold in the showroom of video and voice solutions.

At the same time, as Aleksei Zhirnov notes, the saturation of the market for unified communications and means of joint work with products of domestic manufacturers, the functionality of which at first glance looked approximately the same for everyone, was a certain challenge for both integrators and their customers.

And if for customers the competition between developers and solution providers is, by and large, − good, then for the Russian vendors of UC platforms, solutions and services it is a challenge. To adequately respond to it, you have to increase investments in product development and marketing.

For players who are rapidly growing their business, like MTS Link, or the base of large corporate clients, like TrueConf, the need to adapt to changes and to the peculiarities of the needs of such customers was also a challenge.

The negative factor with which the participants in the Russian unified communications market have to reckon − the increase in cyber attacks on the IT infrastructure. According to Alexander Shikinov, sales director of MANGO OFFICE, the growth of cyber threats and an increase in the regulator's security requirements for IT products is a headache. According to him, to overcome it, the company radically rebuilt all internal processes, as well as invested "tremendous resources in ensuring the maximum level of security of online services.

Information security requirements are placed on UC system and solution providers and customers. In general, customers, says Artem Cheprak, General Director of Informtechnika and Svyaz JSC, are becoming more and more demanding of functionality, compliance with foreign counterparts and security.

Unified communications systems today − the main tool for doing business, so they may well belong to critical information infrastructure facilities. According to Dmitry Starovoitov, General Director of SBK JSC, this depends on which organization operates it.

PAC are responsible for processing information necessary for management, technology, production and other processes, − says Artem Cheprak, − Since PAC include software, the information security function falls on it. In addition, it is possible to use additional solutions that provide an increased level of safety.

Such additional specialized information security solutions are also in the portfolios of system integrators. Thus, AMT GROUP has developed an InfoDiode unidirectional data transfer system. It allows you to solve a number of problems with guaranteed protection against many information security threats and ensures the highest level of isolation of critical unified communications systems, while maintaining the required level of their functionality for interaction with related information systems.

The most demanding clients for the protection of corporate communications, according to Dmitry Odintsov, are actively migrating to autonomous VKS systems, including as part of PAC based on Russian processors. Back in 2020, Trukonf, MCST JSC and BASEALT created a TrueConf MCU video communication server based on a Russian hardware and software complex with Elbrus processors and a special Alt OS. The complex is designed to work in the IT infrastructure of Russian organizations, including KII facilities, where the use of foreign technology stacks is unacceptable.

In 2024, we agreed with the Aquarius group of companies to promote two jointly developed software and hardware systems for organizing a digital workplace. PACS are created on the basis of a stack of domestic technologies and are used to automate the work of state bodies and enterprises throughout the country, − says Maxim Smirnov, Deputy General Director of IVA Technologies.

According to him, a R&D separate information security department was created in the center of the company to meet the requirements of state customers, large corporations and regulatory bodies in this area.

Our team of specialists works with technology partners to test the security of the IVA MCU platform using a wide range of methods and approaches. Any vulnerability found is fixed, every release of the IVA MCU undergoes thorough security testing on Cyber ​ ​ Poligon before release, − the expert explains.

Work to strengthen the information security of VINTEO solutions is ongoing - both from the point of view of the product and together with leading domestic experts of the information security market and relevant departments, − says Dmitry Seryi.

Those of them who offer cloud solutions certify their platforms as a CII object, for example, came to NOTA, which hosts the cloud version of the DION system on T1 Cloud.

We set out to provide customers with a smooth and comfortable transition from foreign platforms to our product, while maintaining their usual tools and a high level of service. Our team is doing everything possible to successfully adapt the business to new realities, − says Dmitry Denisov.

According to him, it will continue next year: vendors will listen even more carefully to the needs of customers and offer products that meet their needs as much as possible.

Another feature of the Russian unified communications market was noted by Dmitry Starovoitov. According to him, this market has no clear boundaries. And this is true, since even its large players initially relied mainly on one direction of communication: the VKS system, corporate telephony, messenger, means of collaboration.

The UC category sometimes includes software products designed more for planning joint activities than for internal corporate communications. Conversely, for example, some attribute the CommuniGate Pro platform to mail services, − the expert explains and adds that this is a mistake.

Many suppliers were looking for partners to form their ecosystems, capable of providing customers with the full-fledged unified communications they need. {{quote 'We see that new VKS solutions and instant messengers regularly appear, which find their niches among customers. But in order to truly claim leadership, it is necessary to create comprehensive solutions. It is the ecosystem that allows customers to give an integrated approach through the integration of VKS, mail services, telephony and instant messengers, − says Maxim Smirnov, Deputy General Director of IVA Technologies. }}

At the same time, as Mikhail Chizhikov notes, the trend towards the inclusion of communication services in business processes has intensified in the UC industry. According to him, VK WorkSpace continued to develop the integration of services with each other and with other corporate systems, so that any company could create a single and convenient space on the basis of the platform for effective interaction of teams, including geodistributed ones.

Vasily Sazhko (MTS Exolve) says that there is a high demand for automation of communications and a continuing increase in the penetration of instant messengers and AI into dialogue communications.

We faced a difficult challenge - how to make it possible to "communicate" platforms and robots. Boxed solutions are not suitable here. The way out was the creation of a platform that allows you to decompose individual boxed solutions "into cubes," to create the so-called "customizable telecom." Customizable telecom is a new approach to communications, when customers, businesses determine the design of communications - how communication should be built, in which channels, in what sequence, at what time, with what load, with what regional specifics. All this clients define independently through the API platform, forming their own dialogue scenario, be it a platform-with-platform dialogue or platform-with-person, person-with-person, person-with-platform dialogue - in any direction, in any channel. After all, communication is an important part of the business, and since there is a general trend towards business automation, automation of communications is also in demand, "Sazhko said.

Certain changes have also occurred in the unified communications segment according to the service model (UCaaS). There is a forecast from analysts who expect it to grow by 21% in 2024. As a driver of such growth, Alexander Shikinov names large IT companies that produce products with functionality for automating communications, which cover only part of the needs of customers.

Many unified communications product developers have decided to expand their product lines towards hardware. For example, historically "software" vendors have IP phones of their own production, entered in the THORP register (telecommunications equipment of Russian origin). Of course, this gives us additional opportunities as a system integrator to offer customers full-featured complete solutions, the compatibility of components inside which is guaranteed by the manufacturer himself, which, accordingly, reduces the time for the implementation of such systems and simplifies their further operation by customer IT services, - says another change that began on the Russian UC market last year, Aleksei Zhirnov.

The coronavirus pandemic has proven to companies from a variety of industries that the lack of unified communications systems in the event of force majeure threatens to suspend business. Even those of them who believed that one could do without video conferencing meetings urgently began to search for such a system or service. In the spring of 2022, those of them who chose a Western supplier faced the need for import substitution.

In 2023-2024, many Russian developers of UC systems and solutions, UCaaS providers and system integrators found customers from new sectors of the Russian economy. Business and production processes in each of them have specifics, which means that adapting UC products and services for them to it is a valuable experience with which you can master a new segment of customers.

NOTA, according to Dmitry Denisov, has implemented a number of successful projects to implement the DION corporate communications platform in IT and telecom communist companies, in transport, in the public sector and in business consulting. VINTEO's customer pool includes oil and gas companies and financial organizations. For VK, which has worked with customers from these industries before, metallurgy has become a new industry in which its UC solutions are in demand.

MTS Link, which shifted its focus from training products to unified communications, increased customers from industries not related to education and corporate training, found new customers among large retailers, fintech companies, as well as pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical clinics.

SATEL managed to implement several successful projects in the banking sector. Thus, according to Roman Romanov, it ensured the technological independence of Promsvyazbank's digital solutions by implementing the transition to a domestic unified communications platform to build a reliable high-quality communication system, simplify the administration of communication infrastructure, and reduce production costs.

Initially, we concentrated on replacing foreign decisions in state bodies. Today, the business is already beginning to more actively use our solutions for corporate communications, as it sees that we offer mature solutions in terms of communication quality, performance and functionality, − says Maxim Smirnov.

IVA Technologies has more than 500 clients from various areas of the economy, including transport, healthcare, industry, education, telecom, power and finance, he said.

Last year, we successfully entered the metallurgical and mining sectors, − says Artem Cheprak.

Developers have used UC products before. But they began to introduce them even more actively. The reason is simple - it has become more difficult to sell, − comments Alexander Shikinov.

This became especially noticeable among industrial enterprises, the production of which has intensified recently, which, in turn, required improving the quality of communications to ensure their business processes, − said Alexander Zhirnov.

By promoting their UC systems and services to potential customers, developers, suppliers and, of course, system integrators talk about the migration strategy from Western software to their products developed and tested by them with customers of the same industry affiliation.

It is clear that along with the specifics of the vertical market, the scale of the potential customer's business also affects the choice of such a strategy. In large banks, for example, the number of users of unified communications systems exceeds several thousand, during the peak load on the system, thousands of employees simultaneously interact in the system through different channels. In addition, depending on the peculiarities of the company's business processes, UC systems and services are used differently, therefore, their migration strategies cannot be the same.

Migration provides seamless migration of data and settings. When changing a cloud solution to a local one, we help businesses design and deploy the necessary infrastructure, "says Dmitry Denisov.

Leading Russian suppliers of unified communications systems have a complete set of tools that ensure fast and high-quality migration. Thus, the company "SBK" for the implementation of the CommuniGate Pro platform uses tools for data conversion, training of customer personnel, organization of technical support from partner companies. According to Dmitry Starovoitov, their effectiveness is high - after installing CommuniGate Pro and transferring (loading) data, the customer can immediately start work, it takes one, less than two weeks to adapt.

Link has experience in the rapid, even emergency, deployment of the platform in large organizations MTS. So, in the Library named after V.V. Mayakovsky St. Petersburg , this UC system was introduced in just 4 days.

In addition to the time, which, on average, is required to switch from the UC system of the global vendor to the Russian unified communications system, with the correctly chosen migration strategy, the customer can maintain his investments. This option opens up when choosing a supplier whose software supports the protocols of Western manufacturers. When implementing the SATEL system, only the "core" of the system changes, for example, in the existing fleet of telephone equipment, the usual user experience is preserved, and additional financial investments are not required.

We offer customers not individual solutions, but an ecosystem approach and implement migration in stages, ensuring a smooth transition with the maintenance of current systems in the initial stages. The high degree of integrability of our products allows seamless integration into the existing IT infrastructure without disrupting services. The transition to IVA Technologies solutions is carried out in a short time - our products are deployed and integrated from several weeks, − says Maxim Smirnov.

According to him, this is why IVA Technologies is chosen to create an import-independent communication environment in companies.

It is easily integrated into any customer infrastructure and is compatible with existing equipment, including products from foreign suppliers, − says Artem Cheprak.

So we minimize errors - we work them out at the test stage, − Alexander Shikinov.

At the same time, everyone involved in the implementation of unified communications systems/services in Russian companies understands that there is no universal migration methodology.

For each customer, we develop an optimal approach in his case, − says Aleksei Zhirnov.

According to the expert, the simultaneous transition to the newly deployed UC platform is quite suitable for small enterprises, as it eliminates the need to solve problems related to its compatibility with the previous one.

For larger customers, including transregional ones, the AMT GROUP portfolio includes solutions from domestic manufacturers that ensure the possibility of a phased transition to them by preserving for some time a huge number of available subscriber devices as part of the operated solution of foreign manufacturers who left the Russian market.

{{quote 'So far, one thing is clear: in order for migration to be painless, testing and real user experience are required when choosing a platform, and then - a pilot zone of a target solution at the customer's site in his IT environment, − notes Yakov Shapiro. }}

Real user experience allows you to identify possible problems and bottlenecks, as well as assess the convenience and functionality of the platform. The pilot implementation − determine the readiness of the system for full use, as well as identify and eliminate possible integration problems, he explains.

This is a significant argument for business in favor of involving system integrators in the import substitution process of unified communications systems. "It is integrators who, due to a large number of projects, allow you to offer the best solutions in terms of customer tasks, efficiency and cost, − concludes Yakov Shapiro.

Many Russian vendors of systems and solutions of unified communications are no longer just experimenting with artificial intelligence technologies, but also use them in their UC systems and solutions. First of all, algorithms AI they automate routine operations with the help of: preparing an online call or video broadcasting protocol (DION), generating the results of an online meeting and its brief summary (VINTEO, TrueConf). At the same time, in the most advanced services, it is possible in the transcript to search for replicas and play audio recordings of the necessary phrases. MTS In Link, AI also generates so-called video clips − short videos with the most important fragments of an online event.

In addition to services that already make life easier for users of UC systems by freeing them from routine, AI technologies are used to improve the quality of communications: intelligent noise cancellation algorithms are used, video quality in VKS is improved, Yakov Shapiro notes.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly penetrating various aspects of unified communications, including process automation, user experience improvement and analytical capabilities, − summarizes Dmitry Seryi, Deputy Director and Co-Founder of VINTEO.

We have no task to introduce artificial intelligence into all our products. Although it is now fashionable. We actively monitor the development of AI technologies, and add them only in those scenarios where they really increase the efficiency of customer companies, − says Alexander Shikinov.

The same point of view is held in the company "SBK." "We do not consider the introduction of AI into our products to be an end in itself," − says Dmitry Starovoitov and adds that the CommuniGate Pro system is designed to communicate people, not people and machines. As an example, he cited the functionality of resource boxes, which makes it easier to schedule the download of resources in the system. "One could reasonably say that a resource box is a digital twin of a physical object, and that it is a robot. We avoid such terminology. There is an honestly working algorithm, no AI, "− expert notes, but still admits that the company thinks about the introduction of artificial intelligence - the development of functions that are convenient and appropriate in business communications.

The same suppliers who see AI-based services as a competitive advantage in UC systems are full of plans for the development of this area in the future and are already implementing them.

For example, IVA Terra functionality is included in the IVA One platform, which is able to form transcripts, a short squeeze and meeting protocols, supports the function of subtitles and online translation of events. Terra helps to increase the volume and quality of tasks performed, increases the speed of decision-making, makes negotiations as confidential as possible and helps reduce operating costs. We are also actively working on IVA GPT, a business assistant based on artificial intelligence that creates the digital consciousness of the enterprise. In the future, among its capabilities, it is planned: creating texts, maintaining business correspondence, preparing draft documents and presentations, answering questions from the professional sphere of employees, constantly improving the accuracy of answers based on the context and history of previous messages, analyzing and preparing for meetings, a short set of information for a certain period of time. It will help to quickly enter the course of affairs after the vacation, − says Maxim Smirnov.

Informtechnika and Svyaz, when introducing AI technologies into its products, plans to focus on creating virtual assistants and developing video conferencing solutions in order to optimize the conduct of meetings and provide participants with structured materials such as notes, protocols and resumes.

MTC Exolve products already contain artificial intelligence technologies, notes Vasily Sazhko, Product Director of MTS Exolve.

This area will remain one of the priorities in the coming years. We develop our products according to the expectations and needs of the market. Obviously, the demand for technologies is quite high and their use significantly affects the expansion of the functionality of services, he adds.

NOTA sees great potential in using AI to solve problems related to security and user authentication, especially in front offices. Algorithms will check the identity of the interlocutor when connecting to the conference and identify deepfakes.

VK WorkSpace is working on sammarization of letters and chats in the mail and in the messenger so that you can get a quick retelling of dozens of letters or messages in a few seconds and not waste time studying them. An interesting task with the help of artificial intelligence is solved by MTS Link: in the near future, AI will give tips and recommendations for holding meetings and analyze the emotional state of meeting participants (this is necessary, for example, to prevent burnout among employees).

In SATEL, the introduction of AI technologies is associated with the development of the ZIAX dialogue platform, on the basis of which it is planned to develop modules for recording audio and video broadcasts. In the near future, the UC DION system will be replenished with a real-time translation function. Thanks to neural networks, its users will be able to communicate in different languages ​ ​ without an interpreter.

In addition, as Aleksei Zhirnov notes, judging by the statements of manufacturers, in the near future we can expect a number of solutions built on the basis of generative AI to enter the market, making IT services easier to support unified communications systems. For example, in terms of troubleshooting, such as localizing an affected device or user, finding out the actions taken that affect the appearance of a problem, and, most valuable in such situations, accumulating the knowledge gained during their solution for use in similar situations.

If we talk about a more distant future, then, according to Jacob Shapiro, intellectual search and generalization of information will become possible, users will have virtual personal assistants, AI can be instructed to analyze meetings, correspondence, as well as other materials and prepare on this basis a document only with key information.

However, Dmitry Seryi recalls, certain challenges remain to implement plans for the full integration of AI into unified communications. This applies both to issues of data security and privacy, and the need to train employees in the use of new technologies.

UC market leaders would not take such positions if they were not constantly engaged in the improvement and development of their systems, products and services, as well as the continuous search for new market opportunities.

We can safely say that many of them will end 2024 on the rise, since all participants in the review announced that they will complement and develop the functionality of their systems, solutions and services with new capabilities, and this will allow them to maintain and increase market share.

We are planning a number of interesting releases aimed at scaling and enlarging the infrastructure, creating additional products around VINTEO that will allow us to build a more global, powerful and developed system in terms of distribution. Another priority tasks are the development of the service direction and active work on exporting solutions to the markets of friendly countries, − says Dmitry Seryi (VINTEO).

The task of entering foreign, primarily friendly markets, is set by IVA Technologies, which, according to Maxim Smirnov, saw a promising niche for popularizing Russian IT solutions in the international arena. "We are discussing various areas of partnership with the countries of Africa and the Middle East −" he explained.

By the end of 2024, SBK JSC plans to focus on improving the user experience - radically improve the search system built into the platform, add the display of letter chains, learn to hide unnecessary information in correspondence. There are already significant improvements in working with calendars and the ability to integrate with external video conferencing systems. For the fourth quarter, according to Dmitry Starovoitov, "the release of new web, desktop and mobile applications is planned.

NOTA has plans to turn the DION platform into a superapp and, due to this, occupy 20% of the Russian VKS solutions market. By the end of the year, users of this system will have the opportunity to jointly edit files, use a virtual board, an improved messenger and an integrated mail client.

New technologies and tools will be developed to expand the functionality of VK WorkSpace enterprise communications services. The platform has more options for integrating VK WorkSpace not only with popular enterprise systems, but also with solutions from other developers.

Will continue to move towards unified communications and MTS Link. According to Pavel Potekhin, for this it is planned to introduce new interactive tools for collaboration and solutions based on artificial intelligence.

This year we have set ourselves ambitious tasks in the field of production and promotion of Russian industrial communications equipment, − says Roman Romanov. − Recently, a domestic manufacturer of loudspeaker and warning systems "LINSIS" joined the SATEL team. Together we plan to make a significant contribution to the process of import substitution and strengthening the technological sovereignty of our country.

If these plans can be implemented not even completely, Russian companies interested in import substitution of unified communications systems will become even more difficult to choose a supplier, especially if the choice is based on functions and supported migration scenarios. And, most likely, in this case, the choice criterion will change: from functionality to ease of use and the response time of the support service.

{{quote 'We expect that domestic manufacturers of UC solutions will move towards the development of their products in the format of so-called appliance models ("out of the box"). This will eliminate the need to attract several narrow specialists (virtualization, databases and a number of others) to implement unified communications systems in order to enable the IT services of our customers to concentrate on their main task: "support business processes, not technologies, − summarizes Aleksei Zhirnov. }}