2013 will prove to be another interesting year for the sector. The top 3 trends to watch are:
Pay-for-what-you use, when-you-use: In the current global economic climate, businesses and consumers will look for options to increase productivity and optimise costs. Both will subscribe for flexible services and billing, e.g. Business Broadband-on-Demand, Consumption based models of Layer 2 and Layer 3 services, Compute and Storage-on-Demand, etc. Consumption based services will challenge conventional business models and will fuel investments for scale while challenging old loyalties for costs and services.
Business video and Apps: Video in business is becoming more pervasive as a means of collaboration. Businesses will seek ubiquitous services and the integration of Telepresence, High Definition Video conference, desktop video etc., in a manner that it is as simple as dialling an audio conference. The ability to integrate various video formats will be the differentiator and provide a seamless, managed experience to customers. Business apps will also drive innovative and less complex processes.
Increased Broadband penetration: broadband penetration will continue to have a direct impact on GDP growth: it remains critical for services including education and healthcare and for connecting rural and urban centres for commerce and collaboration. 2013 will see greater broadband penetration through increased fibre rollout, deployment of wireless technologies such as wimax, microwave, 3G and LTE.
