New figures show that enterprise spending on unified communications (UC) has decreased by more than 16 per cent over the last year. The data, which was released by Frost & Sullivan, the analyst firm, show that spending in unified communications reached $792.2 million in 2009.

The firm point to the economic crisis as the primary reason for the drop in figures. However, a slight increase is expected in 2010. Frost & Sullivan also predict an eight percent compound annual growth rate until 2016, which is higher than its earlier forecast of 5.7 percent to 2015.

In an interview with ComputerWorld Australia, Audrey William, Frost & Sullivan's ICT Research Director, says that "although awareness of UC is high there is still a great deal of uncertainty among IT decision makers about how to integrate UC with a company's infrastructure. The other big challenge to deployment is the lack of clarity about how exactly UC can help an organization to achieve better productivity and more efficient communications."

William adds that conferencing and telephony technology are the main UC projects that must be addressed, however, "only a small proportion of organisations such as banks and telcos are choosing to integrate voice, unified messaging, presence and mobility with their overall UC platform."

Poised to take full advantage of unified communication capabilities are telecommunications companies due to their "expertise in networks and communications technologies".