Demand for SaaS-Based Web Conferencing Soars

The market for Web conferencing equipment shot up 21 percent between the third quarters of 2010 and 2011, and SaaS-based systems accounted for 83 percent of the revenue.

That’s according to new data from Synergy Research Group, which found that sales of SaaS-based platforms surpassed $400 million for each of the past three quarters.  

North America remains the largest market for Web conferencing equipment, making up more than 60 percent of the industry’s revenue in 2011’s third quarter, Synergy found. Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. saw its market share fall slightly but it is still the leader in North America (51 percent) and worldwide (41 percent), according to Synergy. Citrix and Microsoft, combined, share another 25 percent. All three companies sell through channel partners.

Web conferencing is soaring in popularity as business travel grows more expensive and time-consuming. It’s "rapidly becoming an accepted way of conducting business meetings,” said Synergy Research Groups Jeremy Duke. We project that annual revenues from SaaS-based Web conferencing will double over the next five years.”