Polycom banks on small units

Calcutta, Aug. 4: Polycom, the US-based leading provider of communication solutions, is betting big on small and medium businesses (SMBs) to beat the slowdown in government segments. About 25-30 per cent of Polycom’s business in India is expected to come from SMBs this year against 15 per cent in 2011.

Video conferencing as an enterprise activity has moved beyond boardrooms to devices such as smartphones and tablets.

“The slowdown has had an effect since the third quarter of last year. While government business has slowed, corporate houses have become cautious. But the SMB space is growing. The slowdown in the government and enterprise space will be made up by the SMBs. It will contribute 25-30 per cent to our Indian revenues,” said Neeraj Gill, managing director (India & Saarc), Polycom Asia Pacific.

Worldwide, the video conferencing industry is expected to reach $3.2 billion by the end of this calendar year from about $2.5 billion last year.

While the industry globally grew at the rate of 20 per cent last year, Nasdaq-listed Polycom grew at 23-24 per cent worldwide and 41 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The acceptance of video as a means of communication will fuel growth in SMB. Price points are also expected to go down as technology continues to advance. Moreover, video is no longer limited to boardrooms and is moving beyond to devices such as tablets and 3G, Wifi and 4G technologies. Six to 10 years down the line, video will become the new voice,” Gill said.