BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

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1 2013 Frost & Sullivan 1 We Accelerate Growth

2 Growth Leadership Award Conferencing Services Europe, 2013 Frost & Sullivan s Global Research Platform Frost & Sullivan is in its 50th year in business with a global research organization of 1,800 analysts and consultants who monitor more than 300 industries and 250,000 companies. The company s research philosophy originates with the CEO s 360-Degree Perspective, which serves as the foundation of its TEAM Research methodology. This unique approach enables us to determine how best-in-class companies worldwide manage growth, innovation and leadership. Based on the findings of this Best Practices research, Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the 2013 European Growth Leadership Award in Conferencing Services to Arkadin. Significance of the Growth Leadership Award Key Industry Challenges Addressed by Increased Growth Leadership The Frost & Sullivan Growth Leadership Award represents excellence in terms of both strategy and performance in a market that is highly competitive, dynamic and growing. In order to be recognized as a leading provider in the conferencing services arena, Frost & Sullivan feels that this company must understand and react to the industry dynamics that drive the development of this market. Frost & Sullivan notes the following market dynamics below: 1. Recognizing customer s collaboration needs. In order to remain competitive in the conferencing services market, a successful company must develop portfolios around collaboration solutions that customers can easily integrate into their existing infrastructure. To this end, a broad portfolio that encompasses the leading conferencing platforms and easy deployment are essential for a provider seeking to achieve and maintain growth. 2. Meeting the demand for video conferencing services. Customers are increasingly expecting to be able to leverage their investment in conferencing services for high quality video interaction. Visual communication has the proven ability to boost internal productivity and reduce travel costs by facilitating longdistance meetings. It also forms part of a company s green initiatives to reduce travel and, therefore, Co2 emissions. As video conferencing continues to enhance business communications within and between companies, Frost & Sullivan points out that it is quite vital that conferencing services providers include a comprehensive video conferencing service within their portfolio to capitalize on this lucrative and growing market Frost & Sullivan 2 We Accelerate Growth

3 3. Unified Communications portfolio. Reservationless conferencing and collaboration will increasing become a core component of unified communications solutions. To this end, it is vitally important that a leading provider develop a comprehensive portfolio of unified communications solutions. Solutions need to be scalable on a global level, minimize the impact on existing infrastructure, and provide services such as support, assistance and training that make the migration process as pain-free as possible. The deepest understanding of integration services and a broad portfolio of conferencing solutions are essential for any market leading conferencing services provider. Increasingly, customers expect conferencing services providers to be a one-stop shop for all of their conferencing needs. Offering a broad portfolio of solutions and the expertise to integrate them into customers existing infrastructure is key to achieving and maintaining market leadership. Best Practice Award Analysis for Arkadin The Frost & Sullivan Growth Leadership Award is presented to the company that has demonstrated excellence in capturing the highest annual compound growth rate for the last 3 years. Arkadin s Performance in Conferencing Services Arkadin s growth strategy has propelled the company to become one of the world s leading collaboration services providers. A series of successful acquisitions and strategic partnerships have accelerated the company s growth and enabled it to increase its market share within Europe. Frost & Sullivan expects Arkadin to be well positioned for further growth on a global scale. Frost & Sullivan appreciates the fact that Arkadin was quick to recognize that a comprehensive unified communications strategy and a broad portfolio of solutions are key requirements for growth in the conferencing services market; this remains at the core of the company's offering. Moving forward, Arkadin s expertise and comprehensive collaboration portfolio make it one of the best positioned providers to capitalize on the growing demand for global collaboration solutions Frost & Sullivan 3 We Accelerate Growth

4 Key Performance Drivers for Arkadin Factor 1: Competency in Unified Communications In recognizing the shift in demand towards unified communications solutions, Arkadin has developed its core competencies in consolidating conferencing and collaboration tools into a single interface. Arkadin offers unified communications solutions from Microsoft Lync, Cisco Jabber/WebEx, and audio conferencing for IBM Sametime. Arkadin delivers its unified communications as a service (UCaaS) solutions through the cloud, making it ideal for deployment by clients with geographically dispersed workforces. All solutions are integrated with Arkadin s high quality cloud-based audio conferencing service, enabling internal and external participants to join the same conference using standard telephony and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) simultaneously. Frost & Sullivan independent analysis confirms that this innovative offering is in contrast to other solutions that offer VoIP audio conferencing alone, which can restrict participation to company network users only. Arkadin s solutions also offer local country support through dedicated customer operations teams, solution deployment specialists, consulting and professional services, client training and reporting as value added services. The company s comprehensive service offering enable it to meet the growing demand for UC solutions that can easily scale to a global level, and has positioned the company to capture an increasing market share of clients that require global collaboration solutions. Factor 2: Crystal Clear Audio from the Cloud The cost savings and efficiency gains of switching from traditional PSTN to a cloud-based service make migration a hugely attractive proposition. This is especially true for users who make frequent long distance calls, as cloud platforms provide considerable savings for high volume users of international calls. Arkadin s cloud hosted audio collaboration platform enables its multinational customers to benefit from high returns on investment. International calls are connected to Arkadin s network at local country access rates and are then transported through it at a competitive international routing rate enabling customers to avoid high country level telecoms rates. Moreover, optional SIP trunking enables customers to bypass carrier access costs, making large scale deployment economically viable. To ensure the security of the service, Arkadin transports voice data through its own private IP network, rather than through an unsecure public alternative. Conferences are hosted on a single bridge through Arkadin s intelligent dispatcher, which connects all callers to a single meeting room regardless of their location as opposed to having to join through multiple bridges. The single bridge provides optimal audio quality that is often forgone when users have to connect via multiple bridges Frost & Sullivan 4 We Accelerate Growth

5 Arkadin s audio cloud collaboration platform is an ideal service for multi-national companies that want to leverage audio conferencing for business communications. It provides one of the highest quality audio services on the market and forms an effective part of companies cost reduction strategies. Factor 3: Growth Strategy in Video Conferencing In order to meet the growing demand for high quality video conferencing solutions, Arkadin has expanded its video conferencing services portfolio through a series of acquisitions and strategic partnerships. In November 2012, Arkadin acquired Novasight, a video managed services provider. The acquisition of Novasight gives Arkadin expertise in managing interoperability and nonuniform (or non-universal) endpoints, enabling it to address the most frequently encountered challenges by video conferencing customers systems not interacting with one another. Alleviating interoperability concerns enables customers to focus their investments on business critical communications, rather than concerning themselves with configurations and updates. Moreover, where customers leverage their investment in video conferencing to conduct B2B AND B2C communications, universal connectivity is vitally important. Frost & Sullivan research monitors the various ways that the market for video conferencing has evolved over the last five years. Previously a service used almost exclusively by enterprise customers, declining price points and affordable broadband connectivity rates have made services affordable to the mid and lower ranges of the market. Recognizing the lucrative opportunities that lie in this market segment, Arkadin in partnership with Vidyo provides affordable and accessible solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses. Vidyo s conferencing service is delivered through a web browser and is compatible with any device or endpoint, including dedicated room systems, desktop computers, mobile phones and tablets. Moreover, it is delivered as a service through Arkadin s private cloud, enabling large-scale deployments to take place with minimal impact on a company s existing infrastructure. The solution is ideally suited for SMBs and large organizations that require an easy to use service that easily integrates into existing IT infrastructure. Arkadin s strategy in the video conferencing services market has positioned it to capitalize on both ends of this growing market. Customers that invest in high-end video conferencing systems will continue to spend to manage interoperability and endpoint issues, while the mid-range of the market is adopting video conferencing at a faster rate. Arkadin s comprehensive video conferencing portfolio gives the company a multi-channel approach to increasing its market share in this highly competitive segment Frost & Sullivan 5 We Accelerate Growth

6 Factor 4: Leading the Way in Mobile Collaboration Frost & Sullivan has identified mobility as the top trend in the conferencing services market in Enabling video conferencing on mobile devices is essential in order to remain relevant in the market, and has become an essential feature of service providers strategies. Companies that provide a consistent and easy to use mobile conferencing service are far better positioned to advance their growth. Consequently, providers are emphasizing the mobility features their services offer. Arkadin provides mobile applications for Apple, Android and BlackBerry devices. Users can send pre-populated invitations with access details directly into participants calendars and access conferences as a moderator in a single click. In response to the growing number of participants joining conferences via tablets, Arkadin has developed an ipad app to enable users to collaborate on the move, via a variety of end points. The Arkadin conferencing ipad app comes with host controls that enable moderators to mute participants and eliminate background disturbances, lock access to the conference for added security, share documents and presentations for full collaboration capability, and record the conference for guests who cannot attend. Arkadin s mobile apps enable the mobile workforce to be as productive on their devices as in the conference room. With a growing number of conference participants opting to join via mobile devices, the company has covered one of the most important areas for sustained growth in the market. Conclusion Arkadin s early recognition of the evolution of conferencing services into collaborative workspaces enabled the company to capitalize on the growing demand for unified collaborations solutions. Arkadin s comprehensive suite of collaboration services, including cloud based conferencing and unified communications, has given it one of the broadest portfolios on the market. Moreover, the company s global presence and new era under NTT Communication s ownership will enable it to expand its customer base even further. For these reasons, Arkadin has been recognized with the 2013 Frost & Sullivan Growth Leadership Award for stellar innovations and performance drivers in the conferencing services space Frost & Sullivan 6 We Accelerate Growth

7 About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit Frost & Sullivan 7 We Accelerate Growth