Factors affecting the adoption of unified communication services amongst SMEs in South Africa

Abstract

Unified communications is considered to hold much promise in the ICT space, with a specific focus on the many benefits it has to offer the organizations that choose to embrace it, such as the reduction in communication costs and improvement of productivity levels. In reality, and particularly for South African SMEs, unified communications has proven not only difficult to successfully adopt but even harder to implement. This study explores the factors affecting the adoption of unified communication services amongst the SMEs in South Africa. Indepth, semi-structured interviews were used to gather information from management and owners of SMEs operating across a variety of industries. The main findings were that SMEs are affected by both the internal and external factors when it came to their decision on whether or not to adopt unified communication services. In addition, successful implementation of this technology relies heavily upon psycho-sociological factors, with management and staff presenting equal reluctance in making the shift towards using new and improved technologies. Finally, it was also found that although ICT keeps evolving, humans continue to prefer more interactive channels of communication with one another.