The global unified communications market is expected to reach $75.81 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research.

Increase in mobile workforce as well as enterprise mobility is expected to favourably impact the global market over the next six years, according to the report.

Growing demand and proliferation of smartphones is also expected to fuel market growth over the forecast period.

Increasing adoption of BYOD initiatives by large enterprises as well as SMEs is a driving force for the industry.

On-premise unified communication accounted for over 60% of the market in 2013. However, the cloud-based or hosted product segment is expected to rapidly gain share over the forecast period.

This is mainly due to the high initial cost of installation as well as additional maintenance cost associated with on-premise solutions, says Grand View Research.

Enterprises emerged as the largest application segment in 2013 and are expected to continue dominating the market over the next six years.

Small, medium and large enterprises have been deploying the necessary IP infrastructure to support unified communication.

The adoption of an effective communication system in the government sector aids in operational continuity, emergency response as well as situational awareness, the researchers say.

Asia Pacific is expected to be a fast growing market, and this can be attributed to the need for effective communication and collaboration, along with cost savings.

Key industry participants include Cisco Systems, Avaya, NEC Corporation, IBM Corporation, Alcatel-Lucent, and Microsoft.

Major growth strategies employed by these companies include agreements, partnerships and acquisitions in order to consolidate market share.

High initial investment as well as need for interoperability across various unified communication platforms may pose a restraint to the market, says Grand View Research.