Global spending on collaboration apps continues to rise as businesses deploy software across their organizations, according to IDC. But the rate of growth has slowed as adoption of videoconferencing tools matures and vendors trim prices.

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It includes videoconferencing apps, team chat, email, and more — reached $33.9 billion in 2022, according to a recent IDC report. It was the seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth, up 14.6% compared to the 2021.

But that figure amounted to slower year-on-year growth compared to IDC data from the preceding two years (28.4% YoY growth in 2021, and 32.9% in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid shift to hybrid and remote work).

Microsoft accounted for the largest portion of the collaboration applications market last year (29.7%), according to IDC, followed by Google (13.5%), Zoom (11.2%), Salesforce (7.6%), and Cisco (3.2%).

Microsoft and Google have both said their genAI features will cost $30 per user each month for large business customers, though it’s likely that those on lower-tier pricing plans won’t pay as much.

“In the future, there will be features — AI, for example — that will be additive to the price,”. "You'll see the ARPU increase later in the five-year period, because of some of these additions. You could see it a little bit more next year, 2024, with some of [the recent ARPU decreases] starting to reverse."