Avaya Aura

Avaya announced the launch of Aura, an architecture that integrates communications across multi-vendor, multi-location and multi-modal businesses. It simplifies complex communications networks, reduces infrastructure costs and delivers voice, video, messaging, presence and web applications to employees anywhere.

The new architecture is anchored by the SIP-based Aura Session Manager, which centralizes communications control and application integration. It orchestrates a wide array of communications applications and systems by decoupling applications from the network. As a result services can be deployed to users depending on what they need rather than by where they work or the capabilities of the system to which they are connected.

"With Aura organizations can achieve rapid returns on their business communications investment while simplifying the development and deployment of applications that improve operational performance," said Kevin Kennedy, president and CEO. "With this new architecture, the way we communicate is defined by the applications and the user, not the network."

"Each step in the migration from TDM to IP communications has to deliver operational and business benefits in the face of dealing with a hodgepodge of legacy and new infrastructure," said Abner Germanow, director of Enterprise Comms Infrastructure Research at IDC. "The recession has turned the attraction of reducing communications complexity and cost into a business imperative."

Case Study

Avaya and Virgin Blue

Australian airline Virgin Blue has selected Avaya to provide a Unified Communications solution as part of stepping up focus on providing superior customer service. The system encompasses IP telephony and contact center technology and will be implemented by NSC Enterprise Solutions.

A key component of this project is evolution from legacy TDM to an IP telephony infrastructure. According to David Harvey, General Manager of IT, the decision to move to a managed service model for its voice and contact center services will enable Virgin Blue to focus on its core business.

"As technology becomes more complex and increasingly embedded into our business processes, the skills needed to manage such an environment are very specialized. NSC has a proven track record in designing, implementing and managing this type of environment, which was extremely important in our decision-making process," said Harvey.

The company's commitment to reducing carbon footprint doesn’t stop in the skies. The new technology allows them to significantly increase the network of home-agents while Polycom video conferencing will improve meeting capabilities. An additional benefit is the ability of the solution to integrate with backoffice processes to automate specified actions.

"The potential for increased productivity and employee satisfaction is huge. We're looking at our desktop and multifunction devices to enable employees to work anywhere, anytime, from any device. Embedding Avaya into our overall communications infrastructure will enable us to manage growing demand, improve responsiveness and raise customer satisfaction," added Harvey.

The solution comprises Avaya Communications Manager, dual S8730 media servers, S8730 and S8500 Enterprise Survivable Servers providing full redundancy, IP gigabit handsets on desktop and softphones for remote agents, and call recording and reporting in the contact center.

Interview

Avaya Thriving in Tougher Times

“In a down economy there are two things you need to do,” says Lawrence Byrd, Director, Unified Communications Architecture for Avaya. “You have to save money and you have to make money, and those have been the drivers of any telecommunications investment.” Despite a pronounced economic slowdown the overall IP-PBX/PBX market in North America grew at 5% in the second quarter, according to numbers released by Dell’Oro. Avaya kept pace, retaining market share and experiencing mild growth. Byrd attributes this to offering customers ways to trim costs and increase productivity with products that reduce recurring expenses while allowing them to do more with existing personnel.

He thinks there’s lots of spare money in your current system. Consolidating and flattening enterprise networks is an immediate target. He says Avaya can help by reducing carrier costs for audio conferencing, using IP more effectively to reduce 1-800 charges, and using SIP trunking to cure the chronic over-trunking that many large and medium companies suffer from at remote and multiple locations. “IP telephony is not some sort of wonder thing. It's a practical tool to lower operational costs.”

Byrd says we have been in a challenging economy for sometime and Avaya has remained competitive by working on customer satisfaction and recruiting new business, and believes buyers are facing the same challenges. “Investments of the right kind, making the contact center more integrated with remote locations and making the mobile people more responsive to customers are things that will drive revenue as they involve not only improved service but often upselling strategies.” He states that an improved customer experience made possible by technology allows busineseses to grow with the customers they already have. He also points out that in this kind of economy there is less room for error in terms of losing customers.

He sees a shift in the way telecommunications is being offered. Whereas it was once a necessary cost it is now much more of a tool designed to cut expenses and increase effectiveness. “We are talking about empowering your whole workforce instead of buying something just for headquarters.” If the enterprise of 1999 featured best-in-class switches at headquarters and barely usable key systems at branches, the current one has a consistency and unity to its network, an ability to get a message across to customers wherever they are and offering local employees access to the same tools their colleagues have at the main office.

Hinting we may see contact center news from Avaya this fall, Byrd mentioned a concept that allows employees to participate in the newer online environments besides corporate websites that customers are visiting for information and feedback on products.

He says Avaya is emphasizing architecture, applications and integrations, low cost of ownership, and in many cases a simple way to mange networks. He sees the company building on those strengths to offer applications which save and make money, and working with partners where users are offered literally hundreds of tested compatible solutions.

Byrd concludes, “Customers don’t buy generalities. They need specific solutions and we can provide a consistently stable and secure network.”

Avaya SDS

Avaya channel partners can now augment and showcase their ability to deliver the full range of lifecycle services for unified communications and contact center customers. In a recent interview with Telecom Reseller, Susan Kuchinski, Avaya Director of Worldwide Services Channel Development, discussed their recently-introduced Services Delivery Specialization (SDS) program. “This demonstrates our renewed commitment to channel partners and the Avaya clients they serve. It enables them to provide services in conjunction with us and demonstrate capabilities in implementation, maintenance support and application integration. It also represents our response to members of the end user community who, faced with expanding hardware, software and service choices, increasingly seek formal assurances of vendor competency with respect to implementation, support and integration.”

Through SDS customers can identify those channel partners that have appropriate skills and qualifications. The program designates four areas and levels of distinction. Implementation Specialist is for authorized Avaya Business and Alliance Partners achieving solution implementation capabilities, and Implementation Professional is for services-only partners with similar skills. There are two designations available to qualified Platinum, Gold and Silver Partners. Support Specialist is for those with significant cross-portfolio sales of Avaya solutions and who demonstrate capability in post-sales maintenance and support. Integration Expert is for those with expertise in UC and/or contact center portfolios and who satisfy all requirements of Implementation and Support Specialist. Further, they must demonstrate the ability to integrate Avaya applications in a multi-vendor environment.

SDS certification is a rigorous process, requiring the partner to demonstrate capabilities through investments in infrastructure, best practices, certifications and customer satisfaction testimonials. In return participants have access to Avaya Global Services methodologies and tools to help them deliver quality service. They also receive a broad range of financial, sales, marketing and support benefits.

According to Kuchinski, “SDS is a key element of a high-touch, channel-centric strategy that yields a competitive advantage to Avaya and its qualifying partners. We now have a specialization to recognize and reward those that have invested in a service competency. Customers now have information that allows them to draw clear distinctions between solution providers and make informed choices with strong assurances of measurable success.”

Avaya Compliant

Taske Technology, Gold DevConnect member, announced that Contact 8.8 is compliant with Avaya Communications Manager 5.0. It is a flexible web-based contact center management solution enabling managers and employees to respond dynamically to conditions and improve overall performance. It has the ability to report on call activity, monitor agent performance levels, respond immediately to changing call volume and agent availability, and control operating costs.

“We are very happy with our on-going relationship with Avaya to support our customers’ capacity for flexibility, consistency and speed of implementation that standards-based platforms provide,” said Steven Gray, Vice-President of Sales, Taske.

More at taske.com.

Calabrio announced its Workforce Management software is compliant with Avaya Call Center. It helps improve performance with reduced abandons, first-call resolution and increased customer retention.

"Ease of integration is a critical element of our software design approach because businesses shouldn't have to struggle to implement and support a solution to enjoy the benefits," said Paul Lidsky, CEO and president. "Certification ensures our common customers that the Calabrio solution will integrate seamlessly within their existing Avaya environment."

Calabrio One integrates Quality and Workforce Management with unified desktop applications for agents and supervisors in order to improve the customer experience, grow revenue and increase profitability. Users can create forecasts, generate work schedules, measure quality and efficiency, access reports and alerts and collaborate within their teams to impact performance. It represents a move toward streamlining business processes by providing agents with one view of the customer and providing supervisors and managers with one view of the contact center, all from a common desktop.

More at calabrio.com

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