Today I want to highlight a new profile article from Forbes Magazine that has very recently hit the web, Avaya's Plan To Beat Cisco: Avaya is battling Cisco over the future of business communications. Its Nortel acquisition might give it an edge. The article, written by Elizabeth Woyke for the September issue of the magazine is available now online at the above link and I highly encourage readers to click over and read the whole thing. It gives a nice snapshot of the current state of Avaya and the opportunities that are in front of us.
Couple of issues touched on in the article resonated with me - (1) the evolving nature of communications and (2) the importance of and value created by the Avaya acquisition of the Nortel Enterprise Solution business unit.
(1) Evolving Communications
The article starts with a demo from Brett Shockley, president of emerging products and technology here at Avaya. "As he dials a colleague, software on his laptop tees up documents and e-mails he might want for the conversation. When he adds another co-worker to the call, the software reorders the files according to how relevant they are to everyone on the line." Pretty cool, right?
This is an example of our company's evolving approach to multi-mode communication methods, such as the aforementioned conference call technology, video and web.alive. One thing that is key in this ongoing and ever-changing evolution is matching up your mode of communications, such as a call, video, email, or IM, with your needs. Where does this go? As with many technological advancements, the future is certainly bright. Ms. Woyke sets some goals for Avaya's, and the industries, R&D work - "Maybe someday we'll get software that eliminates such annoyances as phone tag, wrong numbers and long-winded call menus."
(2) Nortel acquisition
The other thing I took from the article was the focus it paid to the Nortel acquisition by Avaya. Obviously, this was a big deal for me, as it brought me into this organization. I have been so impressed with the talent and passion of my fellow Avaya colleagues and think that the folding in of 6,000 fellow ex-Nortel folks has been done with impressive speed. Beyond the personal aspect, the acquisition has gone a long way towards rounding out the solutions/products that Avaya offers to its customers, with the Avaya Data offerings being a great example. I know I am excited about where our company is right now and where it is going.
Last year Kevin Kennedy, then head of fiber-optic equipment maker JDS Uniphase and a Cisco executive in the late 1990s, was brought on board as chief executive. His first big move was to acquire a large chunk of competitor Nortel for $900 million.The acquisition gave Avaya a huge network of resellers and routers and data switches--two longtime Cisco strengths. Avaya says 95% of Nortel resellers will offer its products and 75% of its global business now flows through outside distributors (up from 58% pre-Nortel), similar to Cisco's sales model. Verizon, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase have signed new contracts with Avaya in recent months.
Avaya also got Nortel's best technologies. Nortel wasn't able to capitalize on them and filed for bankruptcy in 2009, but Avaya says it has sharper focus and longer-term goals, in part because it is smaller and privately held.
Anyway, go check out the article in full.
