Avaya Expands Their Communications Outsourcing Solutions

Since Avaya launched its communications outsourcing solutions department earlier in 2012, it has been in big demand. As a result, the company has decided to expand the service to mid-sized and smaller businesses.

According to Avaya's Ed Nalbandian, vice president of managed services, customer popularity has been driven by several factors including, the development of a more elaborate contact center and communications technology within business, and the ability to outsource operation of these functions to independent parties.

To follow the managed hosted communications services launched earlier in 2012, Avaya intends to launch cloud-based communications outsourcing solutions (COS) by the end of the year.

IT specialists who manage communication systems within midsize and large businesses are already being bombarded with an ever-growing number of systems to support, numerous vendors being utilized within the enterprise and rapidly increasing demands from users. These issues are causing organizations to jump at the chance to outsource their communications and UC work to managed hosts or cloud-based services.

Avaya is currently one of the few companies offering services that cater to individual customer needs. Since their company launched its COS, these have been adapted to fit customization needs and are fully supported.

Customers can choose from a range of offered features including, standard services such as call recording, call recording with monitoring and workforce optimization tools. They can also opt to host the backend infrastructure on their own site or have it hosted by Avaya as part of a "private cloud."

Avaya is also planning to bring out a “Managed Assist offering.” This service will include Avaya’s management, troubleshooting, repair and upgrade of an enterprise’s complete communications infrastructure. This will suit businesses that are looking to outsource UC backend management, but are not ready to spend money on new hardware and technology. The advantage here lies in exchanging communications platforms which were formerly a capital expense, to an operating expense; this can be an attractive incentive to many enterprises.

Nalbandian explains that managed and cloud-based services are rapidly growing trends in the communications industry because they allow customers an operating expenses model through which they can utilize their current communications infrastructure while benefiting from a cloud-like solution.

The OpEx model is particularly attractive for verticals such as government organizations, education systems or organizations with fluctuating seasonal workflows. Customers who are willing to take the plunge to a cloud-based or managed service should be aware that once committed, companies like Avaya will then become an integrated part of the enterprises communications platform. (CU) Link