Avaya is starting the new year on a positive note. With the threat of Chapter 11 firmly behind them and a powerful new strategy in place to cement their position as UC and CC leaders for 2018, Avaya began the year with a triumphant announcement at the Engage 2018. The global leader in communication technology was happy to share news of their development roadmap for the months ahead, which included the acquisition of Spoken Communications.
Spoken Communications have been building their reputation since 2005, helping customer-focused brands to deliver more innovative experiences within the contact centre. As Avaya strive to become the number one brand in contact centre technology, Spoken will help them to explore the next stage of their transformation journey.
Avaya is Playing to Win
To welcome customers and partners to Avaya Engage 2018, Avaya CEO Jim Chirico took the stage with an inspiring message about persistence, strength, and vision. During his keynote speech, he reflected on his experiences over the years spent with Avaya, and how he’d come to realise just how much potential this global brand has.
“We’re number one and number two in the UC and CC space. We have an unmatched footprint around the world, and more than 90% of the Fortune 500 are running their mission-critical applications through Avaya.”
While the company has certainly had its setbacks – including the Chapter 11 filing in 2017, Chirico was happy to announce that the brand is no longer playing defence in the marketplace.
“We’re playing to win. We’re going to be aggressive and invest in solutions that our customers and partners demand. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce our new strategic acquisition of the market leader in intelligent cloud communications.”
A Strategy for Stronger Growth
Now that the Chapter 11 journey is over, Avaya has more money to invest in new and innovative solutions for their company. The acquisition of Spoken Communications is just the start of their new journey, and it includes more than 170 separate patents and patent applications. After announcing the new acquisition, Jim welcomed Mohamad Afshar (Mo), President and CEO of Spoken, to the stage, who was keen to share how the partnership will help companies of all sizes build intuitive, cloud-based contact centres.
Mo noted that this collaboration has been two years in the making. The purchase will be funded by “cash on hand”, and it will follow up the partnership that Avaya and Spoken began in 2017 to provide in-depth solutions for CCaaS to Avaya processing customers.
“I think when we consider what the future might hold, we can both equally say that we’re delivering an incredible opportunity for partners and customers to transform the way they engage with their audience through machine learning, AI, and other innovative technology. Our shared view is that there’s no other solution in the marketplace that offers this degree of seamless development, scalability, and protection.”
The marriage of the two companies should allow partners and customers to migrate to the cloud at a pace that suits them, with all the tools they need to stay ahead of the competition.
Spoken Communications and “IntelligentWire”
Following the Spoken Communications acquisition, Avaya’s contact centre customer base will unlock a new migration path towards the cloud. The collaboration will ensure that clients can maintain their existing levels of functionality, while carefully moving to the cloud at their own speed. The acquisition also includes Spoken Communications’ IntelligentWire system.
Afshar noted that Avaya customers will gain complete access to the IntelligentWire system, which can analyse every call made by a customer, and transform it into text, so you can access an easy-to-manage document on the application of your choice – including Salesforce.
The innovative call centre technology will change the foundations of the contact centre according to Spoken Communications, by giving partners and customers unbelievable insights into the context of their customer behaviour.
“With Avaya, we’re now the first solution in the market that combines a communication platform with a voice-based platform in a single tool.”
Greater Flexibility for Avaya Customers
Chirico expressed his excitement about the new acquisition in the opening keynote speech, suggesting that it’s a fantastic opportunity for Avaya to continue its path towards greater growth.
“Spoken was built on the Avaya platform. It’s cloud-native, and cloud first, and we’ll be going to the market with this immediately, with Mercer leading the way.”
As the Senior Vice President of Cloud for Avaya, Mercer Rowe believes that the new purchase will give customers and channel partners more flexibility to choose solutions that suit their needs, whether on the cloud, on-premises or through a hybrid model.
“The move to digital is here and now, and this purchase strengthens Avaya’s position as a market leader.”
Because the Spoken Communications cloud-based multitenant strategy is designed to work with Avaya, it can integrate seamlessly with Avaya’s omnichannel services, including Oceana, and its UCaaS strategies.
Moving Forward with Avaya
After announcing the new acquisition, Jim brought his keynote speech at Avaya Engage 2018 to a close by saying that the company will be continuing to deliver new options on the cloud in the future.
“Avaya has been making a lot of progress in the cloud already, and now we’ll have the potential to lead the CC space as well as the UC space. If you take anything away from this speech let it be this: Think Avaya, Think Cloud“.
For Chirico, and many of the minds behind Avaya, 2018 is the start of a brand-new company. In the months to come, Jim promised that we’ll hear plenty of new exciting information about upcoming products in the portfolio, from IP office in the cloud to AI chatbots available in more than 40 languages.
“Just watch Avaya. We’ll be acquiring and partnering with technology innovators, bringing together world-class solutions for our customers, and more. It’s a new day, a new team, and a new company.”
