Avaya continues to make global layoffs, with Europe and the Middle East hit particularly hard.
While many online have suggested that this represents another round of cuts, it’s a continuation of those that Avaya announced in November.
The move is just hitting different regions at different times for legal and processing reasons.
That’s according to Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst at ZK Research, who has been in contact with Avaya’s senior management team.
While Kerravala couldn’t share the exact numbers of staff laid off, the analyst emphasized that the cuts were deep, with a significant impact on EMEA.
“Right now, Europe, in particular the UK, is being disproportionately impacted for a couple of reasons,” he said.
“First, laying off people in the UK is complicated, so Avaya has avoided that until now, and now it’s coming all at once.
Also, the regions that support a tiny portion of the G1500 (Avaya’s top global 1500 customers) – like the Middle East – will likely see Avaya maintain a minimal presence. Or, perhaps, [the company may] leave the region completely with a remote presence.
In centering the business around Avaya’s top 1,500 customers, Avaya’s CEO Patrick Dennis – who took charge of the company in September 2024 – is trying to implement a scaled-down version of the Broadcom playbook.
This strategy aligns with its shift away from serving the entire contact center market.
Indeed, Avaya has historically supported customers ranging from small businesses to enterprises with millions of employees.
Over the years, it has shed much of the small and mid-market, but it still has products and teams that serve those segments.
Now, all customers not in their top 1,500 are essentially out of its scope – including those talented employees who support them.
Meanwhile, given this strategy, marketing personnel likely have no future at the company.
Executives also haven’t escaped unscathed. Kerravala added:
They’ve been targeting VP level and up as they have been overly fat up there, so they are leaving only meat on the bone.
Additionally, the engineering and support teams have suffered. Yet, the numbers on these teams won’t change significantly, as Avaya has reportedly decided to outsource many of these roles.
The region least affected by the continued layoffs will be North America, where most of its G1500 is based.
Nevertheless, all these moves are ultimately an attempt to make the company leaner and more profitable.
What Now for Avaya Customers Outside Its G1500?
While Avaya makes this shift, much of its deep midmarket enterprise base will likely reconsider its business with the company, presenting opportunities for rival contact center vendors.
As the market becomes increasingly crowded, that competition will likely prove fierce.
Meanwhile, Avaya will stick to its strategy of serving large enterprises with on-premise, hybrid, and public cloud solutions.
Such a streamlined strategy – on a significantly larger scale – has served Broadcom well. Indeed, that business runs at a 40+ percent operating margin.
Yet, can Avaya’s whittled-down team mirror that success and keep its G1500 for decades to come? Only time will tell.
CX Today reached out to Avaya for a statement. However, the company didn’t wish to comment at this time.