SME Communications Software expands business collaboration.
Press Release Summary:
Avaya IP Office v6.1 delivers business collaboration and customer service capabilities that improve usability and worker productivity for SME workers while promoting efficiency for businesses. Installed via single DVD containing open standards-based Linux OS and key communications applications, program offers multiple videoconferencing options, capabilities for managing multiple office sites via one consolidated interface, and geographic mapping of inbound contact center calls.
Original Press Release:
Avaya Expands Business Collaboration for Small and Medium Enterprise Market
New Avaya IP Office Release 6.1 Improves User Experiences, Drives Cost-Savings, and Reduces Software Installation Time by Nearly 75%
Guildford, UK - Avaya, Inc. today introduced the new version of Avaya IP Office-the company's flagship communications solution for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Avaya IP Office Release 6.1 delivers a host of business collaboration and customer service enhancements that can improve ease-of-use and worker productivity for SME workers, and provides significant new efficiencies for businesses.
Avaya IP Office has been recognised for its total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits, delivering savings of approximately 25% in acquisition and ownership costs when compared with a competing vendor solution.(1) The new version of Avaya IP Office extends TCO strengths by enabling installation via a single DVD containing the open standards-based Linux operating system (OS) and key communications applications. Formerly, the OS and IP Office applications had to be installed via several sources and multiple DVDs.
This new approach can cut down software installation times by as much as 75%(2), saving labour costs and simplifying installation. Additionally, when compared to other OS environments, Linux does not require user licenses, driving further savings.
Other advancements introduced today include:
Avaya is the worldwide leader in the SME space, with leadership in both revenue and line share.(4) With Avaya IP Office 6.1, the company is accelerating unified communications and contact centre technologies in the SME market, but with a focus on helping businesses save time and money. This helps SMEs compete more effectively, but do so in a cost-conscious manner. According to a recent SME survey(5), even as most SMEs (61%) believe technology is key to staying competitive, more than half (54%) believe cost-savings are the main driver for new technology adoption.
"Avaya continues to strengthen its SMB product offering with the Avaya IP Office 6.1 release," commented MZA Ltd general manager, Stephanie Watson. "In addition to extended multi-site networking capabilities, enhancements to the one-X portal interface, contact centre reporting and multi-party video capabilities, this new release also incorporates key improvements in deployment and management options which will resonate well with the SMB channel participants."
"Enhancements made available in Release 6.1 which will extend support of Nortel IP devices in the IP Office environment should reassure legacy Avaya and Nortel customers and channels," continued Watson. "Improved interoperability in mixed IPO and BCM environments and, importantly, an enhanced Essential Edition targeting the significant Norstar installed base in the Middle East and Africa underlines Avaya's commitment to deliver on its Avaya/Nortel product roadmap."
Customer reference: Taxicentrale Amsterdam
Taxicentrale Amsterdam (TCA) is the largest taxi company in Amsterdam, Holland. It operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week and receives between 4,000 and 5,000 calls per day, which are handled by 4-8 agents per shift. Clearly, the accurate handling of these calls is tantamount to TCA's customer satisfaction, and so it is crucial that the call centre agents handling these calls are monitored closely. TCA began a beta trial of IP Office 6.1 in order to gain greater efficiency from its contact centre and, ultimately, to increase customer satisfaction.
Explained marketing director, Sanne Takman: "It was the Call Centre Reporter (CCR) capability in IP Office 6.1 with its improved productivity reports that was attractive to us. Now, TCA can not only monitor calls made and received, but we get in-depth information about each call our agents handled. Since we operate in a highly competitive environment, this capability gives us critical business advantage. Avaya IP Office has enabled us to fully integrate our taxi dispatching system which has reduced our average call duration by 40%. This is a huge benefit to us and our customers."
"Our vision is to bring all of the powerful collaboration capabilities of big business to the SME community-without the complexity," said Anthony Bartolo, general manager, SME communications, Avaya. "With the latest release of Avaya IP Office, we are advancing on this vision, while introducing new levels of cost-efficiency and TCO that drive new savings through advanced communications."
"The IP Office Release 6.1 provides partners like us with new capabilities that will save a significant amount of time," commented Paul Blundell, managing director, iQual. "Time is money when we have a lot of clients to install and support. This latest release not only introduces new capabilities for small business customers but also continues to make IP Office easier to sell and manage. Avaya is the leading vendor of technology aimed at the SME sector globally, and so it clearly understands the opportunities and challenges facing the SME market and can develop technology accordingly. From a partner perspective, it also understands what we need to serve this sector effectively."
Avaya Business Communications Manager 6.0
The company also completed significant elements of its Avaya IP Office roadmap, post the Avaya acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Systems (NES.) This includes interoperability between IP Office and Business Communications Manager (BCM) platforms to mix and match them in multi-site deployments and a newly Avaya branded BCM 6.0 (formerly NES' SME offering). Avaya BCM 6.0 introduces enhanced unified communications capabilities to increase productivity, efficiency and collaboration. It also provides new teleworking solutions and improved mobility features for the 'Find Me Follow Me' application as well as the conferencing applications and the ability for the BCM customers to add teleworkers to their system. These features provide resellers with additional revenue generation opportunities for new or existing BCM customers and end users with a cost effective, improved unified communications solution.
About Avaya
Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, data solutions and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service and competitiveness. For more information, please visit avaya.com
(1) According to Tolly Group Report #21012: "Avaya IP Office Release 6: Small Office Deployment & TCO vs. ShoreTel IP Phone System," commissioned by Avaya, Inc. and published August 2010.
(2) Based on Avaya internal testing.
(3) Requires Avaya Aura 1040 video conferencing system.
(4) Based on a report by Dell'Oro Group, Enterprise Telephony Report, 2Q10, August, 2010.
(5) Based on CompTIA report: 2nd Annual SMB Technology Adoption Trends, April 2010
