December 2015, IDC #CEMA40821015

FLASH

Avaya: Channel Transformation

Mohamad Twaishi

IN THIS FLASH

This IDC Event Flash presents highlights from the Avaya Partner Forum (APF) event held in Dubai

at Atlantis, The Palm, on November 24—25, 2015. The event was aimed at enabling Avaya's

channel partners to collaborate, engage, and leverage their collective market knowledge and

expertise. Avaya also shared its strategic vision for 2016 during the event.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The APF event provided a collaborative platform for Avaya's channel partners, which was

particularly useful for the company after the consolidation of its Europe and Asia-Pacific, Middle

East, and Africa (AMEA) regions. The event was streamed live through Avaya's Scopia

videoconferencing platform to its offices across these regions.

Speaking at the event, Avaya's executive leadership teams encouraged their channel partners to

focus on business outcomes rather than on product functions, features, and price when building a

value case for their customers. They emphasized the importance of maintaining a 'customer first'

attitude throughout their customers' digital transformation journeys.

As new customer characteristics, priorities, and channel selection criteria require a customer-

focused engagement instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, Avaya showcased its engagement

stories with customers such as Burj Khalifa, Standard Chartered, Reliance, SBER Bank of Russia,

MTN, and Vodafone.

There were also various keynote discussions, including one in which Avaya claimed to be the only

vendor with plans to roll out all of its solutions and software using an 'as-a-service' model by April

2016, with its current hardware business to benefit from continuous support.

There was a technology keynote speech that concentrated on innovation advancements such as

software-defined networking (SDN) and engagement platforms. Avaya claimed that its SDN

'Fabric' technology enables enterprises to run at a speed fast enough to react to market changes,

with one logical tier, one protocol, an edge-only service configuration, simple security

segmentation, and 'fabric attaches' of devices, users, or services. For example, CCTV video

surveillance is an application for which the shortest path bridging (SPB) protocol-based Fabric

Connect has increasingly found favor.

Avaya also emphasized its Engagement Development Platform that allows business analysts, IT

architects, and service providers to customize and build applications. Alongside its emphasis on

this platform, Avaya discussed workflows with easy-to-use development tools and reusable snap-in

architecture and automation features that can add enhanced communication capabilities such as

real-time speech, work assignment, and context store.

Avaya is collaborating with a wide range of industry ecosystems to provide CIOs with strategic

value propositions that enhance digital transformation. Avaya's channel partners play a crucial role

in this collaboration as they can bring a diverse mix of technologies and supplier services to cater

©2015 IDC #CEMA40821015 2

to a specific customer's digital transformation needs. However, channel partners need to transform

in areas such as customer experience, customer segmentation, industry collaboration, and

partner-to-partner collaboration; moreover, channel partners can bring all these pieces together to

showcase their industry or vertical expertise more effectively.

Avaya also presented a young leaders group at the event which reflected its workforce diversity

and promotion of equal opportunities. The group highlighted Avaya's acceptance of new ideas from

the millennial generation and its investment in youth. Avaya also presented the first six certified

Avaya Certified Expert-FX (ACE-FX) graduates in the region. The ACE-FX program aims to extend

the current skills in hardware-intensive networking technologies to include next-generation SDN

technology.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

Digital transformation is not just a technology trend; it is at the center of enterprise strategies

across all industry segments and markets. This transformation is enabled by the 3rd Platform

technologies of social, mobility, Big Data analytics, and cloud. Digital transformation represents an

opportunity for vendors and channel partners to redefine their customer experiences and achieve

new levels of enterprise engagement.

Digital transformation will be a hot topic on CIO agendas in 2016 as organizations aim to drive

improved operational excellence, better customer satisfaction, and greater competitive

differentiation. Digital transformation must be at the heart of business strategies; furthermore, it will

be central to altering business operations in partnership with different players. CIOs must make

digital transformation part of their long-term goals, particularly as the Internet of Things (IoT) will

impact traditional business models and competitiveness levels in the very near future.

As enterprises embrace new digital touchpoints, customer experience goals are continually

shifting. However, enterprises may not currently be equipped to catalyze and implement impactful

digital transformation initiatives. As such, there is a need for businesses to engage with digital

partners that can host a boutique of services and products from specialist suppliers that, in turn,

can support, plan, and execute impactful digital initiatives that transform their customers'

operations.

Since the channel ecosystem is changing in light of industry shifts, engagement transformation is

also now a requirement. This transformation will require collaboration with lines of business from a

strategic point of view to ensure smooth digitized roadmaps. IDC believes that the APF event has

proven that Avaya is undertaking efforts to transform its channel partner approach and encourage

suppliers to move from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric style. These efforts will

enable Avaya to maintain its engagement momentum and better help customers along their digital

journeys.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory

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trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For 50 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help

our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading

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