Avaya vies for small, midsize business mindshare

Avaya is vying for the attention of small and midsize businesses with an update to its IP Office unified communications platform that incorporates features from its enterprise line—including the Flare desktop videoconferencing tablet.

Probably the most significant feature in the new version, Avaya IP Office 7.0, is the integration of Nortel Enterprise Solutions technology and digital phones into the Avaya platform. Avaya acquired Nortel back in December 2009. That means if you have a Nortel legacy phone (about 14 million people do), you can now upgrade to the IP Office platform and use those handsets. Note: there is a software update and data migration required to do this, which will require you to work with an integrator or technology partner to make this real.

Another big feature: support for desktop videoconferencing and the Avaya Flare Experience, the tablet that Avaya is pushing as the front end to simpler and more seamless collaboration applications.

One early client of Avaya IP Office 7.0 is The Agency Group, a music booking firm that has deployed the technology in offices across Canada and the United Kingdom.

In a press release describing the implementation, The Agency Group Chief Operating Officer Jan Sikorski said:


“We need solutions to keep more than 70 agents in close touch with their artists and their managers, but in a way that seems as if they are just down the hall. With Avaya IP Office 7.0, we can enhance and extend our communications capabilities for our staff, while enabling our agents to have seamless collaboration with clients.”

Another technology that acted in Avaya’s favor in The Agency Group’s mind, integration with mobile clients.

Noted Sikorski:


“Our agents travel a lot and require the most advanced, yet easy-to-use mobility applications available. More employees were asking when we would get videoconferencing, which can help our international force put faces to voices. With Avaya IP Office in place, we’re ready.”

It seems to me that legacy integration is a big deal in these days of reducing the risk and costs associated with technology. Avaya’s ability to that – while also incorporating supporting for new collaboration form factors like its Flare videoconferencing tablet – should make businesses sit up and take notice.