Thread regarding Avaya layoffs

Capital restructuring is only a symptom

The capital restructuring is not the problem, it is the symptom. The reality is that Avaya has been losing installed based for over 10 years, first to Cisco and VOIP transitions, now to Microsoft, either as a transition, or more significantly as the future (60-70% of Aura/CM customers are committing to SfB for UC, and reducing their telephony investment to a sustenance level). This combination has caused a 6-7% revenue decline for 5 years (2013 to 2017 inclusive). The reality is that it is very difficult to compete with Cisco in VoIP due to their data net adjacency and with Msoft for UC due to their personal productivity software adjacency. The most valuable and best option for success is the Contact Center. Avaya needs a strategy to focus on areas that can win and not try to beat companies that are not competition on a level playing field. The concept of following the current strategy, the same one in place for the last 7 years, is insanity as defined by Einstein (repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome is insanity). The challenge is getting a board, management, CEO, etc. with the vision and persistence to pursue a strategy to Make Avaya Great Again.

While Avaya emerging from bankruptcy is great news, and there will be an immediate bump due to the pent-up upgrade demand from the bankrupt period, reducing the debt by a couple of billion does not change the underlying market dynamics.

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| 2981 views | | 3 replies (last September 1, 2017) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+OWpIQfq

3 replies (most recent on top)

You make good points, however, I do not agree with your Einstein reference. Nobody can predict with perfect clarity how things will play out and that includes you. For example, there were times in the past where Microsoft came out with something new and nobody liked it and thought they should give up. They did not though and even though it took a lot of time and effort, they eventually beat much larger competitors. So, don't try to make us believe this is not possible for Avaya as well. Avaya also is still very dominant in certain areas and it is very possible they can find a way to use that dominance to expand into other areas. Maybe Zang can become more popular over time than Skype for business customers for example... and then your Sfb for UC argument becomes moot.

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Post ID: @7kdv+OWpIQfq

Good Analysis. Avaya needs to stop promoting Equinox as a productivity / comms tool. No one outside of Avaya is using it in any proper shape or form. As mentioned, Microsoft will rule in this space simply because of its office integration.

The amount of infrastructure required just to get dial tone, messaging and presence in a basic form (never mind implementing the clusterfcuk that is AADS) is mind boggling.

Avaya just needs to stick to CC and IPOffice and bin the rest of it.

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Post ID: @cia+OWpIQfq

Nice summary of the current situation, thank you!

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Post ID: @oym+OWpIQfq

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