At its annual PartnerConnect Conference, ‘Beyond’, Avaya global growth markets president Nidal Abou Ltaif announced the company’s double-digit growth figures for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey markets.
Ltaif also highlighted the expectation that this theatre would become the largest by revenue for the company within just a few years, reflected in part by the 600% growth in video the company has enjoyed across the region and the 2.5x growth they have seen in India, contributing to a decision to hire more than 3000 new employees in 2014.
Expectations for the cloud market led some of the conversation as well, as Avaya projected a $10.9 billion (US) contact centre cloud market, $61.9 billion UC cloud market, and a $12 billion cloud services market across the global growth markets theatre by 2019.
The opportunity in these markets is causing a shift in how Avaya is structuring its global business, including its geographical transformation towards a GGM-led global footprint and the creation of a new services-and-customer-value-led business model.
“IT leaders are being tasked with doing more with less,” Richard Steranka, Vice President, WW Partner Organisation, Avaya, said. “With that in mind a trend like mobility is very important and is unavoidable, so we are always looking to exploit that. It is also important for those in charge of budgets to be able to drive capex down, and from that standpoint cloud is gaining massive popularity in the region. It’s down to us to define new network operational models, to design more predictable opex, reducing costs. Networks and our video solutions are also a key focus for our partners. We realise the importance of having the right partner programs and engagement to help reap rewards.”
Avaya recently announced its Connect channel partner program, which Steranka said has seen shift from the company’s previous strategy, “We have basically shifted from a volume-based model to one that centres around value. There’s now much more of an emphasis around solution specialisation rather than sheer volume of sales.”
In terms of support offered to Middle Eastern partners, Steranka highlighted the company’s online resources as a key feature, “We provide extensive channel account management,” he says. “Our online partner portals, as well as the services we provide, act as tools to help our partners grow, driving development hands-on.
“Our focus for 2015 is on developing new products, exploring new markets and gaining new customers,” Steranka says. “We’re looking to evolve our product lines and exploit mid-markets. Growth is very important to us.”
