Avaya Engage 2019
Just got back from Avaya Engage in Austin Texas.
The quick summary is Avaya is doing lots of great things, and there’s lots of people (analysts, customers, partners, consultants) very interested in what Avaya is doing.
The longer analysis is complicated. There were some notable gaps in the story presented this year. I suspect those gaps will be filled by acquisition, but of course we will have to wait to see. Avaya is moving very quickly on some fronts (branding) and very slowly in other areas.
It’s hard to compare Avaya against other companies, for one it’s both UC and CC and most of its competitors are not. More importantly, Avaya is huge. Take that $330 million in cloud revenue. That’s a respectable number and can be compared to RingCentral’s $501 million in total revenue.
Also, Avaya has a huge services business (managed services, professional services, consulting, support). Avaya has more sales people overseas that many of its competitors have in total employees.
Avaya is the proverbial tanker ship attempting to turn. That’s hard enough on its own right, but especially hard when competitors are small and nimble. The question for Avaya now is if it can get out of its own way.
Two things about this video:
- I really need to record these videos later in the day. I’m not a morning person.
- This was my first recorded/edited/posted video on a Chromebook. I had to learn a few new tricks to do it, so it took a little longer than it should have. I think I got it nailed now.
Avaya Engage from Dave Michels on Vimeo.