Post 11, Avaya 2018
There’s been lots of Avaya coverage recently, both here on TalkingPointz and everywhere else.
Avaya is the most misunderstood UC and contact center company in the industry. That’s because everything just changed, and the dust is still settling.
One of the lines in my new research note on Avaya is that the company has changed more in the past few months than the past decade. Just in the past few weeks it made a slew of announcements and became a publicly listed company on the NYSE. Everything that we knew about Avaya is changed or changing.
Most of this is a result of its chapter 11 ordeal last year. The company voluntarily filed for chapter 11 in January 2017 and completed that process at the end of the year. Of course, that wasn’t an impulsive decision. The company knew for some time that it had looming debt maturities coming that it couldn’t cover, so who knows how long that “cloud” was hanging over its head. The highly acquisitive company, for example, seemed to stop after its purchase of Esna in 2015. In 2017, it was the opposite of acquisitions when it spun out its Network division.
This new research note is just a snapshot of the current post-11 Avaya. I have a suspicion, the post-summer Avaya will be different again.
Is all this change good? That’s a subjective question depending on your point of view. It’s certainly interesting, but the outcome of this story is obviously unknown. I will say a lot of things did have to change, so change is good. Things are certainly more positive for Avaya’s employees, customers, and partners than they were say six months ago. The new management team is just getting started. They have a lot of material to work with including an aging installed base, cash, and a lab filled with concepts that fighting for exit into the portfolio.
Several analysts got a sneak peek (at Engage) at some upcoming announcements, and the reaction was pretty positive. Watch this space.
There are two reports available: The free 2Pager and the full research note for $895.
Videos from Engage:
AvayaLaurent from Dave Michels on Vimeo.
Dave and Spoken from Dave Michels on Vimeo.