Avaya’s New Consulting Services Unit Designed to Assist with Cloud Communications

their collaboration solutions. The new consulting services address technologies impacting enterprise communications today—including cloud solutions, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technologies, network security and self-service automation—and help remove the complexity and minimize the risk associated with adopting advanced collaboration for improved business results.The new consulting offers are Cloud Transformation Services and Continuous Performance Services. Cloud Transformation Services help organizations define and implement a cloud communications strategy that supports business objectives. Continuous Performance Services provide subscription-based consulting for a range of technology solutions (such as SIP transformation or self-service) and enable enterprises to maintain an optimized collaboration environment for months or years with predictable outcomes.

The consulting offers are delivered by Avaya Professional Services, an organization backed by 1,500 specialists with expertise across many industries, countries and concentrations, including a global team of business and technical consultants. The Avaya Cloud Transformation Services and Avaya Continuous Performance Services are available now globally.

Demand is high for cloud-based services, with 47 percent of businesses planning deployment or evaluating their cloud communications strategic options, according to Avaya research.1 Avaya Cloud Transformation Services provide consulting to cloud service providers to help them define business requirements and implement cloud solutions.

For cloud service providers, Cloud Transformation Services help:
· Provide guidance through the entire process of refining a hosting strategy, and define an architecture that meets the customer’s business requirements.

· Implement a solution that assists a service provider in setting up a cloud environment for their first customer.

In addition, Avaya Continuous Performance Services delivers a new model for providing prescribed consulting engagements on an annual subscription basis. They help ensure a business' network and applications continuously perform per customer requirements. The initial Continuous Performance Services include areas beneficial to a subscription-based model, such as:

· Security Assurance: Assists in achieving effective, practical communications security as threats emerge and evolve over time.

· Self-Service Application Tuning: Adjusts customer service automation through early-stage application design, existing application enhancement, or ongoing tuning and refinement. Includes analysis and recommendations to enhance speech automation, which improves customer satisfaction and reduces costs.

· SIP Economic Consulting: Delivers guidance through each phase of a SIP rollout and provides ongoing validation of realized savings through SIP based on financial targets.

· Network Visualization Subscription: Identifies network efficiency opportunities through a graphical tool depicting one’s entire business network, updated in real-time based on configuration and service provider costs.

"Businesses are turning to collaborative communications environments to improve employee productivity and provide a more engaging experience for their customers. But determining how communications technologies—such as cloud communications, SIP, video and contact center solutions—can be most effectively leveraged in enterprises can pose significant challenges that require expert help,” said Brian Riggs, Principal Anaylst with Ovum. “Consultants, such as those behind Avaya’s Cloud Transformation Services and Avaya Continuous Performance Services, are often key for businesses to derive the most benefits from their investments."