2015 Latin American Mid -Market Enterprise Communications ... · 201 5 2015 Latin American Mid -Market Enterprise Communications Platforms Growth Excellence Leadership Award

2015

2015 Latin American Mid-Market Enterprise Communications Platforms Growth Excellence Leadership Award

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2015 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

Contents

Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 3

Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 3

Growth Performance and Customer Impact ............................................................. 4

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 7

Significance of Growth Excellence Leadership ................................................................ 8

Understanding Growth Excellence Leadership ................................................................ 8

Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................... 9

Best Practice Award Analysis for Avaya ......................................................................... 9

Decision Support Scorecard ................................................................................... 9

Growth Performance ........................................................................................... 10

Customer Impact ............................................................................................... 10

Decision Support Matrix ...................................................................................... 11

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 12

Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 12

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 13

About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 14



Background and Company Performance

Industry Challenges

The small- and medium-sized business (SMB) communications market is growing at a

steady pace as businesses increasingly migrate from legacy telephony platforms to next-

generation communications solutions. SMBs are looking for technologies and tools to help

consolidate their communications infrastructure, integrate applications, and reduce the

cost and complexity of ownership.

Cost savings and productivity benefits compel SMB customers to invest in Internet

Protocol (IP) telephony and unified communications (UC) platforms. Competitive pricing

and solutions tailored for the specific needs of the SMB market are driving demand.

Furthermore, session initiation protocol (SIP) technologies, virtualization, mobility, and

other technology trends are helping to enhance the value proposition of next-generation

solutions and accelerate the migration process. Other trends impacting the market include

the consumerization of IT and the growth of hosted and cloud communications. These

trends are affecting demand for premise-based communications solutions, vendor

strategies, and vendor assessment criteria.

As the large enterprise communications market matures, vendors are turning to the SMB

market for growth opportunities. Strong differentiation and sustainable competitive

strategies, however, are required to overcome the numerous challenges in the SMB

market. Tight IT budgets, evolving customer needs, continually declining prices, and

competition from new entrants are restraining market growth and putting pressure on

vendor profit margins.

The SMB communications market in Latin America is undergoing a major transformation

and posing significant challenges to communications vendors targeting this customer

segment. Knowledge is profoundly lacking within SMBs about the existence of a UC

solution that encompasses several applications. As a direct consequence, SMBs usually

have not yet implemented a UC solution as they consider it would add low value to their

company.

Within that context, vendors aiming to remain competitive must offer advanced features

and capabilities such as mobility, presence, conferencing, and collaboration, while

developing IP communications solutions that consolidate infrastructure components and

simplify deployment and administration and while providing end users with access to

various advanced applications.



Growth Performance and Customer Impact

Growth Strategy

Avaya’s recent success within the mid-market enterprise communications platforms

industry (including IP and TDM PBX line licenses, UC software clients, and unified

messaging seats) in Latin America is tightly related to its robust portfolio, its go-to-market

strategy, and its own support organization that nurtures channel partners to achieve their

business goals and service level agreements when dealing with SMBs in the region.

Avaya’s flagship product for SMBs is the IP Office. When deployed as an appliance, this

platform provides 3 options (basic, essential, and preferred edition) to tailor the

collaboration system to specific communications requirements, from basic to highly

sophisticated.

Avaya’s IP Office basic edition is the best fit for small enterprises looking to add more

productivity with a professional touch and with the right mix of flexibility, sophistication,

and expandability.

The IP Office essential edition adds to the functionality of the basic edition the desirable

mobility, call handling, and routing capabilities, helping businesses to incorporate the

communications tools (such as one number access, caller ID, dial-by-name, automated

attendants, conferencing, and voicemail) they need to operate effectively and efficiently.

The IP Office preferred edition provides intelligent communications capabilities (such as

intelligent call routing, powerful mobility, intuitive Web control, sophisticated messaging,

and application integration) that enable the staff to collaborate easily and respond quickly

to customers and colleagues.

While the platform can scale up to 3,000 users and 150 locations (with IP Office select),

the sweet spot in Latin America is companies with 100 to 500 employees.

With regards to the go-to-market strategy, Avaya has added new channel partners with a

clear focus and expertise on the mid-market segment, while pushing for improving the

skills of existing ones (especially service providers and traditional channel partners that

have come to terms with the needs of SMBs).

Avaya is actively pursuing to close further agreements with service providers in Latin

America. Some current hosted IP Office partners are among the biggest carriers in the

region, such as Telmex and Alestra.

Avaya has created a new and specific organization to provide further support on

commercial matters and pre- (training and installation support) and post-sales services

affairs to its channel partners currently farming the mid-market segment in Latin America.



Additionally, a mid-market sales development team is based in Miami, with performance

tied exclusively to channel partners’ IP Office sales in Latin America.

Growth Diversification

Avaya’s strategy for the mid-market segment intends to leverage its channel partners’

current installed base and clients in Latin America, whether or not they use Avaya’s

solutions. The company’s intention is to migrate and upgrade existing legacy users to the

IP Office suite, while approaching other vendors’ installed base being served by Avaya’s

business partners.

Mid-market organizations typically purchase Avaya solutions from Avaya partners that in

turn may package Avaya solutions within their own service offerings. To enhance its

channel partners’ positioning, Avaya has created the IP Office Support Services that is

globally available for Avaya clients that have purchased IP Office through the Avaya

partner channel community.

The IP Office Support Services provide in-depth, solution-specific Avaya expertise and

resources that reinforce the value of the solutions and services offered by Avaya’s

authorized partners, whether jointly by the partner and Avaya or delivered by the partner

with Avaya’s support.

Furthermore, in May 2015, the company acquired Esna Technologies Inc. (Esna), a

provider of real-time collaboration and communications software, to accelerate the

adoption of communications-enabled applications for mid-market companies. Through the

acquisition, Avaya is aiming to enable end users to access multi-vendor communications

capabilities (voice, video, IM/presence, conferencing, and messaging) from within cloud-

based business applications using their device of choice.

Growth Sustainability

Mid-market is the fastest growing segment, not only in Latin America but worldwide. After

the Nortel acquisition, Avaya focused on enterprises because a big share of its revenues

were coming from this sector. However, during the current economic downturn, Latin

American governments are investing more in SMBs to stimulate the economy, and Avaya

decided to make a comeback to the mid-market segment through the IP Office platform

surrounded by mobility, conference, security, and video. The IP Office suite emphasizes

Avaya’s commitment to the mid-market segment.

Avaya considers this segment as a fast, agile, and often one man decision (meaning the

decision making process remains as a one man decision). IP Office scales significantly

higher to provide mid-market organizations with an array of collaboration capabilities in a

simple, easy to-use solution. This channel-only product provides mid-sized companies an

affordable, simplified way to manage more people on a network across one or multiple



sites. Additionally, IP Office features new mobility, management, and security functions to

help SMBs take advantage of growing trends such as bring your own device (BYOD) in the

enterprise.

Performance Value

Avaya’s IP Office platform is being positioned in Latin America as a complete, across-the-

board solution that brings it all together, from telephony and video to mobility and contact

center applications, networking, security, and ongoing services, allowing clients to do

more with less. The system is sophisticated but simple to use and can drive profitable

growth without driving up costs.

Avaya’s channel partners usually introduce IP Office as a smart investment proven to

deliver exceptional returns with a total cost of ownership that it is hard to beat. IP Office

cost effectively grows with end-users’ needs, allowing them to keep their original

investment and simply build on it for capacity adjustment or new capabilities (easily

adding software to enhance and expand capabilities as needed) such as growing from 5

users to 3,000 and from a single site to 150 networked locations. Wherever you take

your business, IP Office will go there with you is the living motto Avaya is using to

boost IP Office sales in the region.

This mid-market solution has proven to be resilient and reliable. No business can afford a

breakdown in communications as maximum uptime is critical. Avaya provides proven,

reliable strategies for worry-free, 24/7 communications. Whether or not the business is

small with one site or a multi-location midsize enterprise, Avaya’s approach to resiliency is

powerful, helping to ensure maximum uptime to keep communications and collaboration

moving at the speed of business.

Customer Service Experience

Avaya grabs a comprehensive view of how communication impacts people, infrastructure,

and customers. Through its authorized partners, the company delivers best-of-breed

systems, services, applications, and processes to ensure high performance and ease of

use, which are critical to maintaining a strong communications presence.

Avaya’s users can access several maintenance options to match their business’ growing

needs. Through Avaya’s network of authorized partners, expert support options provide

remote technical support as well as access to updates and service packs to keep systems

functioning with high reliability. Support options include major software upgrades for

increased investment protection, with enhanced remote access to help ensure faster issue

resolution, increased speed of service, and security.

The IP Office Support Services offer complete and affordable coverage that maximizes

system uptime, optimizes solution performance, and protects client investments as it is



available for the IP Office, the IP Office contact center, and the contact center select

platforms.

The base offer (incorporated compulsorily (not optional) within every IP Office sale in Latin

America since 2016) for IP Office Support Services includes remote technical support for

hardware and software during the business day; software patches and updates; major

software upgrade licenses; enhanced remote connectivity through secure socket layer;

virtual private network (SSL-VPN) technology for improved security, diagnostic access,

and accelerated time to resolution; and prepaid terms of 1, 3, or 5 years.

Additionally, end users can use Avaya’s support Web site services that include access to

Ava (the Avaya virtual agent and gateway to support for quick and accurate resolution of

common requests using natural language parsing and question recognition); sophisticated

Avaya knowledge base search for fast self-service and education needs; a total service

outage that offers fast access to specially trained Avaya experts who are dedicated to

recovering total service outages; a single view of Web ticketing and service request status

for faster response times; online service request for faster assignment; and access to

chat, voice, and video collaboration with a live Avaya agent on the support site.

Brand Equity

Avaya is a leading, global provider of customer and team engagement solutions and

services available in a variety of flexible on-premise and cloud deployment options. A

spinoff of Lucent Technologies’ enterprise communications group (formerly part of AT&T

Corp.), this California-based company was publicly traded until 2007, when it was

purchased by 2 private equity funds: TPG Partners and Silver Lake Partners.

In Latin America, Avaya has more than 1,000 employees in 42 countries and territories,

including about 100 employees at the Miami-based regional headquarters. Avaya’s offices

in Miami were first opened in Coral Gables in 2000, moved to Doral, and are now located

off Blue Lagoon Drive.

Conclusion

Avaya’s recent success in Latin America is tightly related to its robust portfolio, its go-to-

market strategy, and its own support organization that provides desirable support when it

is needed through flexible options.

Based on this strong overall performance, Avaya has earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2015

Growth Excellence Leadership Award in the mid-market enterprise communications

platforms market.



Significance of Growth Excellence Leadership

Growth Excellence Leadership is about inspiring customers to purchase from your

company, and then to return time and again. In a sense, then, everything is truly about

the customer, and making those customers happy is the cornerstone of any long-term

successful growth strategy. Companies that excel in driving growth strive to be best-in-

class in three key areas: meeting customer demand, fostering brand loyalty, and carving

out a unique, sustainable market niche.

Understanding Growth Excellence Leadership

Companies that creatively and profitably deliver value to customers ultimately set up their

businesses for long-term, rapid growth. This is what Growth Excellence Leadership is all

about: growth through customer focus, fostering a virtuous cycle of improvement and

success.



Key Benchmarking Criteria

For the Growth Excellence Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently

evaluated two key factors—Growth Performance and Customer Impact—according to the

criteria identified below.

Growth Performance

Criterion 1: Growth Strategy

Criterion 2: Above-Market Growth

Criterion 3: Share of Wallet

Criterion 4: Growth Diversification

Criterion 5: Growth Sustainability

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Best Practice Award Analysis for Avaya

Decision Support Scorecard

To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance

categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool

allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to

the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that

basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation;

ratings guidelines are illustrated below.

RATINGS GUIDELINES

The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Growth Performance and Customer

Impact (i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the definitions

for each criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team confirms the

veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which confirms that small

changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the

overall relative rankings of the companies.



The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the

interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players

as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3.

DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR GROWTH EXCELLENCE LEADERSHIP AWARD

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)

Growth Excellence Leadership

Growth

Performance

Customer

Impact Average Rating

Avaya 7 9 8.0

Competitor 2 8 7 7.5

Competitor 3 7 7 7.0

Growth Performance

Criterion 1: Growth Strategy

Requirement: Executive team has a shared vision for the organization’s future growth,

and has created and implemented a strategy that is consistent with that vision

Criterion 2: Above-Market Growth

Requirement: Company’s growth rate exceeds the industry’s year-over-year growth rate

Criterion 3: Share of Wallet

Requirement: Customers allocate a greater percentage of their total spend to purchasing

products or services produced by the company

Criterion 4: Growth Diversification

Requirements: Company is equally able to pursue organic (e.g., distribution channel

optimization, new product innovation) or inorganic (e.g., acquisitions, partnerships)

growth opportunities consistent with the long-term objectives of the organization

Criterion 5: Growth Sustainability

Requirement: Company has consistently sought out opportunities for new growth,

enabling the organization to build on its base, and sustain growth over the long-term

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar

offerings in the market

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that

addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service, and have a

positive experience throughout the life of the product or service



Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty

Decision Support Matrix

Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,

analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to

visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at

best-in-class levels.

DECISION SUPPORT MATRIX FOR GROWTH EXCELLENCE LEADERSHIP AWARD

High

Low

Low High

Customer Impact

Growth Performance

Avaya

Competitor 2 Competitor 3



The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best

Practices Awards

Research Methodology

Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research

methodology represents the analytical

rigor of our research process. It offers a

360-degree-view of industry challenges,

trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of

Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.

Too often, companies make important

growth decisions based on a narrow

understanding of their environment,

leading to errors of both omission and

commission. Successful growth strategies

are founded on a thorough understanding

of market, technical, economic, financial,

customer, best practices, and demographic

analyses. The integration of these research

disciplines into the 360-degree research

methodology provides an evaluation

platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-

in-class levels.

360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN

THE CHAOS

Technology

Obsolescence

Disruptive

Technologies

New

Applications

CEO

Demographics

Needs

and

PerceptionsSegmentation

Buying

Behavior

Branding

and

Positioning

Competitive

Benchmarking

Emerging

Competition

Competitive

Strategy

Capital

Investments

Availability

of

Capital

Country

Risk

Economic

Trends

Crowd

Sourcing

Growth

Strategies

Career

Development

Growth

Implementation

Industry

Evolution

New Vertical

Markets

Industry

Expansion

Industry

Convergence

Emerging

Technologies

Smart Cities

Sustainability

New Business

Cultures

GeoPolitical

Stability



Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices

Frost & Sullivan Awards follow a 10-step process to evaluate award candidates and assess

their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are

based on close adherence to this process.

STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT

1 Monitor, target, and screen

Identify award recipient candidates from around the globe

• Conduct in-depth industry research

• Identify emerging sectors • Scan multiple geographies

Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria

2 Perform 360-degree research

Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline

• Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners

• Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria

• Rank all candidates

Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another

3

Invite thought leadership in best practices

Perform in-depth examination of all candidates

• Confirm best-practice criteria • Examine eligibility of all candidates

• Identify any information gaps

Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates

4

Initiate research director review

Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles

• Brainstorm ranking options • Invite multiple perspectives on candidates’ performance

• Update candidate profiles

Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper

5

Assemble panel of industry experts

Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders

• Share findings • Strengthen cases for candidate eligibility

• Prioritize candidates

Refined list of prioritized award candidates

6

Conduct global industry review

Build consensus on award candidates’ eligibility

• Hold global team meeting to review all candidates

• Pressure-test fit with criteria • Confirm inclusion of all eligible candidates

Final list of eligible award candidates, representing success stories worldwide

7 Perform quality check

Develop official award consideration materials

• Perform final performance benchmarking activities

• Write nominations • Perform quality review

High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes

8

Reconnect with panel of industry experts

Finalize the selection of the best-practice award recipient

• Review analysis with panel • Build consensus • Select winner

Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria

9 Communicate recognition

Inform award recipient of award recognition

• Present award to the CEO • Inspire the organization for continued success

• Celebrate the recipient’s performance

Announcement of award and plan for how recipient can use the award to enhance the brand

10 Take strategic action

Upon licensing, company may share award news with stakeholders and customers

• Coordinate media outreach • Design a marketing plan • Assess award’s role in future strategic planning

Widespread awareness of recipient’s award status among investors, media personnel, and employees



About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth

and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's

Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined

research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation

of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages almost 50 years of experience in

partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment

community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit

http://www.frost.com.

Documents

2015 Latin American Mid -Market Enterprise Communications ... · 201 5 2015 Latin American Mid -Market Enterprise Communications Platforms Growth Excellence Leadership Award