Avaya has escalated its efforts to get customers to fast-track to the cloud with the first of several sweeping initiatives.

These will optimise solutions and processes for delivery of collaboration as a service (CaaS) via the Avaya Collaborative Cloud. Strong demand from large and midsize enterprises for Avaya communications and collaboration applications is driving a focus on expanded scale and reach, as well as simpler, faster provisioning that requires fewer resources.

Avaya collaboration solutions, including unified communications, video and contact center via the cloud offer a new path to greater business agility. While many other areas of IT have successfully adopted cloud-based solutions, the communications infrastructure is one of the last remaining hold-outs due to complexity and concerns around reliability, security and privacy.

As the business environment changes, however, new communications solutions and delivery models must support a mobile, flexible workforce that characterises today’s rapidly changing economic landscape. The Avaya Collaborative Cloud fills this need.

“In today’s business environment, enterprises of all sizes need virtualised, consumption-based, pay-as-you-go models. Avaya provides support for legacy install base and easy migration from on premises to the cloud and gets businesses onboard up-and-running. Companies that can gain an edge whether through, faster collaboration, better agility or decreased spending on IT maintenance are going to outpace their competition.” says Selvin Kristnen, MD, Avaya, South Africa

As part of the Collaborative Cloud, Avaya Private Cloud Services – formerly known as Avaya Operations Services – is one of the fastest growing areas of the company, demonstrating the upward trajectory of demand as companies evolve from legacy, premises-based communications systems to private cloud solutions.

Avaya Private Cloud Services reduces the risk and complexity of bringing together the many different infrastructure components and applications that moving communications to the cloud requires. In addition, Avaya Private Cloud Services enables cloud service providers (CSPs) to migrate to OpEx business models and extend the rich features of CaaS to their customers in a simple, pay-as-you-use monthly utility pricing model that is unique to Avaya.

New and existing CSP partners are poised to capitalise on this growth in demand with an array of flexible Avaya CaaS offers for midsize and large enterprises.

Recent acceleration in the addition of CSPs, including TeleTech, SYNNEX, Connex and ROI Networks are among more than two dozen companies globally that are now working to make Avaya’s industry-leading unified communications and contact center applications more accessible than ever to companies seeking flexible solutions via private, hybrid or public cloud solutions. Further, the company expects to announce several new CSPs in upcoming weeks.

As the global expert in business communications and collaboration, Avaya has more than 300 000 customers and serves more than 95% of the Fortune 500 in financial services, manufacturing, retail, transportation, energy, media and communications, healthcare, education and government.