GUILDFORD, UK -- Avaya Inc. (NYSE: AV) and Microsoft® Business Systems today announced their planned strategic alliance for Avaya to create a packaged applications and hardware system for small and medium businesses that have multiple customer touch points.
The companies signed an agreement outlining plans for Avaya to license Microsoft® Business Systems Customer Relationship Management (Microsoft CRM) and develop an "all in one" application suite by integrating it with the Avaya(tm) IP Office system.
The integrated Avaya system will be designed to empower small and medium businesses to service their customers even better, with new productivity tools that contribute directly to their bottom line. The system will be built specifically for small and medium businesses which demand a full customer service experience.
Traditionally, CRM (customer relationship management) refers to formal call centres used by enterprises that rely heavily on telephone transactions to conduct business. The Avaya system will couple telephony data with CRM data, enabling a whole new set of applications to manage the entire customer experience. Customer-centric businesses have been eagerly awaiting this technology, which, until now, has only been built for larger enterprises willing and able to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because of the low total cost of ownership and speed of deployment, this new product suite is expected to broaden significantly the market opportunity for both Avaya and its channel partners.
"Avaya chose Microsoft Business Systems CRM because this system, like Avaya IP Office, is built specifically for the small and medium business market, enabling those enterprises to provide higher levels of customer service at a lower total cost of ownership," said Dave Johnson, group vice president, Small and Medium Business Systems, Avaya. "Avaya is already an established leader in telephony systems, and we are delighted at the prospect of working with Microsoft Business Systems to work towards strengthening our position in this market."
"We look forward to Avaya combining Microsoft CRM with its IP Office to further empower mid-tier customers to better manage their sales and service activities and to give managers real-time information for better decision making," said David Thacher, general manager, CRM, at Microsoft Business Systems.
"CRM emerges as the first enterprise software application to be widely embraced by small and medium businesses (SMBs)," said Dr. Alex Kalamarides, senior vice president, Research and Consulting Services, AMI-Partners, Inc. "Many SMBs feel the time has come to overhaul their simple, often home grown sales force automation (SFA) applications and CRM systems."
The first stage in the integrated application is expected to be introduced to a limited market the second quarter of 2003, with the fully integrated product available by end of year 2003.
Avaya is a global market leader in contact centre systems, with more than 20,000 customer care centre customers and 500 multi-channel contact centre customers worldwide.
About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses around the world, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. A world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems, communications software applications and services, Avaya is driving the convergence of voice and data applications across IT networks enabling businesses large and small to leverage existing and new networks to enhance value, improve productivity and gain competitive advantage. For more information visit the Avaya website: http://www.avaya.com.
About Microsoft Business Systems
Microsoft Business Systems is a division of Microsoft and offers a wide range of
integrated, end-to-end business applications and services designed to help small, midmarket and corporate businesses become more connected with customers, employees, partners and suppliers. Microsoft Business Systems' applications optimise strategic business processes across financial management, analytics, human resources management, project management, customer relationship management, field service management, supply chain management, e-commerce, manufacturing, and retail management. The applications are designed to provide insight to help customers achieve business success. More information about Microsoft Business Systems can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/businesssystems/.