Avaya technology provides seamless business continuity during relocation of Canadian headquarters

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1 Challenge Avaya was presented with an opportunity to save considerable real estate expense by moving its corporate headquarters in Markham, Ontario to a temporary facility in under three weeks. As a global leader in business communications, Avaya had to complete the move while providing uninterrupted business continuity for clients, partners and potential customers. Solution By capitalizing on Avaya s own data network infrastructure and technology solutions, employees were able to work remotely, allowing uninterrupted service and workflow while the company relocated its corporate headquarters. Avaya technology provides seamless business continuity during relocation of Canadian headquarters Avaya leveraged its own data network infrastructure and product suite to move its corporate headquarters efficiently and cost-effectively on a tight timeline, all the while maintaining collaboration between partners, customers and employees Challenge Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, data solutions and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. While Avaya has helped countless businesses overcome their own unique communication challenges over the years, in early April 2014 the company was faced with the challenging task of moving its entire corporate headquarters facility in Markham, Ontario to a nearby temporary site in under three weeks. Moving a branch office or satellite facility is one thing, but we had to move the hub for all of Avaya s Canadian operations in 22 days, said Terry Bruder, Sales Engineering Director, Avaya Canada, who was tasked with helping more than 200 employees stay fully operational. The relocation had to go off without issue, stated Bruder. Disrupting our entire sales and service organization in Canada was not an option. avaya.com 1

2 With Avaya Communicator for Android, mobile workers never miss a call and have anywhere access to Enterprise UC capabilities including web collaboration. Costs are minimized through VOIP and by routing outgoing calls through the network. Avaya s corporate headquarters is where we give demos and presentations to clients, partners and potential customers, so the move had to be smooth and seamless. Solution While executing a move of this magnitude on an accelerated timeline wouldn t be possible for most businesses, Avaya had a built-in advantage, as it was able to leverage the data network of another Canadian office and migrate all activity onto it during the move. This meant that instead of having to relocate all of its employees to the temporary site in Markham and rebuild the entire network infrastructure, Avaya could move forward seamlessly with everything already in place. And thanks to the Avaya Aura platform which had been deployed internally a few years back the vast majority of employees at Avaya s corporate headquarters already had the capability to work from anywhere. Using the Aura platform and Avaya s range of communication products including video conferencing solution Scopia, Avaya Aura Conferencing and soft clients including Avaya Communicator Avaya employees were able to easily and efficiently work remotely on laptops, smartphones and tablets using the same communication features that they had while in the office. Vital business communications were protected by Avaya Session Border Controller for Enterprise, which provides enhanced security for any employee, any device, anywhere. It can help protect the network while providing remote worker connectivity. With the company s flexible architecture and mobility solutions already in place, business interactions and customer support were seamless with employees able to leverage the day to day communications tools they relied on using Avaya s soft clients on laptops, tablets and smartphones. This move was equivalent to changing the tires on a flying airplane without landing the airplane. Tracy Fleming, Office of the CTO, Avaya Canada Plus, thanks to Avaya Aura s SIP platform, employees kept their regular office number during and after the move, so that wherever they were working from during the move and at the new office, customers and partners could easily reach them. This move was equivalent to changing the tires on a flying airplane without landing the airplane, noted Tracy Fleming, Office of the CTO, Avaya Canada. We were only able to execute it because we had Avaya s flexible network architecture in place. avaya.com 2

3 Avaya Communicator is a dynamic user experience that propels collaboration with intuitive workflow interactions. Communicator is just one of the tools that has allowed Avaya employees to transform the way they interact with colleagues, partners and customers, no matter where they are working. Benefits Cost Effective With a fully operational network in place and the vast majority of Avaya employees already leveraging Avaya Aura Communication Manager remotely, people who would normally be affected by a move were able to continue working from anywhere without IT involvement or network costs. There is a lot of debate in the marketplace about the value of allowing employees to work remotely, said Ross Pellizzari, President of Avaya Canada. For Avaya, it has been a big win, as our sales and services personnel are now working closely on site with partners and customers every day. Moving forward, our new office will be designed as a space that is very much partner and customer oriented, representing our continued focus as a company. Looking ahead, Avaya will once again utilize its flexible network infrastructure when moving into a brand new corporate headquarters later in Avaya s new facility will prioritize customer interaction, explained Bruder. Our sales and services teams will soon have a state-of-the-art environment where they can give world-class demos, presentations and briefings that will show our partners and potential customers the power of Avaya s business-enabling technologies. avaya.com 3

4 Business Continuity Transplanting 200 employees would be considered a nightmare for most companies expensive, counterproductive and disruptive to the business. However, since Avaya s robust communication infrastructure enables employees to seamlessly connect with clients, partners and potential customers while working remotely, the relocation of Avaya s head office ended up having little impact on the company s day-to-day activities. Since Avaya employees were ready to hit the ground running, we were able to focus our efforts on moving the physical parts of the office quickly and effectively, explained Bruder. The sales and engineering labs the ones we show customers and partners were picked up on a Monday and rebuilt by Tuesday, so we were able to resume customer demonstrations just two days after the move. The move was so seamless, in fact, that Fleming said he almost forgot about it. I was working remotely the day of the move and if it wasn t for Terry s that said all our facilities had been relocated I wouldn t have known it happened, said Fleming. Moving a corporate headquarters would typically require six to eight months of planning, infrastructure, telecom services, new phone lines, new phone numbers, etc., but because of Avaya s underlying architecture and technology solutions we were able to execute the move in 22 days without clients or even our employees noticing. Flexibility While Avaya initiated the move of its head office in order to provide a better experience for its customers and partners, Avaya s flexible communications infrastructure would bring the same benefits to organizations that are unlucky enough to suffer an emergency such as a fire, flood or major power disruption. With Avaya infrastructure in place, we re prepared for anything, said Bruder. It s a complete reversal. Years ago, you d find yourself sitting in an empty building waiting for the telecom and infrastructure to be plugged in. Now, with Avaya s technologies, everything is ready to go and you re often left waiting for the physical construction to be completed. Moving a corporate headquarters would typically require six to eight months of planning, infrastructure, telecom services, new phone lines, new phone numbers, etc., but because of Avaya s underlying architecture and technology solutions, we were able to execute the move in 22 days without clients or even our employees noticing. Terry Bruder, Sales Engineering Director, Avaya Canada 4 avaya.com

5 Solutions Avaya Aura Avaya Aura Communication Manager Avaya Aura Session Manager Avaya Aura System Manager Avaya Aura Messaging Avaya Aura Conferencing Scopia Desktop and Mobile Applications Avaya Communicator Avaya one-x Mobile Avaya Session Border Controller for Enterprise Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch Series Avaya Virtual Services Platform 4000 Series About Avaya 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. Avaya s fabricbased networking solutions help simplify and accelerate the deployment of business critical applications and services. For more information, please visit avaya.com Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. Avaya and the Avaya logo are trademarks of Avaya Inc. and are registered in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks identified by, TM, or SM are registered marks, trademarks, and service marks, respectively, of Avaya Inc. 02/15 UC7684