A History of Avaya Aura Experience Portal (AVR)

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1 INSERT COMPANY LOGO HERE North North American American Interactive SSL Certificate Voice Response Product Market Leadership Leadership Award Award Frost & Sullivan 1 We Accelerate Growth

2 Background and Company Performance Industry Challenges The core systems side of contact centers inbound contact center routing (ICR), IVR and outbound dialing have had a difficult few years due to the stagnant economy and the industry s movement to the cloud. Contact center budgets for premise-based systems remained tight with the lion s share of those budgets going to Agent Performance Optimization (APO). Meanwhile, sales of ICR systems continued to decline at a -7.9 percent clip in The market for outbound dialers didn t fare much better with a -6.6 percent decline that same year. However, the IVR market started to rebound after several lean years, going from -8.2% to 3.2% growth in sales in While premise sales still face many of the same challenges as in recent years, the dynamics have shifted slightly. The economy is improving slowly. The cloud, while still a huge draw for contact center buyers, isn t stealing all the thunder from the premise-based market. Instead, business and technology needs are changing so quickly that Frost & Sullivan expects refresh cycles to shrink from five to seven years to a range of three to five years. That means enterprises that purchased new on-premise contact center systems in the last two to three years will be due for replacements in the near future. Many of those customers will want to stick with on-premise deployments. However, due to the conservative spending Frost & Sullivan has seen in recent years, this change for IVR systems started earlier as enterprises had stretched this refresh cycle beyond the typical five to seven year cycle, spending more on APO and creating pent-up demand for replacements of aging systems witnessed the beginnings of this change as budgets improved and solution providers with large installed bases of IVR systems began to reach out, reconnect with customers, and evangelize on the advancements made in IVR technology during the economic downturn This shifting landscape includes enhanced proactive customer contact (PCC), more natural language speech applications, integration of IVR with virtual assistants and mobile apps, and other capabilities. Moreover, the decade-long move to multi-channel contact centers has now evolved toward omni-channel customer engagement, which has driven further feature enhancement of IVR along with deeper integration with adjunct systems and applications, a dynamic which has helped create additional value for customers. Market Leadership With more than a quarter of a century of IVR development, Avaya is well suited to respond to the challenges confronting the IVR systems market, and has done so by meshing IVR/Voice Portal within its Customer Experience Framework. Avaya s market leadership success in IVR systems is further demonstrated by the following: Frost & Sullivan 2 We Accelerate Growth

3 Criterion 1. Product Differentiation Avaya has been a leader in IVR feature/functionality for decades, consistently staying ahead of the technology development curve. For instance, the company was one of the first to provide speech-enabled IVR ports, greatly expanding the usability and userfriendliness of IVR applications, and helping to spawn the name Voice Portal. Its R&D has deep roots in speech technologies, enabling it to develop best practices around user interface design and natural language applications. In more recent years IVR (Voice Portal) has developed into the hub of Avaya Aura Experience Portal, which includes Intelligent Customer Routing, Orchestration Designer, Voice Portal and Proactive Outreach Manager (outbound dialing). Over the years Avaya's Experience Portal has evolved far beyond being the old school phone self-service to become a key unifying platform for omni-channel inclusive of SMS, web and even visual self-service and proactive customer engagement across all devices Criterion 2. Growth Strategy Excellence Key components of executing on a growth strategy includes understanding industry and technology trends, mapping these against customer feedback, developing and delivering on product roadmaps, and getting customer buy-in. It is a continuum that Avaya has excelled at for years. A large part of Avaya s success is in being an evangelist in the market, helping to drive change forward, and move customers through the stages of multi-channel customer engagement to the concept and delivery of omni-channel Customer Experience. Legacy channels, such as IVR, very much fit into this structure. But the company also studies industry and technology trends, aligning them with product roadmaps. Avaya does this in conjunction with an active International Avaya Users Group (IAUG) that provides ongoing feedback on the vision, strategy, and product roadmap. The company then leverages its years of expertise and innovative R&D teams to develop new features and products and unique functionality in existing products. Criterion 3. Implementation Excellence The multi-year economic downturn and subsequent impact on contact center budgets coincided with the timeframe in which Avaya acquired Nortel Enterprise Solutions business, including its large installed base of IVR systems. In many cases this delayed purchases of new IVR systems as customers funneled funds into APO or the cloud, and as they waited to see the results of the combined company roadmap. In the years following, Avaya introduced its new product roadmap and embarked on its vision for the Customer Experience. Frost & Sullivan 3 We Accelerate Growth

4 In 2006, Avaya relaunch Avaya Voice Portal as Avaya Aura Experience Portal with an expanded set of multichannel self-service and routing capabilities for orchestration of all inbound and outbound customer automation across all media channels and resources. This was coupled with a unified development environment Orchestration Designer that supported the creation and deployment of self and service applications across both Avaya Aura Experience Portal and Avaya Aura Contact Center. In 2014, Avaya announced the latest stage of this vision with the launch of the aforementioned Avaya Aura Experience Portal and the marketing tagline Transform Your Business One Great Interaction at a Time. Within this framework IVR is a critical piece of today's automated and proactive omnichannel Customer Experience. Having weathered the weakened economy, while addressing installed base concerns, Avaya put itself in the position to capitalize on pent-up demand for multi-channel selfservice. Indeed, as customers add on new interaction channels, and grapple with delivering omni-channel Customer Experience, Avaya s vision of Customer Engagement within the bigger picture of the Customer Experience is resonating well with customers, resulting in the replacement of older IVR systems, as well as purchase of new systems. Criterion 4. Brand Recognition Avaya is one of the most respected brands in the industry. With roots that extend back over a century, a large installed base of loyal customers, and a history of innovation, Avaya enjoys a brand name competitive advantage that smaller players and new market entrants struggle to attain. Avaya also does an excellent job of promoting customer references and use cases into its go-to-market collateral. When it comes to brand recognition, the breadth of Avaya s product portfolio is a big part of its success. In addition to a complete package of contact center solutions, the company s portfolio includes networking, unified communications and collaboration, realtime video collaboration, and related services. Indeed, this breadth plays into marketing awareness campaigns. For instance, Avaya parlayed its intense involvement as the Official Supplier of Network Equipment for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games into one of the biggest industry public relations coups in 2013/2014. Media and analyst coverage in the press was widespread and laudatory. In addition, IAUG meetings, webinars, video webinars, and trade show participation are just a few components that contribute to success in brand recognition. Additionally, Avaya Evolution Tours one day experience events that include presentations on business solutions, customer testimonials, and technology trends, in conjunction with an Expo demo area give Avaya added opportunity to showcase its portfolio and vision. This kind of visibility is invaluable. Frost & Sullivan 4 We Accelerate Growth

5 Criterion 5. Technology Leverage While replacements or addition of new systems certainly play a role in Avaya s IVR market leadership, Frost & Sullivan believes that Avaya s ability to leverage adjacent technology such as outbound dialing systems and inbound contact routing ICR and deeply integrate it across Collaboration and Customer Experience Management, will ultimately assist Avaya in maintaining its leadership position. Moving customers to omni-channel customer care, where information flows between channels and can be used to glean insights on the Customer Experience and agent performance is very compelling. Criterion 6. Customer Ownership Experience Avaya provides a high level of support throughout the customer lifecycle. For instance, within Professional Services, Avaya has over 1,500 global professional services specialists who possess over 1,000 industry certifications, and can be found in 37 countries around the world. In the past year, Avaya Professional Services has pioneered new approaches around Customer Defined Experiences and customer journey management that help its clients link all of their automation and assisted services strategies into a coherent, seamless approach. That approach is defined by creating profiles of their end customers, the journeys they traverse while receiving service, and their preferred channels and methods for their services. Avaya has practices and specialists with specific expertise within contact centers, and in particular, self-service. This includes Avaya s: Enablement Services to define and deploy Avaya solutions, and specifically selfservice solutions Optimization Services to manage roadmap from traditional digital communications to newer SIP-enabled technologies, focusing on maximizing ROI from an enterprise s existing technology Contact Center Optimization Services to improve contact center performance, customer quality of experience, and workforce productivity Innovation Services using leading technology and advanced services delivery to drive new business productivity, employee efficiencies, and superior levels of service Advanced Application Development Services to provide the expert resources to architect, design, develop, implement and maintain custom automated applications that provide a differentiating experience for end- customers Program Management Services to help manage and implement complex, mission-critical communication technology projects with a single point of accountability. Frost & Sullivan 5 We Accelerate Growth

6 Conclusion Avaya has increased its market share in IVR systems from 12.3 percent in 2012 to 18.9 percent in 2013, and had an increase in sales in North America of close to 80 percent. The company has continued its leadership position through continuous innovation, superior support to customers and partners, and its efforts to convey its vision of IVR as an integral part of the Customer Experience. It is for these reasons and others that Frost & Sullivan is proud to recognize Avaya with the 2014 North American Market Leadership Award for Interactive Voice Response System. Key Performance Criteria For the Market Leadership Award, we focused on specific criteria to determine the areas of performance excellence that led to the company s leadership position. The criteria we considered include (although not limited to) the following: Criterion Requirement Growth Strategy Excellence Demonstrated ability to consistently identify, prioritize, and pursue emerging growth opportunities Implementation Excellence Processes support the efficient and consistent implementation of tactics designed to support the strategy Brand Strength The possession of a brand that is respected, recognized, and remembered Product Quality The product or service receives high marks for performance, functionality and reliability at every stage of the life cycle Product Differentiation The product or service has carved out a market niche, whether based on price, quality, uniqueness of offering (or some combination of the three) that another company cannot easily duplicate Technology Leverage Demonstrated commitment to incorporating leading edge technologies into product offerings, for greater product performance and value Price/Performance Value Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar offerings in the market Frost & Sullivan 6 We Accelerate Growth

7 Customer Purchase Experience Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints Customer Ownership Experience Customers are proud to own the company s product or service, and have a positive experience throughout the life of the product or service Customer Service Experience Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards 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- degreeresearch methodology providesan evaluation platform for benchmarking 360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN THE CHAOS industry players and for identifying those performing at best-in-class levels. 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 Frost & Sullivan 7 We Accelerate Growth

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