After attending Avaya ENGAGE Conference 2024, I wanted to take a moment to share our excitement in participating at the action packed event. Attended by Avaya customers, channel partners, and industry analysts, this is an amazing gathering for those in the Avaya ecosystem and for those considering Avaya solutions. It’s a place where innovation, collaboration, and forward-thinking solutions come together.
What is Avaya ENGAGE?
Avaya ENGAGE is the premier conference attracting over 2,000 in-person attendees from around the world and many more attending virtually. The conference provides a unique platform for networking, learning, and showcasing the latest advancements in unified communications and contact center technologies.
RingCentral’s Strategic Presence
RingCentral made a significant impact at the event. Our sizable booth attracted hundreds of visitors eager to learn about new features and integrations we are introducing to Avaya’s public cloud UCaaS offering, Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral (ACO).
Driving Interest in ACO
Our primary objective at Avaya ENGAGE was to drive continued interest in ACO by RingCentral among channel partners and customers. By showcasing the enhanced capabilities of ACO, we aimed to strengthen existing relationships and attract new customers.
New ACO Features Announced
A major highlight of our participation was the announcement of new partnership offerings and ACO features, designed to elevate the user experience and broaden its functionalities:
1. Integration with Aura (Avaya’s On-Prem PBX System):
- Previously, customers had to choose between on-premises PBX with a phone system or ACO.
- We announced a hybrid offering that integrates with Aura, opening new opportunities especially for Avaya’s existing channel partners.
- This hybrid offering allows users to leverage their existing Avaya phone system while adding RingCentral messaging, video, AI features, and more.
- Companies can mix deployment types; for example, HQ can use full ACO while satellite offices use on-premises systems with cloud messaging and video, all consolidated under a single corporate directory.
- Enterprises can decide which user groups migrate to ACO and access new features, allowing phased migration.
- This flexibility is exclusively available through the partnership between Avaya and RingCentral
2. Microsoft Teams Integration with ACO:
- Customers can continue using the Microsoft productivity suite and leverage ACO for advanced telephony.
- ACO offers five 9s availability, making it an extremely reliable and robust phone system.
- Customers get advanced phone functionalities not available through Microsoft Teams, such as fax, SMS, and business analytics.
- Cost savings: Using the ACO-Microsoft Integration eliminates the need for a Microsoft Teams Phone license.
3. AI Capabilities within ACO:
- AI technology is about maximizing productivity and making time for what matters.
- ACO’s AI capabilities include transcriptions to generate summaries for easy catch-up, video highlights, and meeting insights, enabling users to extract the most important parts of meetings without watching the entire session.
4. Avaya Contact Center Integration with ACO:
- ACO is now integrated with the Avaya Experience Platform (AXP) Public Cloud CCaaS offering.
- This integration offers a unified UCaaS and CCaaS experience, providing contact center agents with the support needed to stay connected with the rest of the organization.
- Agents can access ACO directories and view the availability of subject matter experts, enhancing collaboration and customer issue resolution.
Highlights from the Conference
RingCentral’s Chief Business Officer, Homayoun Razavi, spoke with Avaya’s Senior Vice President of Strategy, David Austin, on stage to Avaya channel partners, expressing gratitude for their business and partnership on driving ACO success. Homayoun emphasized our commitment to helping them close deals and providing the right solutions for their customers, offering flexibility to operate in the best way for their needs.
Our CEO, Vlad Shmunis, also spoke with Avaya’s CEO, Alan Masarek, on stage, reaffirming the strength of our partnership and addressing feedback from customer, partners and analysts. The announcement was about extending our partnership and announcing the new hybrid offering that will allow Avaya customers to leverage their existing investments in Aura while using ACO for collaboration and phone services where it makes sense. This approach reinforces Avaya’s strategy around “innovation without disruption” and meets customers where they are in their cloud migration journey.
A Promising Future Ahead
The enthusiastic response from attendees and the high level of booth traffic underscored the demand for our innovative solutions. Key industry analysts like Zeus Kerravala highlighted the importance of our expanded partnership, noting that it enables Avaya to deliver on its promise of “innovation without disruption” and offers customers the flexibility to choose their deployment journey.
Here at RingCentral, we’re committed to helping businesses thrive with our state-of-the-art solutions. We thank everyone who visited our booth and look forward to continuing our mission to revolutionize the unified communications landscape, and we appreciate the opportunity to continue to deliver on a successful partnership with Avaya.
Stay tuned for more updates and join us as we continue to achieve remarkable success together!
Originally published May 28, 2024
