“The solution illustrates how organizations can extend their contact centers into the metaverse, leveraging advanced innovations without impacting their existing contact center investment,” Nidal Abou-Ltaif, President, Avaya International said.
It demonstrates a use case for opening a business in the UAE within the metaverse and receiving seamless customer support from a contact center agent at every step of the journey. This kind of innovation without disruption will help businesses, he said.
The solution will be taken to the Indian market as well, depending on the customer’s demand, he said.The solution is developed by Avaya’s Dubai-based team in collaboration with Avanza. The ‘Metaverse Experience’ solution will support Dubai's ambition to be one of the top 10 global cities for the metaverse economy. The Metaverse Experience solution was demonstrated at GITEX Global in Dubai.
Corporate voice and telephony services have transformed from traditional public-switched telephone networks (PSTNs) and private branch exchanges (PBXs) to voice over IP (VoIP) and IP PBXs, often combined with digital fax, videoconferencing, instant messaging and mobile communications. That means VoIP and telephony certifications now focus on digital communications, along with a good mix of IP networking protocols and methods to support such traffic and to maintain service quality.
In this article, we feature five solid VoIP and telephony certifications from Avaya, Certification Partners, Cisco, Digium (Asterisk) and Microsoft. Unified communications cover a lot of voice and telephony ground, and it adds video and other solutions to the lineup as well.
Salary is a significant consideration when deciding whether to pursue a VoIP and telephony certification. SimplyHired lists $106,149 as the average salary for a VoIP engineer, although Glassdoor‘s average for a VoIP engineer is noticeably lower at $83,772. Still, a salary just under $85,000 is a worthwhile goal in the industry, with a good growth path into more senior positions readily attainable.
To help determine our top five VoIP and telephony certifications, we performed an informal job board survey. That data indicates the number of job posts in which our featured certifications were mentioned on one specific day. The data should give you an idea of the relative popularity of each certification. [Interested in Business Phone Systems? Check out our top picks.]
Job Board Search Results (in alphabetical order, by certification)
| Certification | SimplyHired | Indeed | LinkedIn Jobs | Linkup | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACIS (Avaya) | 142 | 172 | 57 | 94 | 468 |
| CCNP: Collaboration (Cisco) | 489 | 567 | 348 | 309 | 1,713 |
| CTP (Certification Partners) | 64 | 25 | 101 | 167 | 357 |
| dCAP (Asterisk) | 14 | 14 | 18 | 3 | 49 |
| MCSE: Productivity (Microsoft) | 252 | 294 | 136 | 137 | 819 |
ACIS: Avaya Certified Implementation Specialist
Avaya is one of the leading solution providers of business communications and collaboration systems. As a spinoff of Lucent Technologies, itself an offspring of Bell Labs, Avaya’s roots are firmly planted in telephony. Certification solution tracks are currently offered in two concentrations: sales and sdesign, and services.
The Avaya Certified Implementation Specialist (ACIS) certification falls into the Services track and recognizes an individual’s ability to install, deploy, test and troubleshoot Avaya products at a beginning to intermediate skill level. Several credentials are available for the ACIS certification:
- Avaya IP Office Contact Center
- Avaya CallPilot
- Avaya Communication Server 1000 for Avaya Aura
- Avaya Aura Contact Center
- Avaya Aura Contact Center CCT and Multimedia
- Avaya Aura Call Center Elite – New
Candidates interested in the Sales and Design solution track should check out the Avaya Certified Design Specialist (ACDS), Avaya Professional Design Specialist (APDS) and the Avaya Professional Sales Specialist (APSS) certifications.
Note: Some Avaya credentials are available only to Avaya partners and associates, while others are open to all takers. See the Avaya Professional Credential Program Overview for details. Individuals not affiliated with a specific organization can create a “non-relationship” account on the Avaya Learning site to purchase a certification exam.
For most topics, Avaya recommends candidates have two years of experience in relevant technologies plus one more year implementing the core product. Each ACIS certification remains valid for two years.
ACIS facts and figures
| Certification Name | Avaya Certified Implementation Specialist (ACIS) |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites & Required Courses | Training recommended. Candidates should check the certification page for individual solution track for details. Training costs vary by solution track, but candidates can expect to pay $1,400 to $3,500 per course. Some tracks recommend multiple courses.
Two years of experience in relevant technologies plus one year of experience in implementing the Avaya products recommended. |
| Number of Exams | One or more exams per credential.
See the test and training requirements for each credential. Visit the Credential Program web page, click the ACIS box twice in the Services Credentials category and then click on each ACIS credential listed on the right side of the page. |
| Cost per Exam | Most exams are $125. Exams administered by Pearson VUE or online through the Avaya Learning Center. |
| URL | https://www.avaya-learning.com/lms/#/credentials/credential-program (Services Credentials category) |
| Self-Study Materials | Avaya Learning Partners offer training for each exam; costs range from $1,400 to $3,500 per course. |
CCNP Collaboration: Cisco Certified Network Professional Collaboration
Cisco remains one of the world’s dominant IP telephony players. Its Collaboration certifications are available at associate, professional and expert levels, where our top-five pick is the mid-level Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP).
The Collaboration certification portfolio is geared toward network professionals and network engineers who work with voice and video, particularly Cisco Collaboration solutions. Targeted skills include configuring and implementing Cisco Collaboration solutions, planning and designing video network collaborations, and maintaining implemented solutions.
Candidates are required to pass four exams to earn the CCNP Collaboration credential. Training is optional but recommended. Candidates can expect to pay about $3,800 for live classroom or virtual courses.
Recertification is required every three years for CCNPs. To maintain this credential, holders must pass any current 642-XXX or 300-XXX professional-level exam, any CCIE written exam, any CCDE written or practical exam, or the Cisco Certified Architect (CCAr) interview and board review.
CCNP collaboration facts and figures
| Certification Name | Cisco Certified Network Professional Collaboration (CCNP Collaboration) |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites & Required Courses | A valid CCNA Collaboration certification or any Cisco CCIE or CCDE certification. Training recommended but not required. |
| Number of Exams | Four exams:
300-070: Implementing Cisco IP Telephony & Video, Part 1 (CIPTV1) 300-075: Implementing Cisco IP Telephony & Video, Part 2 (CIPTV2) 300-080: Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony & Video (CTCOLLAB) 300-085: Implementing Cisco Collaboration Application v1.0 (CAPPS) Each exam: 75 minutes in length, 50-75 questions |
| Cost per Exam | $300 per exam, $1,200 total. Exams administered by Pearson VUE. |
| URL | http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/certifications/professional/ccnp-collaboration.html |
| Self-Study Materials | Cisco maintains links to the course syllabus, study groups, test prep materials, practice exams and more on the Cisco Learning Network Collaboration (CCNP) web page. test pages also contain links to instructor-led training and e-learning opportunities. Numerous collaboration publications are available through Cisco Press. |
CTP: Certification Partners Convergence Technologies Professional
The vendor-neutral CTP certification was developed by Certification Partners and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). It’s also endorsed by industry leaders such as Cisco, Avaya, Mitel, Toshiba and Vertical. Many of these leaders either accept the CTP as a stepping stone or prerequisite to their credential programs or recommend the CTP for training and preparation. Certification Partners maintains a complete list of endorsements from telecommunication leaders.
The CTP requires the successful completion of one test that focuses on methods, concepts and best practices in the following areas:
- Data and internet protocol (IP) networking for convergent networks
- Voice and telephony services, functions, and technologies
- Convergence technologies
Certification Partners also offers the Convergent Network Technologies (CCNT) certification, which aims at professionals who sell and support convergence services, as well as the CIW certifications in networking and security, web technologies and design and development. Candidates interested in working in the field of convergence who do not yet possess the requisite experience are advised to first obtain the CCNT credential and then gain the required experience.
Certification Partners does not require recertification to maintain the CTP.
CTP facts and figures
| Certification Name | Convergence Technologies Professional (CTP) |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites & Required Courses | CCNT recommended or a minimum of 18 to 24 months of experience in all three knowledge domain areas: Data and Internet Protocol Networking for Convergent Networks; Voice and Telephony Services, Functions and Technologies; and Convergence Technologies.
Training strongly recommended. |
| Number of Exams | One exam: TT0-201 (administered through CTC Online), 65 questions, 90 minutes, 75 percent required to pass. |
| Cost per Exam | $225 |
| URL | http://www.ctpcertified.com/certification |
| Self-Study Materials | CTP training is recommended; five-day instructor-led training, $3,395 (includes study guides and test voucher). CTP training products are available from the CTP store (student courseware $199). |
dCAP: Digium Certified Asterisk Professional
Since its humble beginnings as an open source project in 1999, Asterisk has grown exponentially and become a well-recognized and respected framework for communication and conference servers, VoIP gateways and IP PBX systems. Asterisk can be found in more than 170 countries, powering more than 2 million servers worldwide. Per Digium (which maintains Asterisk in conjunction with the Asterisk community), Asterisk runs in most of the Fortune 1000 companies.
With such widespread popularity, it’s only natural that professionals with Asterisk skills are in demand. To meet industry needs, Digium offers several training courses (Asterisk Essentials, Fast Start and Advanced), as well as the Digium Certified Asterisk Professional (dCAP) and Digium Certified Asterisk Administrator (dCAA) certifications.
The dCAP targets experienced Asterisk professionals. Candidates are expected to possess real-world experience (typically a minimum of three to 24 months), in-depth knowledge of Linux (basic administration, manipulating files and modifying configuration files) and Asterisk experience (installation, Asterisk dial plan format and syntax, use of basic CLI commands and registration of VoIP devices). Other recommended skills include basic programming and scripting languages (Perl, Bash, C and/or C++, for example) and an understanding of VoIP protocols.
Candidates must pass a two-part exam, which consists of a written test and a practical lab test (in which you configure a PBX), to earn the credential. While there are no prerequisites, the Asterisk Advanced training course is highly recommended before attempting the exam.
Although the Digium website doesn’t specify recertification requirements, dCAP certification is granted for a “specific released, stable version of Asterisk.”
dCAP Facts and Figures
| Certification Name | Digium Certified Asterisk Professional (dCAP) |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites & Required Courses | None required. Asterisk Advanced training course highly recommended, along with 3 to 24 months of real-world experience, working knowledge of setting up and maintaining an Asterisk server, and familiarity with Asterisk trial configuration files. (Training costs approximately $2,650.) |
| Number of Exams | Two exams (115-question written exam, plus a practical lab exam). |
| Cost per Exam | $510. Prices may vary by geography. |
| URL | www.digium.com/training/asterisk/certifications/dcap |
| Self-Study Materials | Training courses available. Recommended reading: Asterisk: The Definitive Guide, 4th edition, by Russell Bryant, Leif Madsen and Jim Van Meggelen. O’Reilly Media: May 2013. ISBN-13: 978-1-4493-3242-6 ($46.99 for eBook, $54.99 for print version). |
MCSE (Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert): Productivity
Microsoft rolled out several new MCSE certifications in 2016, including the MCSE: Productivity. Although this certification is geared toward enterprise-grade hybrid and cloud solutions for Microsoft Office, it allows candidates to specialize in any of several Microsoft technologies, including Skype for Business.
To obtain the MCSE: Productivity credential, candidates must first obtain the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA): Office 365, MCSA: Windows Server 2012 or MCSA Windows Server 2016 certification. Then, they must pass an elective test from an approved list. Currently, there are eight different exams to choose from. In addition, Microsoft recommends at least three years of experience.
The MCSE: Productivity credential doesn’t expire. However, credential holders are encouraged to re-earn the certification each year by passing another elective exam. Doing so indicates your desire to stay current on technologies and broaden your skillset, and you’ll post another entry to your certification transcript.
MSCE Productivity facts and figures
| Certification Name | MCSE: Productivity |
| Prerequisites & Required Courses | MCSA: Office 365, MCSA: Windows Server 2012 or MCSA Windows Server 2016 certification.
Three or more years of experience recommended |
| Number of Exams | Candidates must pass one of the following exams:
Exam 70-345: Designing and Deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Exam 70-339: Managing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016 Exam 70-333: Deploying Enterprise Voice with Skype for Business 2015 Exam 70-334: Core Solutions of Microsoft Skype for Business 2015 Exam 70-331: Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 Exam 70-332: Advanced Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 Exam 70-341: Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Exam 70-342: Advanced Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 |
| Cost per Exam | $165 per exam. Exams administered by Pearson VUE. |
| URL | https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/mcse-productivity-certification.aspx |
| Self-Study Materials | Microsoft Learning provides links to training, practice exams by third-party vendors (including MeasureUp), case studies, test study groups and more. Links to community support forums and other resources are listed on each test web page. Microsoft also offers various training options through its Microsoft Official Courses On-Demand (MOC On-Demand) program. |
Beyond the top five: More VoIP and telephony certifications
The SIP School, a part of Vocale Ltd. in the U.K., offers a range of affordable, vendor-neutral VoIP and SIP certifications, including the SIP School VVoIP Professional (SSVVP). The SSVVP was on our top five list for the last few years but was replaced by the MCSE: Productivity in 2018, owing mainly to interest from employers.
The ZyXEL Certified Network Professional – VoIP (ZCNP VoIP) is another good certification, which is vendor-specific and therefore geared toward networking professionals who support ZyXEL products.
3CX offers a certification program for professionals who deploy, manage and support 3CX IP PBX systems. The 3CX credentials are offered in three tiers: basic, intermediate and advanced.
Lots of community colleges and universities offer network VoIP and telephony courses or certificate programs as well, such as Florida Community College, College of DuPage and Riverland Community College.
The agreement supports the integration of the Avaya OneCloudTM experience platform with the Honeywell City Suite to help regional governments accelerate their smart city initiatives. The combined platforms will not only Strengthen citizen engagement but also deliver the means to support community safety efforts though improved emergency response capabilities.
This integration is already being rolled out in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, a greenfield smart city 45 kilometres east of Cairo. Once completed, the New Administrative Capital will be the new home of the country’s parliament, presidential palaces, government ministries and foreign embassies, as well as major private firms operating in Egypt.
Using the Honeywell City Suite Platform, integrated with Avaya OneCloud, city authorities will be able to monitor the city’s activities from an integrated Command and Control Centre. The centre also includes advanced video analytics solutions that can monitor crowds and traffic flow, track suspicious behaviour and subsequently trigger automated emergency responses.
Partnership to provide unparalleled, frictionless customer experience to MEA customers
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, October 11, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GITEX Global--Uniphore, the leader in Conversational AI and Automation, today at GITEX Global 2022, announced a strategic partnership with Avaya (NYSE: AVYA), a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, to bring its integrated Conversational AI and communications platform to customers across the Middle East and African (MEA) region.
Uniphore’s Conversational AI and Automation products will add deep functionality to the Avaya OneCloud™ CCaaS platform. Avaya OneCloud CCaaS makes it easy to connect chat, video, voice, and messaging to deliver enhanced experiences for customers and employees at every touchpoint.
With Uniphore, Avaya OneCloud CCaaS users will be able to track, measure, and Strengthen their contact center journey with increased self-serve capabilities, frictionless agent experience, and needle-moving insights. Avaya’s customers will have access to Uniphore’s conversational AI and automation solutions and will be well-placed to digitally onboard customers, including from social media platforms driven by AI-powered solutions.
Uniphore's comprehensive X platform is an integrated conversational AI and automation platform that combines natural language processing (NLP), robotic process automation (RPA), automatic speech recognition (ASR), including the Arabic language, emotion AI, and knowledge AI that enterprises need in today’s tech-savvy consumer era. These technology components translate into specific customer offerings in chatbots, voice bots, conversational analytics for quality automation, real-time customer analysis, and agent guidance.
"In today’s uncertain world, consumers want brands to address their needs quickly and efficiently; this makes the customer experience more important than ever," said Kennedy Pereira, VP, CCaaS Ecosystem, Global Alliances and Partnerships at Uniphore. "We are excited to partner with Avaya to enhance CX, better understand customer insights to achieve superior business outcomes, Strengthen employee performances, and lower customer costs."
The integrated platform will also enhance employee productivity and efficiency by guiding agents in real-time with in-call alerts, next best action and reduce their after-call work by automating call summarization. This allows agents more time to focus on creating emotional connections with customers, delivering exceptional CX, and reducing operating costs by improving time to resolution and first call resolutions (FCR).
"With Avaya OneCloud CCaaS, we make it easy to connect customers, agents and back-office staff with the insights they need to deliver great experiences. And by adding the power of Uniphore’s AI and automation tools to the platform, we’re able to magnify the effects of these capabilities. We’re excited about the solutions that our joint customers will be able to create with our technologies," said Ahmad Dorra, Customer Experience Solutions Sales Leader – Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Avaya.
Visit the Avaya stand at GITEX Global at booth Z3-B35 and booth Z1-C10, Zabeel Hall, Dubai World Trade Centre between October 12 and 14, 2022 to learn how Avaya and Uniphore work together to create seamless CX. Uniphore will have its conversational AI and automation platform woven into the Avaya demonstrations on display, showcasing solutions that unlock the value of every conversation.
About Uniphore
Uniphore is the global leader in Conversational Automation. Every day, billions of conversations take place across industries — customer service, sales, HR, education and more. Whether they are human to human, human to machine or machine to machine, conversations are at the heart of everything we do, and the new currency of the enterprise.
At Uniphore, we believe companies that best understand and take action on those conversations will win. We have built the most comprehensive and powerful conversational automation platform that combines conversational AI, workflow automation and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) with a business user friendly UX in a single integrated platform to transform and democratize customer experiences across industries.
Follow our blog and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
About Avaya
Businesses are built by the experiences they provide, and everyday millions of those experiences are delivered by Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA). Avaya is shaping what's next for the future of work, with innovation and partnerships that deliver game-changing business benefits. Our cloud communications solutions and multi-cloud application ecosystem power personalized, intelligent, and effortless customer and employee experiences to help achieve strategic ambitions and desired outcomes. Together, we are committed to help grow your business by delivering Experiences that Matter. Learn more at http://www.avaya.com
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221010005684/en/
Contacts
Cynanda Noronha
Cynanda@uniphore.com
Tom Paye
tpaye@avaya.com
Avaya, a provider of cloud communication and workstream collaboration solutions, has signed an agreement with Startek, a customer experience (CX) solutions provider.
As part of the MoU, Startek will explore hosting a range of Avaya OneCloud portfolio solutions. This will be with the intent of making them available to businesses in a compelling package that includes contact centre agents and institutional expertise in customer experience.
A subscription-based pricing model will be used to provide access to the solution, which will allow organisations to purchase the capacity, services, and people they need as and when they need them, without having to pay large upfront costs for such services.
The agreement will aim to create a packaged solution of both technology and services that can be extended to Startek customers globally, with the technology built on the Avaya OneCloud experience platform.
“Startek enables brands across the globe to build long-term customer relationships through the delivery of human-centric experiences,” said Abhinandan Jain, chief digital officer, Startek. “In today’s economic climate, small and medium-sized businesses want to avoid large upfront costs and make the best use of their internal resources by outsourcing non-core activities. By partnering with Avaya, we create the opportunity for emerging enterprises to benefit from market-leading CX delivered through a bundled data, people and technology solution – all at a fixed monthly cost.”
“We’re coming together to address a market need – namely, to make it easy for businesses to consume a technology platform, along with market-leading people and processes. Working together, we’re able to extend the benefits of the reliability and expertise that industry leaders such as Avaya and Startek bring to the market,” said Nidal Abou-Ltaif, president, Avaya International.
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Cloud communications firm Avaya has announced a new strategic partnership with Wavenet, a UK-based cloud telecoms and technology provider, to deliver its unified communications as a service (UCaaS) offering to the UK channel.
The collaboration combines UCaaS and contact centre as a service (CCaaS) with its own bundled calls and minutes to help businesses deliver enhanced experiences for customers. Wavenet will act as a wholesale service provider and tier 1 value-added reseller (VAR) across the UK.
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Announcing the move at the GITEX Global conference, the pair said the collaboration will enable UK-based organisations to deliver “effortless, best-in-class experiences” for both customers and employees during every interaction.
“Our partners are serving customers in a business environment that has changed significantly over the past couple of years, and against that backdrop, it’s no surprise that demand for cloud-based communications experience technology has increased,” said Antony Black, director of wholesale at Wavenet.
“By offering the combination of the Avaya market-leading UCaaS and CCaaS experience technology with Wavenet’s bundled voice plans, we are able to provide the wholesale partners with a fully self-service managed platform allowing them to control their customers and more importantly bill directly.”
Expected to be available to Wavenet customers and its network of UK wholesale channel partners in Q1 2023, the combined offering can be rolled out to customers within hours, while customisations for more complex infrastructures can be made “quickly and easily”, the pair said.
Fadi Moubarak, Avaya’s vice president of channels, added that the agreement with Wavenet will enable joint partners to “position an enterprise-class solution without the enterprise-class pricing”.
“Being natively cloud-based, the platform will keep customers at the cutting edge in terms of feature sets, and can be flexibly tailored and deployed in diverse ways to match the requirements of any business,” he said.
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Free DownloadDuring GITEX Global this week, Avaya (NYSE: AVYA), a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Startek (NYSE: SRT), a global customer experience (CX) solutions provider, that will see the two companies partner to make it easier for global businesses to meet the ever-evolving needs of their customers.
As part of the MOU, Startek will explore hosting a range of Avaya OneCloud portfolio solutions with the intent of making them available to businesses in a compelling package that includes contact centre agents and institutional expertise in customer experience. This one-stop solution will be made available through a subscription-based pricing model, enabling organisations to purchase the capacity, services and people they require, as and when needed, without large upfront costs.
The agreement will aim to create a packaged solution of both technology and services that can be extended to Startek customers globally, with the technology built on the Avaya OneCloud experience platform.
“Startek enables brands across the globe to build long-term customer relationships through the delivery of human-centric experiences,” said Abhinandan Jain, Chief Digital Officer, Startek. “In today’s economic climate, small and medium-sized businesses want to avoid large upfront costs and make the best use of their internal resources by outsourcing non-core activities. By partnering with Avaya, we create the opportunity for emerging enterprises to benefit from market-leading CX delivered through a bundled data, people and technology solution – all at a fixed monthly cost.”
“We’re coming together to address a market need – namely, to make it easy for businesses to consume a technology platform, along with market-leading people and processes. Working together, we’re able to extend the benefits of the reliability and expertise that industry leaders such as Avaya and Startek bring to the market,” said Nidal Abou-Ltaif, President, Avaya International.
This collaboration will enable businesses to deliver better experiences to their customers through an all-inclusive, easy-to-manage subscription-based service. This will help them roll-out new services faster and significantly reduce the total cost of ownership to deliver a better return on investments.
DUBAI: Avaya on Monday demonstrated how it is executing Dubai’s metaverse vision. Developed in by Avaya’s Dubai-based team in collaboration with Avanza, the ‘Metaverse Experience’ solution will support Dubai’s ambition to be one of the top 10 global cities for the metaverse economy, aims to create 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030 and contribute to the economic prosperity of the emirate.
Avaya is the customer experience vendor of choice for a majority of government organizations and large enterprises in the UAE. This makes the company uniquely suited to propel the experiences that UAE organizations offer into the metaverse – as shown in the in Metaverse Experience solution being demonstrated at GITEX Global.
The solution illustrates how organizations can extend their contact centers into the metaverse, leveraging advanced innovations without impacting their existing contact center investments. It demonstrates a use case for opening a business in the UAE within the metaverse, and receiving seamless customer support from a contact center agent at every step of the journey. This kind of innovation without disruption will help businesses of any size become a part of Dubai’s Metaverse vision,” said Nidal Abou-Ltaif, President, Avaya International.
Avaya has used leading global IT event Gitex to reveal the next generation of products and services that it believes can provide businesses with the innovation they require over the top of their existing infrastructures. It has also struck a number of key partnerships with Wavenet and Uniphore that the communications and collaboration tech firm believes will help it achieve its aim.
The overarching theme of Avaya’s presence at Gitex is innovation without disruption, showcasing how technology can allow companies to achieve essential business outcomes while avoiding disruption to core operations in a time of economic uncertainty.
At Gitex, the use cases will aim to demonstrate how the Avaya OneCloud platform can enable organisations to deliver customer and employee experiences without the need for wholesale technology refreshes, helping firms to simplify and speed innovation and efficiencies in delivering experiences. Use cases being demonstrated include metaverse as a channel, using the metaverse as a communications channel between contact centre agents and customers.
Digital customer journeys are designed to enable companies to onboard customers digitally, starting from a social media advertisement, moving to artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chat over social media, to finally selling a holiday.
Proactive relationship management use cases are based on advanced collaboration features to better manage client relationships, as well as outbound capabilities for upselling and AI-powered biometrics for authentication. AI and analytics show how organisations can use facial biometrics, chatbots, speech analytics and conversational AI to Strengthen the customer experience. Smart dispatching solutions and mass notifications combine with the internet of things with the aim of enabling safer cities.
Yet despite the welter of advanced tech, Nidal Abou-Ltaif, president at Avaya International, stressed that anyone can have a technology product, but most important was how to make it relevant to the customer and deliver the correct business outcome. “You see the progress and the pace [in development] so that the customer can implement it, modify it, change it, see the outcome,” he told Computer Weekly.
“We see how this technology can help them and deliver the outcome needed. And as things are changing, too fast, we start to see more and more pressure coming into our customer business, which is based on contact and collaboration technology.
“We are at the heart of digital transformation, and we need to adapt and adequately digitise what we do to help our customers. It’s not about technology. It’s not about AI. It’s how you put all of this technology with the business case.”
Central to this strategy is partnerships and at Gitex, Avaya announced that it is to work with Wavenet, a provider of cloud-based telecoms and technology systems, which will act as a wholesale service provider and tier 1 value-added reseller of OneCloud across the UK.
Putting the partnership intro context, Avaya cited research from Forrester showing that 92% of companies in the UK, France and Germany have adopted cloud computing, driven largely by demand for new applications and affordable compute and storage for existing applications.
The partnership will aim to address this demand with a combined unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) and contact centre-as-a-service (CCaaS) offering with bundled calls and minutes that enables UK-based organisations to deliver enhanced experiences for customers and employees at multiple touchpoints.
Antony Black, director of wholesale at Wavenet, said: “Our partners are serving customers in a business environment that has changed significantly over the past couple of years, and against that backdrop, it’s no surprise that demand for cloud-based communications experience technology has increased.”
With Uniphore, Avaya will set out to bring its integrated conversational and communications platform to customers across the Middle East and Africa region.
Uniphore offers an integrated conversational AI and automation platform that combines natural language processing , robotic process automation, automatic speech recognition, including the Arabic language, emotion AI and knowledge AI. Said to be what enterprises need in today’s tech-savvy consumer era, the technology components translate into specific customer offerings in chatbots, voice bots, conversational analytics for quality automation, real-time customer analysis and agent guidance.
Uniphore’s conversational AI and automation products will add deep functionality to the Avaya OneCloud CCaaS platform so that users can track, measure and Strengthen their contact centre journey with increased self-serve capabilities, offering what is described as “frictionless” agent experience and “needle-moving” insights.
Avaya’s customers will also have access to Uniphore’s conversational AI and automation technology and will be able to onboard customers digitally, including from social media platforms driven by AI-based systems.
Uniphore, a provider of conversational AI and automation, is partnering with Avaya, a provider of solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration. This move will bring Uniphore’s integrated Conversational AI and communications platform to customers across the Middle East and African (MEA) region.
Uniphore’s Conversational AI and Automation products will add deep functionality to the Avaya OneCloud CCaaS platform, according to the vendor. Avaya OneCloud CCaaS makes it easy to connect chat, video, voice, and messaging to deliver enhanced experiences for customers and employees at every touchpoint.
With Uniphore, Avaya OneCloud CCaaS users will be able to track, measure, and Strengthen their contact center journey with increased self-serve capabilities, frictionless agent experience, and needle-moving insights.
Avaya’s customers will have access to Uniphore’s conversational AI and automation solutions and will be well-placed to digitally onboard customers, including from social media platforms driven by AI-powered solutions.
Uniphore's comprehensive X platform is an integrated conversational AI and automation platform that combines natural language processing (NLP), robotic process automation (RPA), automatic speech recognition (ASR), including the Arabic language, emotion AI, and knowledge AI that enterprises need in today’s tech-savvy consumer era. These technology components translate into specific customer offerings in chatbots, voice bots, conversational analytics for quality automation, real-time customer analysis, and agent guidance, according to the company.
“In today’s uncertain world, consumers want brands to address their needs quickly and efficiently; this makes the customer experience more important than ever,” said Kennedy Pereira, VP, CCaaS ecosystem, global alliances and partnerships at Uniphore. “We are excited to partner with Avaya to enhance CX, better understand customer insights to achieve superior business outcomes, Strengthen employee performances, and lower customer costs.”
The integrated platform will also enhance employee productivity and efficiency by guiding agents in real-time with in-call alerts, next best action, and reduce their after-call work by automating call summarization. This allows agents more time to focus on creating emotional connections with customers, delivering exceptional CX, and reducing operating costs by improving time to resolution and first call resolutions (FCR), according to the vendors.
For more information about this news, visit www.uniphore.com or www.avaya.com.
