Infotech Lead India: Rajeev Mittal, managing director, Avaya India, has shared industry trends in 2012 and 2013.
From the iPhone 5, iPad mini, Samsung Galaxy Note to other Android tablets and mobile phones, 2012 saw a slew of new gadgets being launched throughout the year, further fueling the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) and Consumerization of IT trends. Companies across the Asia Pacific region seemed to act in line with the Gartner’s predictions that by 2013, 80 percent of businesses will support a workforce using tablets and enterprises offering appliance-level support for enterprise mail and calendaring.
The rapid uptake of these new devices in 2012 led to greater enterprise mobility, where employees are now connected with both company-issued and personal devices, giving rise to challenges of integration, management and security of device usage. Businesses began looking more closely at Cloud solutions to align resources in a manner that boosts productivity and overall efficiency in their communication systems, further providing end-users with easy-to-use and personalized communication options.
With the abundant options now available and better accessibility to devices, consumers expect quicker service and turn-around from companies. Further fueled by the prevalent use of social media, companies increasingly deployed social platforms to improve customer service efficiencies. In response to these challenges and changing customer needs, Avaya’s key innovations in 2012 were focused on delivering easy-to-use, mobile-enabled video collaboration solutions, enhanced customer service capabilities, better integrated Unified Communications solutions, and networking technologies to support easier access, increased security and virtualized environments.
2012 saw Avaya concluding the important acquisition of specialist video-conferencing company Radvision. This has enabled us to provide open, affordable and easy-to-use video collaboration solutions for companies of all sizes. And in August 2012, the Radvision Scopia XT5000 was named the most innovative new video system for 2012 by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.
Another milestone for Avaya in 2012 was in the small and medium enterprise (SME) space where the need for scalability, mobility and cost-effective solutions are imperative. In line with this, the launch of Avaya’s IP Office 8.1 solution is helping companies effectively scale their communications systems in line with their business growth. Avaya IP Office has now been deployed by over 300,000 customers across the world.
At Avaya, we refer to the rapid enhancements in collaboration technology in terms of how they can deliver The Power of We – which is all about driving faster collaboration, smarter decision making for better business results. For many companies in Asia Pacific, 2012 was the year when their technology investments truly helped them to deliver The Power of We.
2013 – The year video, BYOA, networks and security collaborate to make powerful communication systems
2012 has been an exciting year for technology and if this year should serve as any guide, then technophobic predictions of an isolated world where technology replaces human interaction will remain solely in the realms of film and fiction. Communication technology development is becoming increasingly centered around people – both in the workplace and at home.
According to The International Monetary Fund International Economic Forecast 2012 – 2013, Asia in 2013 will stay positive with emerging markets taking the lead in driving the economy forward. As pressures to improve business performance, productivity and higher levels of efficiencies mount, Asian businesses will continue to invest heavily in building resilient infrastructures, with analyst firms like Canalys predicting total IT investments to grow an average of 5 percent per annum to reach $152 billion by 2016.
Avaya believes that the shift from technology-centric to user-driven IT environment will continue into 2013. Additionally, leveraging IT as a way to achieve business priorities and objectives will reveal some game-changing trends with large business implications.
Avaya sees the following three trends that will make a big impact in 2013:
#1 Video takes the next big plunge:
As organizations look to gear up on productivity this year, more effective access to and integration of video solutions will deliver more effective collaboration, save time and increase productivity in 2013.
A trend that took a leap during the 2008 downturn as an option to save travel costs will now be driven throughout the organization for its ability to bring people together more effectively. Taking Video out of Boardrooms will be key. Since Avaya’s acquisition of Radvision early this year, the focus for us has been to reduce complexity, enhance flexibility, broaden access and support increased mobility in this space. Avaya’s innovations will continue to focus on making video cost-effective, high performance, fully interoperable and accessible to all staff within organizations of any size. Simple to use one touch video on any device will make video a workplace norm in 2013.
#2 BYOD shifts to (BYOA) Bring Your Own Apps
If 2012 was the year of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ policies, then 2013 will be the year of ‘Bring Your Own Apps’ Employees are increasingly using third party productivity applications and cloud services, without consulting the IT department. What CIOs and IT managers have to pay heed to is effective and secure management of BYOA.
More than that, there is a real opportunity for organizations to offer a communications “app store” — a platform where the workforce can download individual apps, such as call-recording, multipoint conferences or entire solutions for use across the business.
#3 Universal Collaboration drives business and consumers
2013 will see businesses demand ever more effective access to scalable, sophisticated, real-time collaboration tools. The need for a fully integrated approach to telephony, video, networking and security will be pivotal as businesses opt for manageable, scalable, out of the box packages that they can roll out across the business in a cost effective way.
The ‘always on’ nature of mobile telephony has heightened consumer expectations around customer service. The use of technology to improve customer experience management, or the ability to collaborate anytime, anywhere, on any device regardless of location is a huge opportunity. And it is one which puts a multimedia contact centre environment at the very heart of a company’s CRM strategy.
The findings of the 2012 Avaya Asia Pacific Customer Experience Index, now in its fifth edition, revealed this as the age of the mature customer with 63 percent of Asia Pacific customers actually willing to pay extra for quality service, and 60 percent of customers moving to multi-channel communication in customer service. Furthermore, the preference for multi- channels is backed by the demand for superior service as nearly two in five customers are likely to move or have already moved their business as a result of their interaction with a customer service center.
Against a challenging economic backdrop and rapidly evolving business needs, Avaya will continue to innovate and help customers accelerate on their journey to greater productivity and collaboration. We believe that organizations in 2013 will benefit immensely from the power of technology and its ability to connect the right people at the right time with the right information in a collaborative environment independent of location, device or network. At Avaya, we call this The Power of We.
Rajeev Mittal, managing director, Avaya India
[email protected]
