Avaya Inc has expanded its South African operations with new members to a team focused on adding value to leading BusinessPartners and delivering the benefits of Intelligent Communications to new and existing enterprise customers.
Avaya is a leading global provider of business communication applications, systems and services.
"We`re dedicated to building the most skilled and knowledgeable leadership and technical team to work closely with our BusinessPartners to help them capitalise on Avaya`s expertise in IP telephony, including contact centre technology, to unlock revenue opportunities," said Bridget Kelly, country manager, sub-Saharan Africa, Avaya. "We`re confident that the experts we added to our team will help enable Avaya enhance its global leadership position in Intelligent Communications, which include contact centre and IP telephony capabilities."
The expanded channel team is headed by Cheryl King, who was named director of channels for Avaya`s Sub-Sahara region, a newly-created position within the region. King was previously the company`s channel manager for BusinessPartner Dimension Data. During her eight years with Avaya, she also held positions in sales and channels. She has 15 years of experience in channel management, working with companies that include Computer Configuration Holdings, ATIO and Panasonic.
The new channel team at Avaya, now reporting to King, is comprised of Carlos Gouveia, Winnie Lipner and Claire Celliers. Gouveia has 10 years of experience in network infrastructure sales and has held sales positions at Dimension Data and Business Connexion in South Africa. He joined Avaya in the first quarter of this year. Lipner was previously involved with handling the marketing for Avaya in the sub-Sahara region. For the past three years, Celliers held positions in direct sales for Cisco Systems for the southern Africa region.
The enterprise BusinessPartner channel for which the team is responsible for is currently made up of:
* Avaya BusinessPartner Dimension Data, which provides IT services and solutions, including enterprise networking, security, operating environments and contact centre capabilities.
* Avaya BusinessPartner Business Connexion, one of South Africa`s largest ICT services and solutions companies.
* Avaya BusinessPartner Spescom DataFusion, which offers the full portfolio of Avaya solutions and specialises in Avaya contact centre and customer relationship management solutions.
Leadership and technical teams enhanced
In addition to the channel team, Kelly named Leslie Forsman and Craig Butler members of the management organisation to help deliver the messages of Avaya leadership in Intelligent Communication to key customers.
For several years, Forsman provided consulting services to a number of South Africa`s leading companies, helping them determine their needs and implement contact centre solutions. Recently, he was an independent consultant with the Business Connection Group.
As business manager, converged communications, for Dimension Data, Butler designed and implemented some of Avaya`s leading customer solutions in the KwaZulu-Natal region. There, he also held positions in customer interactive solutions and as a solutions architect. Butler also worked previously for AST as a solutions architect and sales executive, and as voice communications manager at NBS.
Technical experts Andre Deetlefs and Len Joubert have joined Avaya as senior solutions architects to handle pre-sales customer support and solutions architecture. Deetlefs and Joubert have technical skills and are skilled in delivering Intelligent Communications technology and capabilities to customers.
"We`re focused on enhancing the entire Sub-Saharan operation which is a key portion of the Avaya business. Part of this goal is to ensure BusinessPartners in the region get the training and marketing support that enables them to sell and deliver convergence to their business customers," said Buddie Ceronie, vice-president, the UK and Ireland, Avaya. Based in the UK, Ceronie also has responsibility for the sub-Sahara region.
"We`re also developing joint opportunities that enable Avaya BusinessPartners to increase their revenues by providing Avaya solutions tailored to their customers` individual needs," he said.
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Avaya Inc designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including over 90% of the Fortune 500. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol telephony systems and communications software applications and services. Also, Avaya is a pioneer and leader in enterprise fixed/mobile convergence with hundreds of thousands of customers using extension to cellular capability of Avaya Communication Manager every day.
Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications - and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services - Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information, visit the Avaya Web site at http://www.avaya.com.
2006 FIFA World Cup
As the official convergence communication provider for the 2006 FIFA World Cup), Avaya is providing a champion communications network for the world`s largest sporting event. The converged network - that combines voice and data on the same infrastructure - will connect the 12 host stadiums, the international media centres in Munich, Berlin and Dortmund and the FIFA headquarters in Berlin. Players, coaches, volunteers and fans alike will benefit from the Avaya network that will be instrumental in player and journalist accreditation, the reporting of results, material tracking, accommodation confirmations, transportation, and ticketing among other critical functions. With an estimated 45 000 network connections, 30 000 network devices and over 15 terabytes (or 15 000 000 000 000 bytes) of data, it is the largest converged communication network ever built for a sporting event.
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