Avaya, Hitachi form business alliance to develop CRM, next-generation communications business opportunities

Avaya Inc, a leading global provider of voice and data networks to businesses, and Information & Network Services of Hitachi, Ltd today announced that they have formed a business alliance to jointly develop and provide solutions for the customer relationship management (CRM) and next-generation communications solutions. Avaya also announced that Hitachi has become one of Avaya`s business partners in Japan to distribute Avaya`s products to Japanese customers.

The initial phase of the alliance is to approach existing Japanese customers of Hitachi to deploy Avaya`s CRM product portfolio for their contact centres. The next phase will develop and provide joint offer to integrate customers network systems separated as voice and data, into a single network - the IP convergence network.

At the same time, the companies will work together to create a new, growing market of next generation communication solutions. They will also explore opportunities to pursue business opportunities outside Japan.

"Hitachi has a broad customer base in Japan." said David P Johnson, senior vice president, worldwide sales of Avaya Inc. "The presence of Hitachi is especially very solid in financial, insurance, telecommunication, and retail distribution services industries. It is our great pleasure to have a strong partner like Hitachi because we see Japan as one of the most important marketplaces for Avaya."

"Hitachi believes that CRM itself has a great potential for growth, " said Masanori Kataoka, President and CEO, Information & Network Services of Hitachi. "With Avaya`s industry-leading CRM solutions portfolio, we will be able to position ourselves as a leader in the CRM market. Both Hitachi and Avaya are committed to do further, creating a new market to grow with the next-generation communication solutions to capture opportunities before us."

"The style of communication has been changing dramatically," said Mark Uno, representative director and president of Avaya Japan. "Combining both companies` capabilities, we are able to create a new market for the next-generation communication solutions. As the enterprise and service provider`s network are becoming more complex, people want to have a simpler network to manage. At the same time, we need to meet our customers` requirements such as rich functions, high reliability, and flexibility, etc."