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Mitchell, who runs Avaya's overall go-to-market strategy and is also its global channel chief, told Avaya partners that the company's two primary selling motions will be about fueling the midmarket and stabilizing the enterprise. Avaya partners are now "very competitive" in the $8.8 billion total addressable midmarket, meaning global market share for employees with fewer than 1,000 users.
"The highest customer satisfaction [for Avaya] is in the midmarket right now," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he's convinced the midmarket is a red-hot opportunity for Avaya solution providers, especially behind well-received products like SMB UC system IP Office, but that enterprise accounts can also be preserved and expanded thanks to a stepped-up focus on upselling enterprise customers, increasing services and boosting attach rates.
"You have to sell as a platform. Sell wide and high in your enterprise base," Mitchell said. "Target new markets with dedicated account teams. Target transactional, volume-based sales in midmarket, video and data where demand for Avaya competitive advantages is strongest."
Against Cisco, ShoreTel and other competitors, Mitchell said, "We can go toe-to-toe with the products we have."
IP Office is among Avaya's fastest-growing lines, as are its branch networking products and the video solutions it acquired with Radvision earlier this year, according to Mitchell. Contact center, SME/midmarket and video are among markets with opportunity-rich transitions taking place.
Avaya partners need to focus on creating future revenue streams, Mitchell urged, not just milking an annuity base of customers. Forward-thinking partners are already changing their model.
"Sell everything you've got. Sell the applications. It's a game of hitting singles and doubles, that's what you do when you're in a flat market," Mitchell said.
Avaya also plans to overhaul its much-criticized channel services strategy, Mitchell said. Over the next few months, Avaya partners will see announcements pertaining to the clarity, quality and consistency of how it approaches maintenance, professional and other services programs.
Among other ways Avaya has sought to preserve its partnering model, the company has also continued to root out grey market resellers. Avaya opened 71 grey market investigations, and in the process, terminated 15 partners and 6 employees -- including two Avaya managing directors -- that had enabled grey market sales of Avaya product.
Mitchell added that One Source, the software platform through which Avaya will provide common business processes and a dramatically simplified global pricing structure, the Avaya Pricing Model, will finally roll out to U.S.-based partners in 2013, and that Avaya is revamping its global learning program to reduce partner expenses and the learning hours expended.
Avaya partners will directly see the benefits Avaya's created over the past six months. Mitchell said partners need to attack opportunities using a "take share" mentality.
"This is not a conversation we could have had six months ago," Mitchell said. "Six months ago, we did not have a solid midmarket enablement to 1,000 users. We do now."
PUBLISHED NOV. 15, 2012
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