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Avaya Working with Top Microsoft(R) Partner to Provide Integrated IP Customer Care Solution to Small and Medium Businesses

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avaya Inc. , a leading global provider of communications networks and services for businesses, today announced that it is working with enterprise business solution provider I.B.I.S., Inc. to implement an applications suite that integrates Microsoft Business Solutions CRM (Microsoft CRM) with the Avaya IP Office to small and medium businesses worldwide

Avaya and I.B.I.S. are demonstrating the integrated Avaya solution at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2003 being held here this week. The annual conference is targeted at Microsoft's global business partners, distributors, system integrators, education and OEM partners, and independent software vendors.

The integrated solution is designed to empower small and medium businesses to serve their customers better with new communications and productivity tools that contribute directly to their bottom line. Controlled introductions of the integrated solution at a number of customer locations initially in North America -- including at I.B.I.S., for its mortgage lending solution application -- have been taking place since July.

Avaya IP Office with Microsoft CRM is designed to enable small and medium businesses to build more profitable customer relationships, enhance their business efficiency, and better understand their customers' needs. For example, the solution automatically integrates inbound customer sales with customer sales/service history, and the system retrieves and tracks real time information anytime, anywhere. Its reporting and analysis capabilities integrate call data with all business systems, and installation can be achieved in days, not months.

Traditionally, CRM solutions have been out of the reach of small and medium size businesses either due to cost or complexity. Microsoft CRM addresses this issue -- and provides these companies with a solution that meets sales and service needs -- at a low total cost of ownership. And thanks to integration of the Avaya communications system and end users' customer databases, Avaya IP Office enables businesses to better manage the entire customer experience and drive new levels of productivity. Avaya is a global market leader in contact center solutions, with more than 20,000 customer care center customers and 500 multi-channel contact center customers worldwide.

"Our strategy is to provide small and medium businesses a path to efficiently seamlessly and securely drive their business from where it is today to where they need it to be," said Dave Johnson, group vice president, Small and Medium Business Solutions, Avaya. "Offering business value for customers and enabling them to gain the benefits of IP telephony is key to our strategy."

IP Office is a high performance telephony and data server, designed a built specifically for the small and medium business market. It enables businesses to move to IP telephony on their own path, at their own pace and at their own choice. It combines comprehensive voice and data applications normally reserved for large enterprises with easy to use tools that allow the smallest of businesses to deliver cutting edge customer service. IP Office supports up to 256 users and features Avaya's latest advancements in converged voice and data technology, supporting a host of communication applications, including conferencing.

"Avaya's IP telephony solutions provide tremendous value to our clients as well as to our own organization," said Andy Vabulas, CEO of I.B.I.S. "Specifically, IP Office transforms Microsoft CRM into a real-time communications medium by making relevant customer and prospect data instantly available during our phone conversations. This capability dramatically improves the effectiveness of our sales and support organizations. Now we can apply metrics to our telephony system, as well as our to our CRM system, to ensure that we're taking care of our prospects and customers."

About Avaya

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500(R). Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

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 website: http://www.avaya.com/.

About I.B.I.S., Inc.

Founded in 1989, I.B.I.S., Inc. (http://www.ibisinc.com/) is a leading total enterprise business solution provider for companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage through Microsoft technology solutions. I.B.I.S., Inc. is a full-service consultancy providing end-to-end business solutions related to Microsoft Business Solutions ERP and CRM application software and Microsoft infrastructure products. I.B.I.S., Inc. is a Microsoft Business Solutions Gold Certified Partner, a Microsoft Business Solutions Inner Circle Partner, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Enterprise Systems; the recipient of the 2001 Outstanding Partner of the Year award; and an Avaya certified BusinessPartner.

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