Reengineered Avaya to Bring Extra Cash to Tech Innovation

AVAYA Holdings Corp. has announced that it has successfully completed its debt restructuring and emerged from chapter 11. In January 2017, the worldwide communications firm took a step to proactively reorganize its business financials.

“We were over-leveraged with debts coming from 10 years ago, and that was not a reflection on the strength of our operations or business model. Moreover, Avaya continued to maintain strong financial and operational performance throughout the restructuring period, including generating positive cash flow and improving gross margin,” says Fadi Hani, vice president of Middle East & Africa at Avaya.

Globally Avaya has closed more than 4,000 major customer contracts, recruited approximately 1,000 new partners, and invested more than $225 million in research & development during its 2017 financial year. The business in Saudi Arabia has also progressed strongly, according to Hani, having worked in recent years with entities such as Dr. Sulaiman Habib Medical Group (HMG), King Abdullah Medical City, Smart Link Contact Centers, and more.

“Today we have even greater freedom to invest in innovation,” added Hani. For instance, the company is moving forward with more than $300 million in cash on its balance sheet, and a debt load approximately $3 billion lower than before it entered restructuring. Avaya will also be able to increase its investment in innovation with approximately $300 million in cash savings annually as a result of reduced interest expenses and pension contributions. The company has revealed that the next stage is to do a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

When it comes to research & development, the company is building an ecosystem of partners with programs focused on expanding the availability of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain that can help drive business success in today’s digital world.

“In contrast to some of our competitors, who continue to offer complicated schemes and siloed structures, our systems are based on open approaches that can coexist with competitors’ solutions as well as popular business and social media platforms. We will continue this open-architecture strategy as this will create more opportunities for our partners in Saudi Arabia to protect their existing technology investments,” said Hani.

With 89% of organizations expecting to compete primarily on customer experience, according to Gartner, organizations need to evolve digitally and deliver truly differentiated experiences to their customers and workers to grow their business. As such, Avaya’s focus will remain on unified communications, contact center operations, and services.

“Avaya is creating a new growth story in Saudi Arabia and the region. Today we act very much like a startup, focused on growth and execution, but with unique differentiators such as a large customer base, technology leadership and a strong vertical presence,” stated Hani.

Source: Saudi Gazette