Competitor Review

Avaya Small Business Unified Communications

features very intuitive and simple. The system also supports autoprovisioning for Cisco IP phones. Ease of conguration can help save partners and customers time and money. Ease of use: Emphasize that Cisco SBCS is very easy for customers to use, with IP phones with large display screens that provide user prompts, along with simple voice prompts for voicemail and a variety of smart applications for PC integration. Cisco makes it simple for customers to get maximum value with minimal technical expertise. Breadth of networking solutions: Explain that Cisco provides a vast array of data networking solutions that have been preintegrated with the Cisco Unied Communications 500 Series for Small Business (UC 500 Series) to meet the specic needs of small businesses and teleworkers. Customers benet from one comprehensive solution from Cisco, and save time by working with more than one vendor.

Contents Setting the Cisco value proposition Why Cisco over Avaya? Points to make when selling against Avaya Defensive points to Avayas strengths Avaya go-to-market analysis SETTING THE CISCO VALUE PROPOSITION

Comprehensive solution: Explain that the Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) provides small businesses with a tightly integrated and tightly tested communications platform for small businesses, providing voice, data, voicemail, automated attendant, video, security, wireless capabilities, and integration with third-party applications. Great performance and reliability: Emphasize that Cisco SBCS customers get the simplicity and ease of use that small businesses require without sacricing the performance and reliability associated with the Cisco brand. Integrated solution that eliminates the complexity of troubleshooting: Explain that the Cisco SBCS integrated solution eliminates the added costs and management complexity of multiple servers and systems. With a single solution for data, voice, wireless, video, security, and applications, it is less complicated to troubleshoot than with a multi-vendor solution, as Cisco can take responsibility for resolving support challenges. Competitive pricing: Emphasize that Cisco SBCS pricing is very competitive with the pricing of other similar players. Introduce the new TCO tool. In addition, Ciscos Small Business Pro Service gives small businesses three years of same-day or next-business-day replacement, product updates, and support from Ciscos certied small business support team at an industry-leading price. Higher value with advanced features: Cisco delivers excellent value with no additional licensing costs for IP phones or advanced features such as the Remote Teleworker application, Microsoft integration, click to dial, Cisco WebEx and Salesforce.com integration, presence management, and single number reach (SNR), as well as integrated Smart Business Productivity Applications such as TimeCardView and integration with additional applications such as Allscripts and Mitchell1. Newer trunking types that save customers money: Emphasize that customers can potentially reduce expenses while increasing their use of telecommunications network features such as direct inward dialing (DID) through network convergence with Cisco SBCS integrated Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking. In addition, the savings gained by using SIP trunking rather than time-division multiplexing (TDM)/T1 lines can be redirected to pay for needed equipment over approximately 18 months. Intuitive conguration: Explain that Cisco makes it easy to congure all components of the Cisco SBCS. Systems come with a basic conguration, and the recently updated Cisco Conguration Assistant makes customizing the conguration of basic and advanced

WHY CISCO OVER AVAYA?

Comprehensive unied communications solution: Explain that Cisco SBCS provides small businesses with a tightly integrated and thoroughly tested communications platform for small businesses and integrates with existing desktop applications. Avaya lacks integrated Wi-Fi and Power over Ethernet (PoE) hardware and charges extra for basic integrated security and third-party/ desktop application integration. Avaya does not provide a singlevendor solution, potentially leading to higher cost and greater complexity. High performance and reliability: Emphasize that Cisco SBCS offers the simplicity and ease of use that small businesses and their teleworkers require without sacricing the performance and reliability associated with the Cisco brand. IP Ofce does not share the code base with Avaya Aura Communication Manager. Emphasize that the Cisco SBCS architecture, just like that of Ciscos renowned routers, has no moving parts (except for cooling fans). For storage, compact ash is used, which offers longer reliability and reduced costs. Competitive pricing: Emphasize that Cisco SBCS pricing is very competitive compared with Avayas, especially when you consider the extra cost of licensing automated attendant, meet-me and ad hoc group conferencing, single number reach, and application integration with desktop applications. Plus, many Avaya customers use Cisco or some other company for data switching. Introduce the new TCO tool.

Peace of mind service: Explain that Ciscos Small Business Pro Service gives small businesses three years of same-day or nextbusiness-day replacement, product updates, and support from Ciscos certied small business support team at an industry-leading price. In addition, Ciscos use of specialized partners helps ensure that customers receive the best services in the industry.

Cisco Condential Information-For Partner Use Only-Do Not Distribute. 2010 Current Analysis, Inc. All Rights Reserved. www.currentanalysis.com

Intuitive conguration: Explain that SBCS comes with a basic conguration, and that Cisco Conguration Assistant makes it simpler to congure basic and advanced features, saving partners and customers time and money. The system also supports autoprovisioning for voice and data. With Avaya, either the partner or the customer may need to set up the system, costing additional time and money Explain that Cisco SBCS 2.0 comes with several valuable new capabilities, including: Highly secure remote connectivity: The Cisco UC 500 Series can establish a SSL-VPN connection from SPA525G IP phones directly over any Internet connection for highly secure remote communications. Teleworkers can plug in phones at home and get a highly secure dial tone. Customers can also connect remote ofces and work from anywhere over a broadband connection. Video monitoring: The Cisco UC 500 Series can stream video from Cisco PVC2300 and WVC2300 IP video cameras to Cisco SPA 525G IP phones for easy-to-use video monitoring. Combined with physical security capabilities (such as electronic door release), video streaming can enable doorentry technologies. Simplied conguration in complex deployments: Cisco Conguration Assistant can easily congure the Cisco UC

500 Series for a variety of deployment needs, such as remote VPN phones, SIP trunks, video monitoring, and situations in which the UC 500 is behind an SBCS supported router/ security device. Seamless operation of most phone models: Cisco customers can deploy any Cisco handset and UC Small Business application on the Cisco SBCS, and there are no additional charges for different types of Cisco IP Phones used, as licensing is included. Avaya IP Ofce is incompatible with Avaya one-X SIP desk phones. Avaya IP Ofce hardware architecture means that changes in trunking or the type of analog, digital, or IP telephone used may require adding cards in the IP Ofce Control or Expansion Unit while making other cards obsolete. With Cisco, many analog or IP phones works together seamlessly. Works smoothly out of the box: Explain that the Cisco SBCS is a part of the preintegrated and tested Cisco Small Business Pro Series of switches, routers, and security appliances. Each component has been fully tested and precongured to work smoothly together. Avaya customers will likely use another vendors security appliances, switches, and routers. With multiple vendors come difculties in guaranteeing quality of service (QoS) and the complexity of troubleshooting when there is a problem. When using Cisco Unied Communications and networking hardware, this is not an issue.

POINTS TO MAKE WHEN SELLING AGAINST AVAYA

Features may cost extra with IP Ofce: Many Avaya features may require an extra license or additional cards. For example, IP Ofce Standard Edition does not support voice networking (H.323 or SCN) or advanced applications (such as Voicemail Pro, CCC, or Conference Center). In addition, QSIG, H.323, and SCN capabilities are not enabled by default in IP Ofce 500 running Professional Edition. An additional license is required to enable this capability with four simultaneous networking channels (there is no channel limit for QSIG). Additional channels can then be licensed in increments of four. Finally, IP Ofce customers may also pay more for VPNs and rewalls. With Cisco SBCS, all these features come standard with no incremental licensing or special key codesvoicemail, automated attendant, meet-me and ad hoc conferencing, integrated messaging, and integration with desktop applications. With Cisco, customers get everything needed with the SBCS, helping them to save time and money, and making management and maintenance much easier.
Avaya forces a multivendor solution: IP Ofce lacks switching or PoE functionality, meaning that customers are purchasing switching equipment from another vendor. It is more complicated to troubleshoot in a multivendor solution as opposed to a single vendor solution taking responsibility for resolving support challenges. Many Avaya solutions run on Cisco networking infrastructure.

Customers should question the level of commitment to IP Ofce during this time. Customers and partners may be concerned about the future of Avaya/Nortel products, channel programs, support, and upgrade paths. With the acquisition, these are all in question. Cisco has a very strong and long history of nancial stability and is an ideal long-term partner for small businesses. Cisco stands behind the Cisco SBCS with an investment protection strategy. As a businesss needs grow, Cisco makes it easy to retain the existing investment in phones and equipment while upgrading to other Cisco Unied Communications products. Most phones are completely compatible, and all will work as SIP phones with Ciscos other voice systems. Customers can apply much of the value of their UC 500 systems to another Cisco system, using Ciscos investment protection strategy. Avaya lags behind Cisco in terms of features: The recent release of IP Ofce 500 delivers features including desktop and third-party integration, failover, and even such basic features as dial by name in voicemail. Cisco SBCS includes industry-leading features such as voicemail, meet-me conferencing, and automated attendant, as well as application integration with Salesforce.com, Cisco WebEx, and third-party business applications such as Allscripts and Mitchell1. Several integrated Smart Business Productivity Applications, including Cisco TimeCard View, Single Number Reach, and Cisco WebEx PhoneConnect, are included at no charge. In addition, Cisco has deeper resources than Avaya does for R&D and customer support. Cisco stands behind the Cisco SBCS and has a strong roadmap of new features. Cisco will continue to be a leader, with new features that will help small businesses further develop their productivity.

Avaya may be distracted with the Nortel acquisition, potentially affecting IP Ofce R&D and support: Avaya may be pulled away from its customers as it works to integrate the two companies.

Cisco Condential Information-For Partner Use Only-Do Not Distribute. 2010 Current Analysis, Inc. All Rights Reserved. www.currentanalysis.com

DEFENSIVE POINTS TO AVAYAS STRENGTHS

Competitor claim: Cisco SBCS is more difcult to congure than Avaya IP Ofce. Avaya may also say that many features require using the command-line interface (CLI) and that it takes more time for partners to get Cisco SBCS systems up and running. Cisco response: This claim is not true. Cisco SBCS default congurations provide telephony setup wizards for WAN, IP addressing with data, VLANs, automated attendant, inbound/ outbound dial plans, users phones, call blasts, and hunt group, as well as business schedules. These wizards reduce installation time. Competitor claim: Unlike Avaya IP Ofce, choosing Cisco means that existing handsets cannot be redeployed. Cisco response: The potential to save money by reusing handsets seems compelling. The reality is that when Avaya Partner phones are used on the IP Ofce platform, many IP Ofce features are not available. In addition, Avaya is rationalizing its many IP phone lines, but IP Ofce is not compatible with Avaya one-X SIP desk phones. Cisco offers many different phone options, with both the Cisco SPA 500 Series IP Phones and the Cisco Unied IP Phones 7900 Series. The SPA 500 Series can be reused for hosted SIP environments, offering investment protection. The 7900 Series phones can

be used with other Cisco Unied Communications platforms, enabling customers to deploy other Cisco Unied Communications solutions, including Cisco Unied Communications Manager, Business Edition or Express (using Skinny Client Control Protocol [SCCP] or SIP), or to choose the affordable SPA 500 Series. Competitor claim: Ciscos SBCS cannot scale beyond 64 handsets. The Avaya IP Ofce 500 platform can scale incrementally to more than 384 phones in a simple, modular expansion. Cisco response: Cisco now supports up to 104 IP clients with the Cisco SBCS. Business customers who require more may upgrade to Cisco Unied Communications Manager (Enterprise, Business Edition, or Express). Competitor claim: Cisco lacks the advanced features necessary for many small businesses, including advanced features for contact centers or multitenant sites. Cisco response: Cisco SBCS offers a host of advanced features, including the Remote Teleworker application, Microsoft integration, click to dial, Cisco WebEx and Salesforce.com integration, presence management, and single number reach, as well as integrated Smart Business Productivity Applications such as TimeCardView and integration with additional applications such as Allscripts and Mitchell1. issues could arise on the part of Avaya and Nortel partners from both the new program and the integration strategy. The new Avaya Connect program includes a number of nancial enhancements and benets for channel partners, including tiered global discounts, new business incentive programs to help drive growth, and funding to help improve vendor and partner consideration, market coverage, and closure rates. Current Analysis view: Avayas lack of roadmap/product commitment may prohibit implementation of an effective partner program, and could cause much confusion for partners. Avaya has trimmed its pricing model into a single, global price list to make it easier for customers and partners to understand, and faster for partners to develop quotes. The new program transitions from using postsales rebates to providing point-of-sale credits, which reduces processing time to seconds. In addition, Avaya Connect streamlines the new partner application process to allow completion in less than two hours. Current Analysis view: A new price list was clearly needed, but there are many more elements that go into a world-class channel program like Ciscos. Avaya Connect has only recently been launched, and only time will tell whether the company has got it right or will have to overhaul its program yet again. The new Avaya Connect training model saves partners both time and money while improving their ability to build technical skills in Avaya solutions and services by shifting from productbased training to solutions-based training focused on unied communications, contact center, and small and midsized business solution lifecyclesfrom design to sales, integration, and maintenance. This comprehensive approach enables partners to

AVAYA GO-TO-MARKET ANALYSIS

Marketing Strategy and Tactics Avaya is consistently recognized as a global leader by industry and technology experts, and has achieved worldwide leadership positions in unied communications and telephony systems, worldwide contact center, and enterprise messaging and audio conferencing. Current Analysis view: Cisco is often considered the global leader by industry and technology experts. Avaya has recently simplied its IP Ofce product line and organized offerings around various roles, including power user, mobile worker, contact center agent, receptionist, and executive. Avaya is putting much of its marketing focus on its Aura solutions portfolio for enterprises. IP Ofce does not t into Aura and does not benet from this marketing. Current Analysis view: Customers and partners should question future investment in IP Ofce products. Current Avaya promotions include 0% nancing on IP Ofce on a 36- or 60-month lease.

Partnering Strategy and Tactics Avaya recently announced a new worldwide channel program called Avaya Connect, operational globally in February 2010. Current Analysis view: Trying to implement this program during a major acquisition may be difcult, to say the least. Confusion and

Cisco Condential Information-For Partner Use Only-Do Not Distribute. 2010 Current Analysis, Inc. All Rights Reserved. www.currentanalysis.com

better meet customers ongoing needs. The new training program has been streamlined from nearly 97 learning and certication tracks to 13 solution-based tracks, signicantly reducing the time and complexity needed to achieve credentials. Current Analysis view: Partners should identify what may have been lost or dropped in the training and certication tracks, and continue to monitor these changes to see how this consolidation will affect partner training and customer support. One can argue that the IP communications world is getting more complex, not less so. Consequently, partner training needs are actually for more detailed training, not less detailed. Under the new scheme, Avaya

partners may not be receiving enough granular detail to service and support Avaya products effectively. Avaya has more than 4000 global channel partners, including systems integrators, service providers, value-added resellers, and business partners that provide sales and service support. Current Analysis view: Avaya is taking on a huge effort in revamping its channels at the same time as a major acquisition that will redene what it can bring to market. Until a product and portfolio roadmap is established and clearly articulated to partners, Avayas channel success is questionable.

Contents created or collected by Current Analysis under contract with Cisco Systems, Inc. Information is based on North American research. Specic details may vary by country.

Cisco Condential Information-For Partner Use Only-Do Not Distribute. 2010 Current Analysis, Inc. All Rights Reserved. www.currentanalysis.com