Ben Uzor Jr
As part of its continued regional
expansion plans, Avaya, a global leader of business communications and
services, weekend announced the inauguration of its office in Nigeria. This
office, according to Avaya will support local customers, cater to the needs of
its nearby partners, and effectively manage business in Lagos and surrounding
areas. The company’s plans for the African market is to provide the state of
the art next-generation business collaboration and communications solutions,
providing unified communications, real-time video collaboration, contact
centers, networking solutions and related services to firms of all sizes
throughout the continent. Avaya disclosed that it had signed a five-year
multi-million dollar deal with Airtel to manage its contact centres across 16
countries across Africa.
Hatem Hariri, managing director, Africa
for Avaya, in an interview said the firm sees tremendous opportunities in
investing in local talent and partners to assist in not only identifying new
business opportunities but expanding its regional customer base. Nigeria is a
critical market for Avaya, according to Hariri. “It harbours thousands of
businesses and organisations and has one of the largest populations in Africa
with close to 162 million people. The capital Lagos alone has a population of 7
million, which also houses over 100 international business and organizations.
The Nigerian office will be the fourth office placed in Africa, following
Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. Its major functions will be to offer customer
service, as well as marketing and sales and the opportunity to service the West
African market.”
He said the objective of this expansion
initiative is to bring Avaya closer to local African customers and channel
partners. “Africa remains a key market for Avaya, and expanding our presence to
one of the most populated cities in the continent reinforces our local support
to customers as well as partners. It will also give Avaya an opportunity to
expand and provide solutions to the West African market. Nigeria remains a
strong driver and an example of the wider regional Information Technology (IT)
market. Avaya is committed to supporting the countries growth by enabling
organisations in all sectors benefits with our world-class collaboration
solutions”. He said the company’s next generation unified communication
services can enable businesses improve employee productivity, customer service
and reduce costs by integrating multiple forms of communications, including
telephony, e-mail, instant messaging and video.
With the growing number of Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) across Nigeria, Hariri said Avaya can address the
communications challenges facing SMEs with its award winning Avaya IP (Internet
Protocol) office. By expanding its presence to one of the major cities in
Africa, he said, “Avaya upholds their commitment to local customers and
stakeholders in the IT market. Avaya’s is also able to continue its commitment
to bring The Power of We™ to every Avaya customer, helping businesses to drive
faster collaboration, smarter decisions and better business results.”
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