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Unified Communications Week in Review: Avaya, CLX, and More

By Mandi Nowitz
Web Editor

Unified Communications is always seeing innovations and this week was no different. As Avaya (News - Alert) launched a new program, furthering its hold on the cloud expansion market, CLX announced it was purchasing Unwire Communications. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. In case you missed any of it, this is the perfect time for the Unified Communications Week in Review. 

Acquisitions are huge in the communications sphere and last year, StoneCalibre acquired AVST (News - Alert). It then merged it with XMedius Solutions for a more comprehensive communications and data solution. “This was really a merger of equals with similar corporate values,” explains Stephane Vidal, vice president of marketing and communications at XMedius.  “Customer Service is the key, respecting both partners and customer and being committed to product quality.  AVST does that on the voice side and we do the same on the data side.”

On the heels of this, Avaya announced it had launched a new Master Agent program to further its cloud market presence. It had just announced premiere Master Agent, Jenne. The product portfolio includes hosted UC, bundled carrier services, desktop options, and subscription-based billing. “Avaya's partnership with Jenne makes perfect sense to address market trends on the front end, where customers want simple transactions sales, as well as on the back end where they demand a consistent structure of comprehensive service delivery and support," noted Rob Arnold, Principal Analyst, Digital Transformation, Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert).

CLX Communications AB revealed it intends to buy Unwire Communication, including customer contracts, employees, cloud communication platform and associated property. "Nordic enterprises are at the forefront of digitalization and are leaders at utilizing cloud communications to engage with their customers. The acquisition of Unwire Communication further strengthens our market position in the Nordic countries and positions CLX as a leading provider of cloud communications services and solutions to the Nordic financial services sector," said Johan Hedberg, President and CEO of CLX Communications.

Finally, communications has now become adaptive to deskless workers. This includes remote workers who perform tasks from home or a local Starbucks and never step foot in an office and sit behind a desk. This is an ever-growing trend which is increasing work productivity in all spheres. “What’s important for deskless workers is the solution has to be very easy to use. They don’t use email the way the rest of us do,” shared Stacey Epstein, CEO of Zinc.

And that does it for this week in review of Unified Communications (News - Alert) but make sure to stop by often and early next week for news you won’t want to miss!