Contact Information: MEDIA CONTACT: Deb Kline Avaya Media Relations 908-953-6179 klined@avaya.com
Social Release: Avaya Unified Communications Helps Companies Around the World Improve Business While Reducing Environmental Impact
Going Green With Avaya Unified Communications and Contact Center Solutions Reduces Carbon Footprint and Costs While Improving Service, Productivity and Flexibility
| Source: Avaya
BASKING RIDGE, NJ--(Marketwire - January 29, 2009) - With companies and organizations seeking
practical ways to reduce their impact on the environment, Avaya Unified Communications
and Contact Center Solutions are
enabling them to "go green"
while simultaneously addressing other business priorities. Around the
world, businesses and organizations are reducing carbon emissions and
improving customer service, productivity and flexibility using
communications technologies from Avaya.
To help businesses and organizations determine how much energy they can
save with Avaya technologies, the company recently launched a new Green website and an
energy savings calculator. The tool calculates savings in kilowatt
energy consumption, carbon emissions and gasoline consumption in both
English and metric units.
Among the ways Avaya helps companies and organizations reduce carbon
emissions is by decreasing the amount of hardware needed for
communications. Vanke, one of the largest property developers in China,
consolidated communications infrastructure by eliminating standalone PBXs
at each of its 20 branch offices. Instead, the company centralized core
communications operations at its headquarters and extended Avaya Unified
Communications over an IP Telephony network to the branches. The move
reduced the requirements for administration, maintenance and power
consumption while enabling faster, more consistent service, increasing
collaboration and improving business continuity.
A Norway-based telecommunications provider, Ventelo, accumulated a variety
of communications technologies over the years to meet increasing customer
demand. The environment was not only hardware-intensive, key customer
service and workflow processes were largely paper-driven due to the limited
ability to integrate diverse communications. Now, Avaya Contact Center
applications have reduced hardware, centralized customer communications and
information and enabled a streamlined, virtually, paper-free environment
for greatly improved service and productivity.
"Since rationalizing communications technologies using the Avaya solution,
Ventelo has become virtually paper free. They're helping us to continue our
efforts in being a greener company," said Arne Horvei, manager, Marketing
and Communications, Ventelo.
Avaya Communication Manager telephony software makes it possible to build
an efficient communications foundation that supports up to 36,000 endpoints
across hundreds of locations with a single pair of centralized servers. The
software builds in a number of capabilities -- features, functions, safety
and security -- that other vendors can only provide by adding more servers.
Less hardware translates to reduced power consumption for both the hardware
and cooling requirements.
Growing demand for Avaya Unified Communications Solutions for Remote
Workers reflects how the solutions fulfill multiple objectives for a broad
range of businesses and public sector organizations. More and more
companies are equipping employees for telecommuting -- a move that can
improve productivity and morale and avoid the creation of more than 1,000
lbs. of carbon when just one employee telecommutes one day each week for a
year. Carbon savings result from reduction in facility requirements and gas
consumption.
In the two most populous cities in North and South America, one particular
solution solved service challenges for one organization and inspired a new
business opportunity for another.
In New York City, Visiting Nurse Service of New
York (VNSNY) has more than 30,000 patients daily under its care. VNSNY
faced significant challenges finding certified nurses willing and able to
come into the city to answer calls made to the 24-hour service desk,
especially for later shifts. A work-at-home program using Avaya
technologies helped solve staffing and business continuity issues, as well
as promoting a commitment to the environment.
"We understand the importance of environmental issues," said Randy
Cleghorne, director of IT infrastructure, VNSNY. "One of the reasons we
initially looked at teleworking as an organization is to have a greener
environment. We feel we should be leaders in this area whether it's
specific to our employees here, co-workers, neighbors or the individuals we
serve."
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the average daily commute is more than 2.5
hours and average travel speed is 15 miles per hour, Virtual Call
established an entire business using home-based call center agents.
Starting with 10 agents in 2007, the company is on track to reach 500
agents by December 2008. When creating Virtual Call, the founders thought
beyond strategic aspects such as low-cost operations and high-quality
workforce.
"Avaya Home Agent was just what we needed for enabling agents to work from
home," said Willian Balboni, founder, Virtual Call. "The quality increase
in customer service brought positive results to the company. The agents
have a higher life quality since they don't have to commute anymore, and
both the company and the agents are reducing carbon emissions. The best
part is the amount of investment we made to turn these significant benefits
into real achievement for our company and our customers was very small."
When it comes to helping the environment, small businesses can have a big
impact since they cumulatively account for the 99 percent of the total
number of businesses worldwide. Mindwave Research in Austin, Texas, found teleworking
yielded major green savings. The 21-person marketing research company
reduced office space by nearly 70 percent after enabling more than half the
company's employees to become full-time teleworkers. Mindwave's IT
manager, Jason Snook, estimates the company saves more than $11000 per
month in reduced rent and energy consumption. At the same time, employees
keep green in their pockets and the planet by eliminating the commute.
Avaya's Green website features podcasts by Visiting Nurse Services and
others, customer case studies, fast facts about helping the environment and
more. Both the website and calculator can be found at
http://www.avaya.com/campaigns/usa/Green/index.html.
About Avaya
Avaya delivers Intelligent
Communications solutions that help companies transform their businesses to
achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1 million businesses worldwide,
including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®, use Avaya solutions for
IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Centers and
Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global Services provides
comprehensive service and support for companies, small to large. For more
information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com