As the curtains closed on Avaya ENGAGE, CX Today got the rundown from prominent industry analyst Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst at ZK Research.
During the interview, Kerravala appeared cautiously optimistic about the company's future following its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the appointment of a new c-suite.
Kerravala began by reflecting on Avaya’s strengths, as well as Masarek’s headline statement at the event that "Avaya is back":
"I am not sure if [Avaya] ever went away," said Kerravala.
"Obviously, the competition is very big, but I think everything is set up on paper for them to be successful.
They have got a new management team. Last week, they announced some new C-Suite executives, and I heard there's more coming.
"[Avaya] restructured things financially, so the big debt load they had and the looming payments that might hurt the company are gone.
Kerravala continued: "The customers here really like the technology, and its customers have stayed fiercely loyal.
So are they back? They are back as strong as they can be.
A New Era Begins
For CEO Masarek, the plan is to separate the former Avaya, which went bankrupt twice, and its latest incarnation.
Its customers stood by Avaya before, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a second bankruptcy.
Moreover, if Masarek changes too much, he risks inadvertently removing aspects that customers liked or even relied on.
Balancing that equation is seemingly at the heart of Avaya's new go-forward strategy. As Kerravala stated:
Customers do not appear to want a hard and fast move to the cloud. Instead, they want a gentler migration approach that doesn’t uproot their systems.
Masarek’s campaign slogan - "innovation without disruption" - reflects this approach, which he is building a c-suite around.