US-based Avaya set to empower growing Indian mobile workforce

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) India, which is a mobile-first country, will soon have millions working on their smartphones from anywhere, any time, and global communications technology firm Avaya is all geared up to tap the huge potential, a top executive has stressed.

According to Vishal Agrawal, Managing Director (India and SAARC), Avaya, a strong mobile workforce will emerge from the cities in the next few years.

"The way traffic is increasing in cities, it is becoming difficult to commute to work and a stronger mobile workforce will soon emerge and more youngsters will work from home.

"This comprises the segment which doesn't care where they are working from, but focus on delivering. They are least bothered at what time they log in and log out but want to give their 100 per cent," Agrawal told IANS.

Speaking on the challenges that the mobile workforce is facing today, Agrawal said they do struggle a bit with patchy mobile networks and voice quality.

"However, we are confident it will be dealt with soon and the cultural shift will make more youngsters comfortable working from anywhere," the Avaya executive added.

India is a global innovation hub for Avaya and the company has built a sizeable R&D team in the country.

"We will continue to expand. We see the India start-up scene as very vibrant, with a lot of innovation happening in areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Data Analytics and Internet of Things (IoT)," said Agrawal.

Avaya has explored some Indian companies and start-ups working in AI, ML, analytics and IoT, and has held discussions with some of them that could add unique capabilities to Avaya's portfolio.

"Since our financial restructuring, we have more cash to invest in innovation and are interested in talking to companies with strong intellectual property and strong differentiation in key technologies," Agrawal told IANS. 

In 2015, Avaya acquired Hyderabad-based KnoahSoft, a workforce optimisation provider. The acquisition gave the company its third R&D centre in India after Bengaluru and Pune.

"Avaya works closely with India's developers' community, inspiring them to build next-generation of communications-enabled applications that help businesses meet the challenges of the digital era," said the executive.

The company has hosted Hackathon events to encourage start-ups, developers and enthusiasts to create breakthrough ideas.

"We also work closely with partners to collaborate on developing solutions based on our market-leading platforms, including Avaya Oceana, Avaya Breeze and IP Office," he added.

For the past two years, the company has invested in building a strong ecosystem of partners.

"Our customer-focused, outcome-based strategy is making a great difference to our customers and partners' business," Agrawal noted.

According to him, the entire discussion with the young generation is happening around mobility.

"If you see new solutions on Cloud and chat, etc., the discussion is all on how you provide a mobile solution and how it works on its online subscription-based communication solution. This is a global phenomenon," the executive said.

When it comes to India, Avaya is only looking at expanding its presence.

"There are no restructuring but only expansion plans. We have increased sales representatives by 25 per cent in the country," said Agrawal.

"The solutions we are launching in the Indian market are Cloud-ready. Our traditional customer base is also modernising fast here," he added.