Avaya and SAP Form Alliance to Provide Intelligent Communications Software for Businesses

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avaya , a global leader in business communications applications, systems and services, today announced a strategic alliance agreement with SAP America, Inc., to market Intelligent Communications-enabled business applications that bring together people and business processes to achieve higher levels of customer service and business agility.

Under the agreement, the companies will jointly market mySAP(TM) Customer Relationship Management (mySAP(TM) CRM) with Avaya contact center capabilities to enhance customer retention and acquisition by improving quality and time-to-resolution of enterprise transactions. Expected to be available in North America during the second quarter of 2006, the solution will integrate the multi-channel communications routing and management capabilities of Avaya Interaction Center software with mySAP CRM software.

Customer service agents using SAP's market leading CRM solution will have the capability to interact with customers through voice, email, and Web communication through their mySAP CRM console, enabled by Avaya contact center software. The combination of Avaya intelligent routing with the context of SAP customer relationship information will get the right customer to the right business associate more efficiently, reducing holding times, delays and call backs for customers and at the same time optimizing company resources.

"As a result of this agreement with Avaya, our customers can realize the superior value of combining our CRM solution with Avaya's contact center capabilities," said Glenn Wada, senior vice president of business development, SAP America, Inc. "SAP looks forward to extending our lead in the CRM marketplace by working with Avaya to bring to market a successful set of solutions that will help increase customer service productivity and efficiency."

The agreement also calls for the companies to jointly market business solutions that combine Avaya communication Web services with the SAP Enterprise Services Architecture (SAP ESA) to deliver intelligent communication capabilities that empower business associates to collaborate quickly and effectively. The communication Web services can be accessed individually, or combined with SAP(R) solutions and other Web services to streamline business transactions that require human intervention and collaboration. The solution uses a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) built on open industry standards to provide advanced communications capabilities to multi-site work forces.

The combined solution will allow companies to link communications dynamically to the business processes that are driven by SAP business applications. For instance, a company using SAP Enterprise Resource Planning with Avaya's real-time communication Web services will be able to notify a supply chain manager that an order is in danger of missing an important deadline then orchestrate communications with the required individuals to resolve the issue, and alert the appropriate parties when the issue has been resolved. This combined solution is expected to be introduced in North America during the second half of 2006.

"Our agreement with SAP marks a significant step forward in Avaya's strategy to provide intelligent communications solutions that bring people and business processes together for time-to-market and competitive advantages in a mobile business environment," said Michael C. Thurk, Avaya group vice president, Global Communications Solutions. "The combination of expertise, leadership and experience that SAP and Avaya bring to the relationship provides an opportunity for breakthroughs that can change the way companies operate and serve customers."

In September, Avaya joined SAP's cross-industry collaboration to license SAP ESA, a blueprint for a business-driven approach to services-oriented architectures, enabled by the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform. Licensees focus on enterprise services as the common denominator to ease deployment and co-operation of technologies in order to reduce the risk and cost for customers. The complementary efforts of the two market leading companies work to marry business applications and communications applications to bring intelligent communications into the fabric of the enterprise.

About Avaya

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500(R). Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications -- and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services -- Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya website: http://www.avaya.com/.

SAP, mySAP, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.