SPOTLIGHTENTERPRISE ISSUE

AVST

Unified Communications - Mobile - Voice - Collaboration - Business Process - Interoperability

Interoperability Future-Proof Your Business

Top IT Priorities of 2016

Skype for Business – A Customer’s Journey

Educational Sessiononly at

New Cloud

Offering by AVST

UC Applications Delivered Your Way

Premise. Hybrid. Cloud.New flexible licensing – premise, hybrid, cloud. Choose a deployment option that’s right for your growing business.

INSIDEENTERPRISE ISSUE

The Value of InteroperabilityToday’s companies are living in a multi-vendor and evolving UC world.

Skype for Business – A Customer’s JourneyEducational session at Enterpise Connect.

Pittsburgh SteelersCASE STUDY: Team executives score with AVST mobile applications.

13

Digital FutureLetter from Denny Michael, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, AVST.04

10

08

Evaluating the ROI of Informal Call CentersIndependent researcher Jay Lassman reveals how AVST’s TeamQ® reduces software and main-tenance costs by as much as 77 percent.

16

8 Ways AVST Elevates Microsoft Skype for BusinessAVST’s integration with Skype for Business offers benefits to companies around the globe.

12

Looking to Deploy Unified Messaging? The top 28 considerations for evaluating UM solutions.

19

The Case for Hybrid CloudPublic, private or hybrid unified communications? 18

Say Hello to AtomAnalyst Dave Michels introduces us to Atom®, a virtual personal assistant that offers a new twist on communications.

14

What Apps Inspire You?CX-E new cloud offering. Flexible licensing - premise, hybrid, cloud.06

WELCOMEAVST SPOTLIGHT 3

Welcome to

SPOTLIGHTDigital FutureIt’s a big year for AVST. An election year always brings change, but politics has nothing on the communications industry. We began 2016 being named one of the Top 10 Unified Communications Solution Providers by Enterprise Networking Magazine.

Here at Enterprise Connect, we’re announcing the next major step for CX-E. All the reliability, feature richness and interoperability you have been depending on for decades, is now available from the cloud! We call it UC applications your way - Premise, Hybrid and Cloud.

In this edition of Spotlight, Hardy Myers, President & CEO of AVST, comments on the value of interoperability and why it’s more important than ever to future-proof your communications infrastructure. We provide insight in how to enhance your Skype for Business deployment with some key UC applications.

Discover AVST’s solutions in the field – the football field – where the Pittsburgh Steelers deployed CX-E prior to kicking off the 2015 season. We also provide a case study into how San Diego State University is using CX-E, customized to meet the needs of higher education, to support an average of 200,000 calls per week.

Dave Michels, independent industry analyst, reveals why AVST’s Atom® is becoming the preferred virtual executive assistant for companies of all sizes. Jay Lassman, an independent consultant whose UC industry experience includes 14 years with Gartner, Inc., reviews TeamQ®. Jay reports on how the TeamQ informal call center solution can help organizations save up to 77 percent on monthly costs compared to a formal call center solution.

As you browse this edition of Spotlight, I hope it opens a window on how AVST is bridging businesses to their digital future. We look forward to helping you get there.

Sincerely,

Denny Michael Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, AVST

4 AVST SPOTLIGHT

Helping organizations be proactive and relevant by aligning them with key technology trends lies at the heart of AVST unified communications solutions. Mobility, Cloud, Skype for Business, Internet of Things (IoT), Security and Consolidation are all top IT priorities for 2016. Let AVST help bridge you to the world of digital business.

The Bridge to Your Digital Future

Mobility

Internet of Things (IoT)

Cloud

Security

Skype for Business

Consolidation/Optimization

• Unified messaging

• Intelligent personal assistant – Atom®

• Speech

• Location-based availability

• Single number reach

• Mobile client

• Microsoft Office 365

• Google Gmail

• BroadSoft

• GENBAND

• Mutare voicemail-to-text

• SIP integration

• Enables migration to Skype for Business

• Enhances Skype for Business with mission-critical voice apps

• First enterprise-class voicemail to resolve compliance issues

• Scalability to 752 ports to support IT consolidation/centralization initiatives

• Virtualization

• Interoperability

• Resiliency

• Private messages

• Web client keeps messages out of email

• Mobile client keeps data off of your mobile device

• Mobile number protection

• TLS to encrypt SIP signaling

• Secure RTP (SRTP) to encrypt audio

• UCConnect® – extensibility to IoT and real-time event notification

• IoT is transforming the new digital business

• Connects data with communications to accelerate business decisions

AVST SPOTLIGHT 5

WHAT APPS INSPIRE YOU?

Take charge and own your communications future.Do you have multiple vendors – Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft and more – playing an important role in your IT/telephony environment? Is the private, hybrid or public cloud in your future? Would you like it all to work together for a powerful, Unified Communications (UC) solution?

Welcome to AVST. Welcome to interoperability. CX-E is the industry’s most interoperable UC platform because it works with what you already have. Now, your existing call control solutions, email systems, mobile devices, presence engines and data infrastructure can all work in harmony. No other UC platform offers a higher level of interoperability. CX-E allows you to deploy mission-critical UC applications on your existing and future UC infrastructure – it’s UC your way.

APPS6 AVST SPOTLIGHT

Unified Messaging Cloud, premise, hybrid – unified messaging delivered your way.

Personal Assistant “What would you like to do?” Make your work life easy with Atom®.

SpeechEnable the power of speech for your organization.

Mobile ClientSecure mobile access for your business communications.

VoicemailWe reinvented voicemail for your future.

APPS

Automated AttendantGreets and routes calls for faster resolution.

FaxDeploy the latest in digital faxing with RightFax®.

IVR Accelerate information flow to your business and customers.

Notification Outbound notification for critical events and activities.

Call CenterTeamQ®, the informal call center solution for next-generation workers.

www.avst.com/apps

Broadest Interoperability Suite in the UC Market

AVST SPOTLIGHT 7

New Cloud Offering

“Interoperability — Enterprises wish to avoid ‘closed gardens’ and vendor lock-in, while enabling intercompany B2B, business-to-partner (B2P) and business-to-consumer (B2C) federation. Additionally, many enterprises will find their needs best-served by using several vendors, either because of legacy investments or to enable a best-of-breed configuration.”

Source:

Gartner

Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications

Published 4 August 2014

Analyst(s): Bern Elliot, Steve Blood

The Value ofInteroperability

Interoperability future-proofs your Unified Communications. Integrating different systems and solutions to improve individual worker, team and business productivity.

8 AVST SPOTLIGHT

With the growth of mobile endpoints and the investment by enterprises

in a multitude of UC components - including telephony/call control,

email, unified messaging, presence, conferencing and more - organizations

are finding it increasingly difficult to manage this complexity while meeting

the demands of their enterprise workforce for advanced and resilient UC

solutions.

Many of the major UC vendors bundle their next-generation solutions with an IP-

PBX, thereby requiring enterprises to “rip and replace” their existing communications

landscape to gain access to new and advanced UC applications. This single vendor

lock-in “closed garden” approach is often unappealing to customers for many reasons,

including the associated costs and the need/desire to “sweat” some of their existing UC

investments.

Today the majority of companies are living in a multi-vendor UC landscape. The market is

evolving and change is exponential. Just consider the transformations that have occurred in the

UC market over the past year.

Combine rapid change with key disruptive forces – cloud, Skype for Business, and Internet of Things

(IoT) – and one starts to ask, what is the next must-have technology going to be?

Uniquely, AVST’s UC solutions are ideally suited to enable the evolutionary transition of

enterprises to their digital future – no matter what their UC landscape is today, or will look like in

the future. Premise or cloud, it all starts with AVST’s best-of-breed interoperability to all major

telephony/call control, email, IM, calendar, enterprise data and mobile devices.

AVST’s UC solutions “live and breathe” interoperability. It has been a key element of our

success for the past 30+ years.

Hardy Myers President & CEO, AVST

AVST SPOTLIGHT 9

Pittsburgh Steelers Score with AVST Mobile Applications

A Long-Standing HistoryFounded in 1933, the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers organization is the

oldest in the American Football Conference. The team has six Super

Bowl championships, more than any other NFL franchise. Currently, the

Steelers team occupies three locations across Pittsburgh: Heinz Field;

the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Sports Performance

Complex; and a third office, which is the organization’s merchandise/e-

commerce center on Western Avenue on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Built in 2001, Heinz Field on the North Shore of Pittsburgh is not only

home to Steelers games but also to the team’s marketing, corporate

sponsorship, and stadium operations staff. The UPMC practice facility

in Pittsburgh’s Southside neighborhood is considered the team’s

headquarters and houses football operations, coaches, trainers, owner

offices, IT staff, public relations and equipment personnel. Finally,

the merchandise/e-commerce center contains the team store and

operations for e-commerce sales orders.

With three separate locations all conducting critical franchise operations

concurrently, the Steelers needed a reliable, feature-rich unified

communications solution that could streamline communications,

connect calls and facilitate mobility for staff and executive leadership no

matter where they were on the road.

CX-E Improves Efficiency for Team Executives in the Office and on the Road

Running with the TimesThe Steelers had an antiquated call processing solution with an

outdated Avaya/Nortel CallPilot voicemail system. It was time for an

upgrade. Steelers Director of Information Technology, Scott Phelps,

selected Alcatel-Lucent as the PBX solution and he wanted a state-of-

the-art automated attendant, along with unified messaging, voicemail

and mobile applications to match.

To help identify the best offering, Phelps called in Pittsburgh-based

Dagostino Electronic Services, a preferred technology provider and

trusted AVST reseller. Dagostino knew exactly what the team needed.

AVST’s CX-E was the perfect solution to match the tone and reputation

of the franchise, and it delivered the right mobile feature set to

accommodate busy Steelers executives across multiple locations.

CASE STUDY10 AVST SPOTLIGHT

Going the Distance with Atom®

When Phelps selected CX-E, he was quickly introduced to Atom, AVST’s

next-generation personal assistant. With Atom, Steelers staffers were

gifted with a new level of mobility while on the road.

“Atom enables us to live in a hands-free, speech-driven

communications world,” Phelps explained. “The ability to simply speak

commands to make calls, appointments, and check my messages just

makes my life easier.”

For busy team executives with hectic travel schedules, Atom’s mobility

features have improved their efficiency levels. Atom lets them see and

access voicemails, and respond to them appropriately. Additionally,

Atom’s location-based services mean executives can be reached on their

optimal devices via one phone number, whether in the office or traveling.

Phelps recalled a recent conversation with one executive who raved

about Atom, “This is life changing. It’s exactly what I needed.”

But it’s not just about the Steelers staff. When Phelps sought a new

unified communications platform, he set out to address the needs of the

Steelers fans and others who call into the team for sales and support.

CX-E’s automated attendant manages the Steeler high call volumes,

especially at peak time in the season. Reliability was critical and a

customizable automated attendant that could route calls efficiently to all

three Steelers’ locations was a must. CX-E exceeded all expectations.

CX-E Changes the GameThe Steelers are still becoming acquainted with all the CX-E capabilities.

“As we dig into the system, we discover features we didn’t even know

we needed until we started using them,” Phelps said. “Atom’s been a

game changer. It has a host of mobile capabilities that our executives

now can’t be without. Leveraging CX-E’s mobility has really allowed us

to connect on the fly. Looking back at the system we had before, it was a

different world. We can already do so much more with CX-E, and there’s

still more to come.”

“Atom’s been a game changer. It has a host of mobile capabilities that our executives now can’t be without.”

— Scott Phelps, Director of Information Technology, Pittsburgh Steelers

AVST SPOTLIGHT 11

8 WAYS

AVST ELEVATESMICROSOFT SKYPE FOR BUSINESS

12 AVST SPOTLIGHT

Microsoft’s increasing presence in the enterprise unified communications market has many companies now looking very closely at Skype for Business as a PBX.

Some businesses have moved or are considering moving to Skype for Business as their sole PBX solution. Others are integrating Skype for Business into their existing PBX environment for use by specific departments or branch offices.

Many companies already use Skype for Business for the rich unified communications offerings, including presence, instant messaging and conferencing. However, during the evaluation of using Skype for Business as a complete enterprise PBX, companies are turning to AVST to enhance the offering.

To the right are eight areas where AVST can help organizations crossing the bridge to make Skype for Business their PBX.

Skype for Business Challenge CX-E Solution

Keeps voice messages out of Exchange or ability to restrict forwarding of messages in Exchange

Maintain separate message store with unique retention policy

TUI emulations to match existing user experience

Simultaneously supports up to 10 telephony integrations; centralization across multiple locations/time zones and PBX platforms

30+ years of feature development: Delivers robust voicemail, automated attendant, IVR and call center

Maintain different business hours, operators, holiday schedules, for each department and location

Users define multiple phone numbers including home, alternate office, temporary numbers and more

Custom IVR scripts can access company data and speak the information to callers, or automatically send via callout, text or email

Confidentiality/data loss prevention

Reluctance to change user experience/minimize retraining

Requires mission-critical voice features

Users have more than two phone numbers

Compliance concerns

Migrate to Skype for Business

Flexible automated attendant menus

Self-service access to company information

www.avst.com/skypeforbusiness

AVST Achieves Microsoft Gold Communications and Messaging competencies which demonstrate “best-in class” capability and distinguishes itself within the top 1 percent of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem.

Get your knowledge direct from the source. Two experts, Roy King of Microsoft and Russell Batchelor, an Enterprise Architect in the UK, join AVST to highlight Skype for Business – A Customer’s Journey.

This session will cover everything from insight into the Skype for Business solution, to the most challenging scenarios – including multi-PBX interoperability, intelligent call processing and mobility. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear how to make your Skype for Business deployment a success!

Session highlights:

• PBX Replacement Project with London Borough of Lambeth

• Microsoft’s Senior Business Development Manager Talks Skype for Business

• Multi-PBX Interoperability and Critical UC Apps to Enhance Skype for Business

Educational Session only at

Skype for Business – A Customer’s Journey

Roy King, Senior Business

Development ManagerMicrosoft

Russell Batchelor, Enterprise Architect

UK Consultant

Tom Minifie, Chief Technology Officer

AVST

“The use of virtual personal assistants is just beginning; assume that future interactions with your customers will be through virtual personal assistant technology.”

GartnerMaverick* Research: Power to the People — The Rejection of Social and the Rise of Virtual Personal AssistantsNovember 2014, Analyst(s): Van L. Baker | Brian Blau

14 AVST SPOTLIGHT

A lot of what you see today is various vendors playing leapfrog with various new features and capabilities. Be it iPad docks, virtualization, or mobile apps, a lot of the stuff

is just “me too,” rather than a new twist on communications.

There are some interesting innovations these days, one of them being Atom® from AVST. Atom is a fresh take on the personal assistant. There have been various attempts at this over the years, from Wildfire to Siri, but AVST is using it to empower the primary user as well as the caller. It is effectively acting like a 24/7 office manager that understands the context of a given situation.

Atom is really more of an architecture than a product. Initially, it will tie into AVST’s CX series of products, but that will expand as will its sources of information. Atom addresses the challenge of giving the caller more information (context) to determine the shortest path to resolution. For example, is it better to leave someone a voicemail or seek an alternative contact? The answer depends on the situation, and most people don’t regularly update their outgoing voicemail greeting with updated availability information.

Atom notes the primary user’s digital trail to ascertain context. It knows your location either from the geo-awareness within the mobile client (Android and iOS), or by sensing which Wi-Fi network is near. It also checks your presence status on Skype for Business. It views your calendar. It uses this information to ascertain the best way to process incoming calls. If your presence is in “do not disturb,” it will route incoming calls to your voicemail box. Atom is in sync with your calendar, and can notify callers you are “in a meeting and will be back at 10 a.m.”

Atom knows your location, business contacts, messages, and presence status. That might sound a bit creepy, but keep in mind AVST isn’t an advertising company – this awareness is kept within an organization’s private implementation.

It also has a rich UC feature set that includes unified messaging, hands-free speech recognition, single number reach, and mobile number protection. Atom provides unified messaging and works with a wide variety of email systems (premise-based and public cloud) and integrates with every major voice platform.

As a personal assistant, Atom can provide primary users with a speech interface to their own information. It uses a Nuance speech recognition engine to interpret spoken requests. For example, since it knows your contacts, it can “call John Smith.” Atom can “get new messages” and summarize the day’s appointments with “get my calendar for today.” Plus, Atom is multi-lingual.

SAY HELLO TO ATOMBy Dave Michels, Independent UC Analyst and Consultant

AVST SPOTLIGHT 15

Summary AVST’s TeamQ®, an innovative informal call center solution, delivers traditional call center functionality at a fraction of the cost when compared to formal ACD solutions. Analysis reveals TeamQ reduces software and maintenance costs by as much as 77 percent.

What is an informal call center? The informal call center is a simplified version or subgroup of a full-blown contact center solution. Informal call centers typically consist of workers who manage their own time, work flows and processes. Business areas that benefit most include sales, service or technical support functions, particularly when requirements tend to be well delineated, recurring or cyclical. Goals of informal call centers include:

• Improve customer access to company subject matter experts

• Enhance internal help desk and HR services with efficient call handling and shortened wait times

• Route calls to groups of people rather than individuals

• Improve call completion rates• Eliminate need to hunt for the right resource

By Jay Lassman, Independent Research Consultant

EVALUATING THE ROI OFINFORMAL CALL CENTERS

INFORMAL CALL CENTERS

PBX

Caller

Caller

Caller

Agent

Agent

AgentNo CTI

Agents control workflow – pull calls, reserve calls, redirect calls and decide when available.

16 AVST SPOTLIGHT

Why TeamQ?TeamQ capitalizes on call handling, call routing and other functionality inherent in AVST’s CX-E platform, which is a full-feature enterprise-class unified communications solution that has substantial global penetration in virtually every vertical market. TeamQ’s capabilities include:

• Group call queuing such as ACD and UCD capabilities

• Agent desktop control

• Screen pops

• Push and pull modes

• Supervisor interface

• Reports

TeamQ is designed to give agents control of their call workflow. Agents decide which call to pull first, indicate when the call is complete, reserve a call if they are already on another call and redirect a call to someone else.

The solution can be cost-effectively deployed as part of an enterprise-wide messaging infrastructure, or it can supplement an existing formal contact center. It’s also important to point out that, because it runs on the CX-E platform, TeamQ is compatible with virtually all telephony and UC core platforms from vendors such as Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, ShoreTel, Alcatel-Lucent, Unify, GENBAND, Broadsoft and more.

ConclusionThe table above indicates that the annual savings for TeamQ (per agent) compared to a formal call center solution represents 77 percent. The savings give organizations the option to provision more TeamQ licenses or significantly reduce call center expenditures. Either way, TeamQ yields a significant cost advantage for agent staffing requirements versus a formal call center. Just as important, TeamQ includes a CTI capability, which eliminates the expense associated with provisioning a separate link that is usually required to support integration with most telephony systems.

Monthly Estimated Cost Per Agent

FormalCall Center

$6.42

$5.00

$10.00

$15.00

$20.00

$25.00

$30.00

$0.00

$27.60

Hybrid cloud deployments are a reality today in unified communications (UC). In the past, hybrid cloud was perceived as the first step to a full public cloud UC deployment. But times have changed. The reality is many medium to large enterprises view the hybrid cloud as their final destination, for a variety of reasons.

A hybrid cloud deployment for UC – call control, email, messaging, conferencing, fax, contact center, etc. – is appealing because of the wide array of options it presents to businesses. Sensitive components can live behind the corporate firewall, while other elements take advantage of the elasticity and quick provisioning of the public cloud.

Hybrid cloud deployments leverage existing IT infrastructure investments and protect ROI. Many corporations have made significant investments in their on-premise technology and are reluctant to discard assets just to gain benefits of the public cloud.

When considering which type of deployment is right for your business, it’s important to question the requirements for each individual component of your UC solution stack.

• Are there governance or confidentiality concerns regarding corporate data?

• Is there a dedicated IT staff to support specific UC applications?

• How critical is the reliability of the communication solutions?

• How variable is the usage?

• Are there significant investments in on-premise UC equipment?

• Is CAPEX or OPEX the best economic choice for a UC solution?

When investing in new UC solutions, choose products that promote interoperability, regardless of whether they are deployed on-premise or in the cloud. In a world where technology is constantly evolving and innovation drives change, flexibility is key. The hybrid cloud is the ultimate state for many enterprises.

THE CASE FOR

HYBRID CLOUD

Private Cloud Advantages: Public Cloud Advantages:

+ Leverages existing on-premise investments + Reduces infrastructure costs

+ Disaster recovery and business continuity benefits + Fast provisioning of applications

+ Business compliance + Elastic licensing models

+ All the benefits of the public cloud with increased privacy and security

+ Reduces in-house IT staff costs

The Enterprise Cloud of the Future

HYBRID CLOUD18 AVST SPOTLIGHT

AVST’s experience designing and delivering unified messaging has led to this list of critical considerations for evaluating UM solutions.

Looking to Deploy Unified Messaging??

UM CHECKLIST

Interoperability � Compatible with all telephony systems?

� Support both TDM and IP telephony environments simultaneously?

� Integration with all email systems (premise and cloud): Microsoft® Exchange, Office 365™, Google™ Gmail™, Lotus® Notes®, Novell® GroupWise® and any IMAP4 compliant email system)?

� Support for non-Windows clients (Mac, Linux, etc.)?

Architecture � Voicemail and UM users on a single system?

� Support client-based UM users (dual store, email message on one server, voice and fax messages on a separate server)?

� Support server-based UM users (single store of messages on email server)?

� Support secure (web-based access) UM users?

� Support simplified UM users?

� Support a mix of UM architectures (e.g. server and client) on a single system?

Capability � Meet user requirements to access UM via the desktop, web, phone, and any mobile device?

� Speech access to messages?

� Voicemail-to-text transcription?

� Desktop client support for local languages: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish?

Enterprise Impact � Support for adding and maintaining users from Active Directory?

� Does system modify the Active Directory schema?

� Different types of codecs based on customer needs?

� Support a message buffer (cache) to reduce impact on LAN/email?

� Offer web access using a variety of web servers and clients?

Secure Message Access � Administrator ability to restrict certain users from saving copies of the message locally and/or restrict from forwarding messages?

� Can the messages be delivered using a secure streaming technology?

Functionality During a Network Failure � Support all call processing applications?

� Take new messages?

� Support user greetings?

� Support the same user interface?

� Allow users to send new messages?

� Allow users to delete, forward and save new messages?

Cost � Is total cost of ownership in line with my company objectives – cost of licenses, annual maintenance, additional hardware or software required to deploy UM?

AVST SPOTLIGHT 19

CASE STUDY

San Diego State University Turns to AVST

BackgroundWith an enrollment of 34,000 students, San Diego State University (SDSU) is the largest university in San Diego, as well as the oldest and one of the largest in the 23 campus California State University (CSU) system. As a leading public research university, SDSU employs 9,600 faculty and staff with 188 degree programs offered across more than 90 schools, departments and programs.

SDSU had an outdated Octel Aria voicemail system in a distributed environment both on its main campus and in several remote locations. Once that system was announced end of life, SDSU sought to acquire a next-generation Unified Communications (UC) solution that would seamlessly integrate with its existing telephony and email system, deliver advanced mobility and business process automation capabilities and have the highest resiliency to support its high call volume. The hunt for a replacement was on.

Hearing Is BelievingAs with many large universities, SDSU receives a high volume of calls. In fact, during busy times, the campus reports an average of 200,000 calls per week, with the greatest volume stemming from student services like enrollment (admissions, advising, etc.), financial aid and account services (collections, cashiers, loan disbursement, etc.). With such a high level of activity, it was essential that SDSU select a UC solution that could handle its mission-critical voice application requirements.

“We reaped 4X savings in maintenance.”Riny Ledgerwood, SDSU Director of Voice Services & ATI

SDSU opened up a bid process and considered two alternate solutions in addition to AVST: Avaya® and Esna. AVST’s CX-E solution

had a great reputation and came highly recommended to SDSU from trusted university peers. Additionally, CX-E

had an Octel TUI (telephone user interface) that would allow for easy migration and minimal training for

SDSU’s end users. There was also an extensive set of next-generation mobility and business process features offered by CX-E – all developed on a highly scalable and resilient platform architecture designed for maximum uptime. All of these attributes tipped the scales in favor of AVST.

A Smooth TransitionAs SDSU had expected, the transition to CX-E was

smooth and painless. Notices were sent to all faculty and staff, giving them a heads up of the upcoming

cutover with highlights of the new features. Thanks to the Octel TUI, the transition was so seamless that only a handful

of users signed up for the free training session. Long-time AVST reseller ACP of Carlsbad, CA helped implement CX-E and provided excellent local support during the transition.

The campus is relying on the company’s CX-E platform to support 200,000 calls per week.

20 AVST SPOTLIGHT

CASE STUDY

“With an average of up to 200,000 calls a week, we needed a system that could reliably handle such a high call volume and provide a platform for growth. CX-E from AVST was the only solution that fit the bill.” Kathleen Sullivan, SDSU Voicemail Administrator

CX-E – The Right Interoperability to Support UC Components in the CloudWith CX-E, SDSU received not only an upgraded voice application solution but also an extensive list of new mobility and business process integration features. Unified messaging was on top of SDSU’s list, but the campus needed a solution that could integrate with its existing Google™ Gmail™ system. SDSU’s hybrid cloud approach to implementing UC was not a problem for AVST as CX-E was designed to deliver unified messaging to any email system (whether on-premise or in the cloud). “We were very impressed with CX-E’s flexibility to integrate with our Google Gmail email system and make messages accessible through mobile devices or a web client. It was just so easy,” said Riny Ledgerwood, SDSU Director of Voice Services & ATI.

4X Savings in Maintenance Plus Enhanced ResiliencyAnother key benefit of AVST’s CX-E solution for SDSU was economics. SDSU’s maintenance costs are much lower with CX-E than its legacy solution. In fact, the university’s older Octel system was four times more expensive to maintain than the new AVST UC solution.

CX-E also provided SDSU with better options for resiliency. CX-E was implemented using a deployment architecture of three call servers and one system server. The system server is the system management and control console. It provides a centralized location for the system database as well as the message store. The call servers run the real-time applications. They are responsible for answering calls, accessing

information and recording messages. By deploying multiple call servers, all integrated with a single system server, the deployment at SDSU achieves a high level of redundancy. In the event of a call server failure (or when a server is shut-down for maintenance), the remaining call servers continue to handle the call traffic with no disruption in service.

The Future is Bright with CX-E Mobility and Campus Automation CapabilitiesSDSU plans to take its use of CX-E to the next level in the coming year to capitalize on its powerful speech-enabled features. First on deck is the campus-wide telephone directory, with the goal of replacing its existing directory with one that is speech-enabled. SDSU also plans to utilize Atom®, AVST’s next-generation personal assistant for faculty and staff personal productivity improvements. Thanks to the flexibility of the AVST CX-E UC platform, the faculty and staff of SDSU have and will continue to reap the benefits of a comprehensive UC solution for years to come.

“CX-E has been a great system for us – it’s user-friendly, intuitive and low maintenance. We’ve only scratched the surface of its feature-rich capabilities and look forward to continuing to explore how it can make life easier for our thousands of faculty and staff.”

Riny Ledgerwood, SDSU Director of Voice Services & ATI

Meet TeamQThe Next-Generation Informal Call Center Solution for Enterprise

avst.com/TeamQ

Business communications just got better.

Welcome to TeamQ® – the innovative informal

call center solution from AVST that facilitates collaboration among workgroups. Your campus has many teams fielding calls, solving problems, juggling multiple service requests. These busy knowledge workers include the admissions office, IT help desk, financial aid office, counseling office, health services clinic, library – to name a few. TeamQ delivers high ROI by giving teams access to vital call center features at a fraction of the price of other solutions. Think UCD, ACD, agent desktop control with informative screen pops, supervisor interface, reports and much more.

• Essential Call Center Features

• Affordable Price

• Goes Mobile – Delivers Calls to Deskphones, Mobile and Softphones

• Enables Agents to Multitask and Control Their Call Workflow

• Works with All Major PBXs

• Supports up to 250 Agents

FUTURE-PROOFPremise. Hybrid. Cloud.

www.avst.com

Broadest UC Interoperability for Your Business

Every Industry. Any Size.

20 Million Users in ActionWe build UC applications for your digital future.

www.avst.com