Summary Bullets:

• Avaya has added a multitude of capabilities to Avaya Spaces, a collaboration tool that enables integrations with other applications.
• Avaya Spaces is part of the ‘OneCloud’ portfolio, which is playing a pivotal role in Avaya’s transformation from a legacy provider to an as-a-service business.

Avaya has added a multitude of capabilities to Avaya Spaces, a collaboration tool that enables integrations with apps such as Salesforce, Office 365, G-Suite, and Slack.  Spaces is built on Avaya’s communications platform-as-a-service offering (Avaya OneCloud Cloud CPaaS).  It allows businesses to connect workstream collaboration capabilities with existing on-premises equipment.

Key new capabilities include:

• Enhanced calling, including the ability to contact individuals inside or outside an organization via voice or video from within Spaces.
• Searching and merging contacts from multiple devices, as well as the ability to transfer, merge, and manage multiple concurrent calls into a single conference.
• Creating workflows by leveraging APIs that create integrations for CRM, customer support, robotic process automation (RPA), productivity, and more.
• AI enhancements to video meetings such as overlaying video on top of slideshows and other content being shared.  These features are delivered in partnership with Nvidia, a provider of cloud-based AI services.  The capabilities can run on any device.
• Background noise reduction for audio calls and video meetings.
• 61-person ‘concert view’ for video meetings.

Avaya positions Spaces as supporting the ‘composable enterprise,’ which is a relatively new term in the communications space.  A composable enterprise leverages both pre-packaged and custom applications to create tools for communication, collaboration, workflows, and the like.  Custom applications are built using low-code/no-code API platforms.  These platforms provide non-technical users the independence to create applications tailored to their specific needs.  Avaya OneCloud CPaaS is an example of a low-code/no-code API platform.

Avaya’s roots date back to legacy communications of two decades ago, and it still remains a respected player in that space.  However, Avaya is attempting to shed its ‘old school’ reputation and transform into a software-as-a-service business as organizations transition to the cloud.  Avaya Spaces (and the Avaya OneCloud portfolio as a whole) is assuming a critical role in making that metamorphosis a reality.  While Avaya is demonstrating measurable progress, its foray into the cloud space occurred relatively recently and customers can choose from a number of competitors with deeper cloud expertise.  Whether Avaya will ultimately succeed is an open question, but it is clear the company has placed itself on the right path.