
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.