How would like a chance to win a free “communications makeover” for your small business?

 

IP phone systems maker Avaya has launched a “communications makeover” contest that asks small businesses to share the biggest communications "disconnects" they experience in their workplace -- whether due to mobility obstacles, customer call overloads, technology deficiencies or any other business communications challenge.

Twenty winning enterprises with the most compelling stories will receive a complete communications makeover, courtesy of Avaya (News - Alert).

To enter, small business owners and employees are asked to write in or upload videos that answer the question "What's Your Disconnect?" with winners receiving an Avaya IP Office communications system, the company's flagship IP communications solution for small and medium-sized businesses.

The contest, which runs through Oct. 15, 2009, targets small businesses with 10 to 50 employees in the United States and Canada.

Examples of other business scenarios requiring “communications makeovers” include:

--A high frequency of customers who call requiring an urgent connection to the right person, but who instead are asked to leave a message, either with a receptionist or in voicemail, after which the call isn’t returned quickly enough.

--The inability for workers to stay in touch with customers in the event of an unexpected development, such as severe weather, causing them to have to work from home or from another location.
--Sales that are lost because due to the fact that someone simply can't get the right colleagues together on a conference call to handle an issue or a problem (and if you do bring in conferencing capabilities, the costs are just way too high).

To enter, contestants can visit www.avaya.com/usa/campaign/makeover and submit their story or video describing the "communications disconnect" that they are experiencing and want fixed.

Earlier this week TMCnet’s Michael Dinan did an interview with Guy Clinch, senior solutions manager of contact center solutions for Avaya, about the level of emergency preparedness within organizations and about E911 in particular. Among other things they talked about the role that RedSky (News - Alert) has played for a number of years as the first E911 solutions company to take advantage of Avaya Application Programming Interfaces that allow RedSky applications to automatically access information in the Avaya communications server products and automatically extract information.