A recent interview with Kevin Kennedy was published in the Economic Times. I find both Kennedy and Avaya an interesting quagmire. On one hand, they are the classic victim of disruption – the market leader that was late with VoIP itself, then virtualization and cloud. Yet, there is much more to the story. The company has decreasing revenue – but it should as it moves away from hardware. It has a leadership retention problem, but that’s ok too and its new set is generally experienced and proven pros. It has a ton of debt, but it’s paying it off and improving its cash flow at the same time. It has too many products, but there’s tremendous activity underway to consolidate clients. Despite all its woes, there’s quite a bit of energy at Avaya – continued leadership in contact centers, strong networking solutions, and a professional services army like no other.
