Recent evidence suggests that ShoreTel may be searching for new ways to exploit Avaya’s spiral into destruction, after filing for bankruptcy protection during the first month of 2017. Avaya officially filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in January, triggering some concerns for the customers and vendors of the channel. According to the CEO for ShoreTel, Don Joos, the uncertain financial atmosphere at Avaya has created a new opportunity for Communications companies throughout the market to steal a bigger share.
He noted that he is seeing more partners from the Avaya channel contacting them, and that the company has seen a significant boost from the partners, as well as some signatures on decent-sized contracts. For Joos, now was the best time to exploit further options for growth. He noted that he sees this development as a great opportunity for the business, because there “aren’t that many net new companies”. This means that from a market-share perspective, Avaya and Cisco make up about 60% of the market combined. With one of those big players in chapter 11, new solutions are emerging for the rest of the telecoms industry.
A Bold Move for ShoreTel
Joos made his announcements regarding Avaya as ShoreTel launched its Unified Communications service “Connect CLOUD” within the United Kingdom. He explained that the vendor had made the decision to move from an on-premise model, to a hosted as-a-service model a few years ago, and accused other vendors in the space of lacking the bravery to make such a switch effectively.
According to Joos, ShoreTel knew exactly where the market was going to go, and how they could take steps to join the growing consumer base, and they decided to plow forward without looking back. Don suggested that hesitation was the bane of growth for many companies in the telecoms industry, caused by a lack of strength in “their convictions”.
Joos also noted that Avaya is now paying the price for refusing to fully commit themselves to the Cloud-based model switch. He said “Growth is fun. Others are in cost cutting – that’s not fun, that’s a death spiral”.
Growth Opportunities for ShoreTel
According to the unified communication specialist for the ShoreTel partner, Cranberry, Mr. Mark Nelson, the struggling nature of Avaya, along with the launch of ShoreTel’s new cloud solution has given the business a perfect chance to exploit its position in the communications world. He established that the problems with Avaya had emerged as a surprise to him, as his company had had contact with Avaya customers who were extremely concerned by Avaya entering chapter 11.
All that’s left for ShoreTel to do now is drive their platform home, and take advantage of a growing opportunity to excel in the world of telecommunications.
