Sources close to UC Today have revealed Avaya’s plans to close its Dubai offices as it continues to execute on its plan to focus on the global 1500 enterprises.
The news broke earlier this week when staff were sent a memo which read, “After careful consideration, the executive team has made the decision to close the Dubai office. Effective March 7th, 2025, all Dubai employees will transition to work from home.”
The note also said, “Our priority is to support a seamless transition – we expect no impact on our teams’ ability to work productively and effectively support customer and business needs.”
The memo also included details of what employees can expect from their transition to working from home, asking them to remain contactable during core hours.
Avaya had made significant cuts to its Dubai team late last year, and the two-floor office space in the famous Emirates Towers was being underutilized.
What does this mean for Avaya in the Middle East? The regional office was once a key center for customers across the Avaya International business, which was dissolved under the previous CEO Alan Masarek.
New CEO Patrick Dennis has been consistent with his vision to focus on the top customers only, and while most of those top G1500 businesses sit in the US operations outside of that may suffer from cutbacks.
The memo read, “Avaya is continuously looking for ways to align our operations with our strategic and financial goals, drive efficiencies, and better serve the needs of our customers, partners and our employees. As part of this effort we have been reviewing our global real estate portfolio.”
It is unclear if further regions are affected at this time.
Further layoffs were announced in the UK this week and were described as a ‘significant portion’ of the workforce in the region.
Zeus Kerravala commented, “There aren’t many of the G1500 in the Middle East so I guess it’s just collateral damage. The only places that will matter in the strategy will be in the US and a bit of Western Europe.”
In the latest episode of the Big UC News, analysts speculated on what they thought would happen in regions outside of the US and how they perceive CEO Dennis’ move to focus efforts.
You can catch that episode here.
