Digital transformation projects need to engage workforce, customers and partners to succeed, Avaya International President announces at Avaya ENGAGE event
Four-day event brings together Avaya executives, partners and customers from Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa for first time ever
Digital transformation (DX) projects will fail if they aren’t embraced at all levels of the organization, Avaya, a global leader in business 
communications software, systems and services, told delegates today at the Avaya ENGAGE event in Dubai. The four-day event is bringing together senior executives, industry leaders, technology innovators and key decision makers from different industry sectors to help them achieve their digital transformation objectives.
With organizations globally facing challenges to evolve digitally and move agilely in today’s competitive markets, CEOs are increasingly putting digital transformation and customer engagement at the top of their corporate agendas. However, as many as 84% of DX projects fail to achieve their objectives, according to research, with many organizations failing to secure the required levels of “buy-in” from their workforce, partners and customers.
“In today’s digital business world, just about every organization, company and industry sector has access to digital technologies – the gap now is between the “haves” and the “have mores”: those organizations that are using their digital capabilities more effectively to innovate and transform their operations. We are seeing a new digital divide: the DX divide,” Nidal Abou-Ltaif, President, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific, Avaya, told delegates in his keynote presentation today at Avaya ENGAGE.
Organizations need to ensure that DX projects are supported by the workforce, and that the workers have the right training, tools and technologies to properly implement them, Abou-Ltaif said. DX projects also need to deliver the differentiated experiences that customers are looking for, and that will encourage them to do more business with an organization. Companies also need to understand that DX projects are extremely complex, involving change at all levels of the organization. Accordingly, organizations need to be aware that these can’t be delivered alone, or by a single vendor, requiring them to create an open environment to drive innovation.
Abou-Ltaif highlighted in his keynote, companies that are succeeding in their DX objectives:
Emirates NBD: This bank is leading the regional banking sector for innovation, with a customer-centric strategy that places delivering superior customer experience at the heart of all DX initiatives. Emirates NBD is committed to the digitization of banking in the UAE by delivering innovative solutions for customers’ everyday banking processes, making it the leading digital bank in the Middle East. The bank has also successfully embraced technologies like analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to create the blueprint for banking in the future.
dnata: One of the world’s largest air services providers and a member of Emirates Group, dnata has embarked on a DX project with Avaya to transform its customer experience. Avaya Private Cloud Services (APCS) is helping to create a seamless, personalized experience for dnata customers and partners and across every communication platform in the customer journey, as dnata continues to lead the transformation of the travel experience industry globally.
“Organizations need to democratize digital transformation: a top-down from the boardroom approach won’t work if it doesn’t engage the people it is supposed to help. DX projects should be: user-defined, bringing together customers, employees, and partners; and platform-driven, with organizations creating an ecosystem for innovation. Avaya is committed to helping organizations achieve their DX objectives, and we are working closely with many customers across different industry verticals to help them achieve their goals. Our industry-leading Net Promoter Score of 58 – well ahead of our competitors – demonstrates the depth of our commitment to delivering the right customer experience,” Abou-Ltaif concluded.
Avaya ENGAGE, taking place now at Atlantis the Palm, Dubai, has brought together more than 1,500 senior Avaya executives, industry leaders, technology innovators and key decision makers, from more than 70 countries. Bringing together Avaya customers and partners from across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) regions under the same roof for the first time ever, Avaya ENGAGE is delivering invaluable insight into key technology trends and the opportunities they represent.
Visitors to Avaya ENGAGE will be able to learn more about Avaya’s successful transition into a software and services-led company, while improving operating performance. In October, the company reported preliminary fourth-quarter results that exceeded guidance, with year-on-year growth in Contact Center, Network and Cloud & Managed Services, and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue of nearly 30 percent – a company record. FY16 also represented the most innovative year in Avaya’s history, featuring 16 product and solution launches, many of which are being showcased at Avaya ENGAGE.
