Avaya Case Report (A)

Digital Prospecting Fall 2020

Karla Camacho, Hannah Patterson, Cameron Banaszak, John Nguyen
 Executive Summary

Telecommunication service and product provider, Avaya, launched in 2000 from Lucent

Technologies and currently operates globally and in the United States. Through extensive

analysis of Avaya’s Sales and Marketing operations, our team found that Avaya’s main

challenge is the lack of communication between both departments. Symptoms of the lack of

communication between Sales and Marketing at Avaya include inconsistency within goals and

metrics, uncentralized lead generation strategy, and misalignment between leadership (Yannick

Claereboudt, VP of Marketing. Trevor Gruenewald, VP of Sales. Jocelyne Attal, CMO. Louis D’

Ambrosio, President of Global Sales and Marketing).

After a large-scale analysis of Avaya’s root problem, lack of communication between

Sales and Marketing, our team discovered 3 potential solutions to meet Avaya’s goals of

increasing quality lead generation and integrating Avaya’s sales and marketing processes into a

centralized system that is customizable, measurable, and can deliver reporting insights over the

company. The 3 probable solutions are 1. Merging the sales and marketing departments by

implementing a sales engagement platform that will integrate with Avaya’s CRM. 2.Create a

standard lead generation process. 3.Weekly executive alignment meetings with the leadership of

Avaya.

Weekly meetings with Claereboudt, Gruenewald, Attal, and Ambrosio will enhance the

communication between the sales, marketing, and global sales and marketing departments and

establish KPIs (Key performance indicators) to align each department. In opposition, Global

sales and marketing are structured differently than U.S sales and marketing. For example,

revenue attainment and number of accounts/employees. Creating a standard lead generation

process will as well enhance communication between sales and marketing by having 1 system in
place rather than each department acting accordingly. In addition, creating a standard lead

generation process will eliminate the confusion of what defines a “lead”, although Avaya will

have to adapt to a learning curve period where the team is implementing the lead generation

process. Merging the sales and marketing departments by implementing a sales engagement

platform that integrates with Avaya’s CRM (Salesforce) will enhance communication between

sales and marketing and provide analytics for both sales and marketing from pipeline generation,

marketing content engagement, and cadence organization to optimize Avaya’s operations. A

foreseen challenge with merging departments will be the restructuring of sales and marketing

operations and implementation for employees on a new tool.

Based on the root cause of lack of communication between Avaya’s sales and marketing

that leads to multiple challenges, our team recommends merging the sales and marketing

departments by implementing a sales engagement platform that integrates directly with Avaya’s

CRM. The course of action will eliminate the root cause by having two systems that directly

integrate with one another and increase visibility within marketing and sales, ultimately resulting

in a long-term solution and ROI (return of investment) of 195.08%.

Problems

Within an organization, the primary driving force that results in the overall growth and

revenue generation of a company is sales. In order for sales to properly function, marketing is

essential as it allows for a company to identify the needs of customers and generate overall

awareness of the product or service that a company offers. In order for a company to effectively

run, marketing and sales must be a cohesive unit to propel the organization forward. However, in

2005, we have determined that Avaya exhibits the following issues: there is a fundamental lack
of communication between the sales and marketing department, an absence of common goals,

and no set standard for the lead generation process. The challenges present are ultimately

undesirable for the long-term goals of the company.

As previously mentioned, communication between sales and marketing is the root

concern. Both departments simultaneously have access to essential components such as accounts,

contacts, opportunities, leads, and prospects; however, the two separate departments do not have

a clear understanding of the other’s ICP or what these components will be used for. Each

department has their own specialized function, which fundamentally will lead to

misunderstandings and separate motivations to focus on their own goals.

Another challenge area that we identified is that there is a misalignment between the two

departments pertaining to information and data about goals and metrics. Each department has set

its own goals; however, it is essential for a company to have a set standard to measure overall

success rather than just separate goals. This leads us into the last problem that we have

identified: there are no established qualifications for lead generation. When the sales and

marketing departments generate separate ICPs, there is no consensus for what each department is

able to effectively convert and pursue. As a result, within the company, the sales department

generates 75% of effective leads - but both departments take that as a measure of success. This

system leads to overall inefficiencies within the sales and marketing funnel as one department’s

standards could not be translated into production for the other.

Alternatives

The following alternatives were created after extensive analysis on Avaya’s root

problems, which are: the deficiency of communication between the sales and marketing
departments, the lack of a common goal, and no established standard for prospecting and lead

generation. Currently, Avaya’s sales and marketing department operate separate from one

another to achieve similar overarching goals. Both departments lack general insight and feedback

on what the other is doing, creating inefficiencies within the current system.

The first alternative would be to facilitate correspondence between each department head.

By doing so, tasks can be properly distributed based on previous success or specialty. For

example, the sales department can take over lead generation while the marketing department

focuses on effective means to appeal to the prospects. With this, the sales department would

acquire, qualify, and organize prospects currently within both department’s databases. Then

provide marketing with pertinent feedback relating to each client so that collateral could be

created based on the needs of qualified prospects. This creates a universal ICP which will result

in more efficient break up of tasks and less wasted time. As such, communication will ultimately

improve and there would be a clear direction for how each department should proceed in the

future. This alternative comes with drawbacks as well. As each department is accustomed to their

own method and direction, it will take a lot of time for the new process to be implemented.

A second alternative would be to implement a sales engagement tool that will integrate

with Avaya’s current CRM. A sales enablement tool is a platform, or system, that provides

visibility across the sales lifecycle. The addition of a sales enablement tool will close the gap

between marketing, sales, and customers while allowing teams to track content performance

throughout the cycle. A tool that we suggest is the professional version of Apollo. Apollo is a

data-first engagement platform that puts structured data at the core of workflows to aid in

execution, analysis, and overall improvements within an organization. The professional version

costs $99 per user, per month and is able to seamlessly integrate with Salesforce. By
implementing this tool, both departments will be able to automatically log calls, stay organized

through pre-built reports and dashboards, and boost productivity through automation across the

sales cycle. This will increase visibility on what each side is doing to prevent any risk of both

departments doing the same tasks. Apollo offers a 14-day free trial that will help Avaya

determine whether or not this tool will be effective. Implementing a new process into the existing

sales cycle also has its drawbacks. One such drawback is cost. At $99 per user, per month it isn’t

a cheap option. Another negative would be time it will take to integrate into Salesforce and train

both departments to properly and effectively use the new tool. The last downside that we see

would be trusting another software with confidential information pertaining to client data.

Overall, although there are downsides, we believe that the overall uplifts to productivity and

organization will ultimately benefit the long-term goals of the company.

Our last recommendation is to merge Avaya’s Sales and Marketing departments into one

large hybrid department. Although this is similar to our first recommendation, merging the two

departments eliminates any possibilities of misinformation between the heads of the departments.

It is essential that Avaya’s leadership implement a protocol where these problems would be

minimized. This will increase the overall quality of the funnel and allow smoother

communication between departments. The first step would be to hire a new president that will

oversee the new department. The current head of sales and marketing will become vice-

presidents that provide insight on the current responsibilities and assist with creating a

standardized KPI that the new department would strive for. The new department could require

regularly scheduled meetings with Avaya’s leadership team to ensure that the goals of the

department match and facilitate the goals of the company. A disadvantage to this process would

be the amount of time required to make the process run smoothly as it is difficult to get new
teams to collaborate, but we believe it would be worthwhile to ensure Avaya’s success well into

the future.

Recommendation

The core issues observed between Avaya’s sales and marketing departments are due to a

lack of communication, cooperation, and cohesion. This leads to further concerns with

inefficiencies between both the sales and marketing funnels as well as inconsistencies with the

ICP, or qualifications, of both department’s lead generation process. After the evaluation of a

variety of possible solutions, our primary recommendation to most effectively resolve the

fundamental challenges observed between the two departments would be to merge them into one

department.

To do so, a new president must be assigned, and the current heads of each department

will become vice-presidents. This method allows for the retention of the existing chain of

command while bringing in an outsider facilitates a fresh outlook on the strengths and

shortcomings of each department. The new president will work with both vice-presidents to

establish key performance indicators, or KPIs, for the new department. For example, by having a

proper definition of what is a quality lead, both teams will be able to more efficiently pursue

sales opportunities. To further aid in making the merger a success, Avaya will need to implement

a sales engagement platform, such as Apollo.io, that has the ability to directly integrate with their

current CRM. By doing so, they eliminate the frustrations of learning a whole new program from

scratch. Major changes to both the sales and marketing departments will require a four to six-

week adjustment period to ensure all employees are on the same page while being properly

educated on both new expectations and the implemented software.

 Feasibility

We estimate that our recommendations will cost Avaya approximately $5 million to fully

implement. One primary expense will be obtaining access to the new software for the entire

department. Apollo.io costs $99 per user, per month, for an estimate of 2,000 users, bringing the

annual cost to $2,376,000. The remainder will go towards other expenses such as salary for the

new department head, training, and other overhead costs.

Outcome

After the four to six-week training and adjustment period, we firmly believe that the new

department will see a definite boost in efficiency with their designated responsibilities as there

will be a clear, common, specifically defined KPI. Establishing an ICP for lead generation will

allow the sales and marketing funnel to become more effective, therefore boosting Avaya’s

annual global revenue. Avaya’s reported global revenue was $4.902 billion dollars for the 2005

fiscal year. We expect a 20% increase within the next year or an estimate of $980.4 million

dollars. The ROI on this investment of $5 million will be 195.08%.