WINDSOR, ON. – It’s best known for providing unified communications (UC) services to enterprises, but Avaya Inc. wants Canadian municipalities to know it has plenty to offer local governments too.
In fact, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based technology firm already has deals in place with several municipalities across Canada, including the town of Shawinigan, Quebec; and Brampton, Ontario, a longtime customer that relies on Avaya to deliver its communications and contact centre services, Avaya Canada account manager Leslie Thomas tells ITBusiness.ca.
“Contact centres have been our bread and butter… but we’re also focusing a lot today on collaboration, workflows, and communication-enabling infrastructure,” Thomas says, noting that recently discussions with municipal partners about leveraging new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to deliver service innovations at the level expected of smart cities have become more common.
“We’re taking a deeper look at the internal user experience as well as how the community wants to interact with municipalities today,” she explains. “So communications remain the underlying infrastructure, but we’re having more conversations about delivering the smart city experience.”
While contract agreements prevent Thomas from offering further details, she says that Avaya has supported similar initiatives worldwide, including in Dubai, where the company’s support of the city’s Dubai Roads and Transport Authority has improved customer satisfaction rates by 50 per cent.
“We’ve had lots of great feedback at MISA this week,” says Thomas, who works with the city of Brampton and was helping manage Avaya’s booth during the 2017 Municipal Information Systems Association of Ontario Annual Conference.
“It’s obviously an ongoing process to work with our customers, but we understand that things change very fast and are always doing our best to stay ahead of their requirements and execute them better than anyone else.”