Conquering Communications Overload: More Businesses Turn to Next-Generation Desk Phones From Avaya to Simplify Communications

18-Sep-2006 - BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - A progressive healthcare provider, a Florida school district, and a leading national law firm are among the organizations that are turning to something familiar – the desk phone – to help their workers simplify communications, increase productivity and overcome communications overload in today’s busy, ’always on’ world.

Avaya’s new line of advanced IP phones – one-X™ Deskphone Edition – offers workers a more intelligent way to access voice communications, get information and manage their many interactions. Organizations such as Sentara Healthcare, law firm Lief, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein, and the Indian River School District say the phone’s innovative capabilities – such as high-fidelity sound, mobility features and an easy-to-use menu interface – help workers cut through clutter and gain greater control over their communications.

“Communications is not just about connecting networks – it’s about connecting people,” said Geoffrey Baird, general manager and senior vice president of Avaya Communications Appliances Division. “And today’s IP desk phone plays an essential role in enhancing the way people communicate every day at work. In a world where mobile calls and teleconferences are juggled along with e-mails and instant messages, the Avaya one-X Deskphone simplifies and complements these communications – helping workers conquer communications overload.”

Baird states that as more businesses seek unified communications that seamlessly connect devices and applications for workers on the move, advanced desktop phones will play an integral role. For example, Avaya’s desk phone can extend office phone calls and telephony functions (i.e., conference, extension transfer, forward) to a workers’ cell phone – helping to ensure real-time access, just as if they were at their desk.

Users of the Avaya one-X Deskphone Edition discuss how the phone serves their varied needs:

Desktop Phones Open New Possibilities for Leading Healthcare Provider
Sentara Healthcare is a progressive, not-for-profit healthcare provider serving Virginia and North Carolina – with seven acute care hospitals and many care-giving sites. Innovation is important to the company, which pioneered the use of remote monitoring systems for intensive care patients.

Debra Naderhoff, director of communications technologies for Sentara, is on the front lines of that innovation and believes Avaya’s new one-X phones can help the organization deploy new productivity-enhancing applications that improve patient care.

“One of my objectives is to think about the nurse working on the floor and how I can help make her day easier by placing the right information at her fingertips,” Naderhoff says. “With Avaya’s phone, we have new options that we didn’t have before – from making it possible to see a patient’s vital signs and medical records on the phone’s display screen to using the phone to broadcast emergency codes and messages.”

Naderhoff says voice communications are critical to the life and death decisions made each day in healthcare, making ease of operation imperative.

“People can look at this phone and get right to work on it,” she said. “The screen is clear and easy to read, with directions that walk people through the various functions. You can quickly get to call logs and the last number dialed, and the message-waiting light is positioned so you see it right away. I haven’t liked a phone this much in all my years in the business.”

Making Technology Transparent for a Busy Law Firm
Lief, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein is one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs’ law firms, representing clients in individual and class action cases from its offices in the U.S. Dario Mileto, director of information technology for the firm, knows that busy attorneys want the sophisticated technology they use to be both transparent and easy to operate.

“That makes the ease of use of Avaya’s new phones a very desirable trait,” he said. “The design is very intuitive, and you can operate all the features available on them without any help. That means you can take advantages of capabilities you might never have used before.”

Mileto himself is a heavy user of the Extension to Cellular application of the Avaya phones, a solution that unifies the deskphone’s features and incoming calls directly to a cell phone. Users can have calls to a desk phone bridged automatically to a cell phone instead when he is away from his office. Team members are able to reach him through a single number, regardless of where he travels, with any missed calls going directly to his office voicemail.

With directions on the phone’s screen display telling attorneys which button to press to forward a call, place it on hold or establish a conference, important client calls are handled professionally and are far less likely to get dropped by mistake.
Sound quality also is important to the firm and its clients, Mileto said, reducing the need for face-to-face meetings.

“The high-fidelity sound gives you a greater sense of confidence that you clearly understand what is said, reducing the need to have to speak with someone in person,” he said. “I have an engineer on my information technology team who works in an equipment room surrounded by noisy fans, which before made it hard to hear him. Now I don’t hear the fans at all and his voice is as clear as a bell.”

Delivering Easy-to-Use Emergency Communications to the Classroom
Florida’s fast-growing Indian River County School District encompasses 21 campuses serving more than 1,700 students. The District was eager to try Avaya’s new one-X IP phones due to the importance of communications to busy classroom teachers.

“Each of our classrooms has a phone for emergency communications and to make it easier for parents and teachers to keep in touch,” said Ralph Starr, network analyst, Indian River School District. “We’ve discovered that Avaya’s new one-X IP phones are a piece of cake to put in or to move to a new location, and we’re pleased with how easy they are to set up and to use.”

A context-sensitive screen replaces many of the individual buttons typically found on phone sets, with step-by-step directions that make it faster and simple for teachers to take advantage of even the most advanced capabilities. Easy-to-access call logs have proved to be especially popular, Starr said, making it simple to return a call by clicking on a number.

“The adaptability of these phones is great,” he said. “New applications can simply be downloaded into the phone to upgrade it or to expand what you can do with it. That can result in a major cost savings for us over time.”

Avaya one-X Deskphone Edition Shipping Worldwide, More Languages Available
Avaya today announced that the phone is now shipping worldwide and has expanded its international support, with general availability in 14 additional languages, including: French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian Cyrillic and Hebrew. Additionally, a new Integrated Gigabit Adaptor for one-X desk phones is planned to be available this Fall for businesses deploying new networks to support users with high-bandwidth graphics, media, engineering design and other needs. The adaptor plugs directly into existing one-X Deskphone Edition phones, providing flexibility and investment protection.

Avaya one-X Deskphone Edition is being showcased this week at INTEROP New York City in Avaya Booth #329.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications – and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services – Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya website: http://www.avaya.com.

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Jonathan Varman

Media Relations

Avaya Inc.

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