Avaya vs. Mitel: Clash of the UC Leaders

Whether you’re looking for the best endpoints to empower your contact centre agents, or you need a unified communications strategy to help streamline business productivity, the vendor you choose can make or break the future of your business.

In a world where communication is becoming increasingly complex, businesses rely on the innovation and support of leading brands like Avaya and Mitel to help them achieve both their short-term and long-term goals. Two of the companies leading the pack in unified communications are Avaya and Mitel.

While Mitel has a reputation for supporting significant brands like Carlsberg, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and more, Avaya also have their fair share of the UC market. The company claims to have 95% of the Fortune 500 in their network.

Financials

As of Q2 Financial Year 2018, Avaya has:

Revenue of 672 million USD
Non-GAAP revenue of 757 million USD
Adjusted EBITDA of 187 million USD

As of 2018 Mitel has:

3 billion USD in revenue
6 million GAAP revenues
2 million recurring cloud seats

Gartner Says:

Both Mitel and Avaya are “leaders” in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications for 2018.

Mitel achieved leadership status for the fifth year in a row in 2018. Gartner highlighted the company’s flexible UC offering, stating that Mitel has a “significant installed base of solutions deployed on virtual systems.” Gartner also credited Mitel for their success across a host of verticals, including healthcare, government, hospitality, and education. The report claimed that Mitel offers a “positive front-end solution” as well as “smooth operating transitions.”

Avaya, on the other hand, is celebrating nine years in the top spot as a Gartner Magic Quadrant UC leader. Gartner highlighted Avaya’s “strong brand recognition” for its telephony and contact centre business, as well as the company’s ability to support both mid-size and larger organisations. Gartner also noted that Avaya’s managed services offering, and consumption-based licensing makes it “easier for customers to outsource their Avaya Infrastructure.”

Glassdoor Says:

In 2017, Avaya had approximately 8,700 employees worldwide, compared to Mitel’s 4,200.

Independent employer rating platform Glassdoor gives each company the following rating:

Avaya: 3.2 for employee satisfaction
Mitel: 2.4 for employee satisfaction

Portfolio Comparison

Both Mitel and Avaya offer products and solutions in the categories of unified communications, endpoints, customer contact, and collaboration.

Unified Communication & Collaboration:

For unified collaboration and communication, Avaya offers:

Avaya Equinox
Avaya Cloud Services
Avaya IP Office
Avaya Equinox Meetings Online
Avaya IP Office Online

Mitel’s UC and collaboration portfolio includes:

MiCollab
Mitel Teamwork
Mitel OfficeLink
Mitel Phone Manager
Mitel InAttend
CMG Suite

Contact Centre:

For customer contact solutions, Avaya offers:

Avaya Oceana
Avaya Aura
Avaya Cloud Contact Center
Avaya IP Office Contact Center

Mitel’s contact centre offering includes:

Mitel MiContact Center
MiCloud Flex Contact Center
MiCloud Engage Contact Center
MiContact Cloud
MiVoice Connect Contact Center

Endpoints:

When it comes to Endpoints, Avaya has:

Avaya CU-360 Collaboration Unit
J100 Series phones
Avaya Vantage phones
H200 Series IP devices

Mitel offers:

Mitel 6900 Series phones
Mitel IP420 phones
MiVoice Conferencing Phones
Mitel analogue phones

Target Market and Regional Availability

Both Mitel and Avaya are global companies with a reach spanning across various countries around the world. They offer solutions for small to mid-sized companies based on the cloud, as well as expansive unified communication and collaboration services for larger enterprise organisations.

Pricing

Pricing for Avaya and Mitel products and services will depend on what you want to buy. You can find the price for their desk phone and endpoints by speaking to accredited channel partners or talk to Avaya and Mitel directly to get a quote for your cloud-based systems.

Avaya doesn’t publish rates for their UC services on their website directly. However, Mitel offers three distinct licensing options for their IP telephony, including:

Essential: $19.99 per month
Premier: $24.99 per month
Elite: $29.99 per month

The services available from both Avaya and Mitel are customisable, so the price of your service may vary according to what your organisation needs.

Finishing Thoughts

Avaya and Mitel are both powerful contenders in the markets for endpoints, contact centre solutions, and unified communications. For most people, the decision of which vendor to go with will depend on your own personal preferences, and any experiences you might have had with the brands in the past.

Interestingly, both organisations have also begun to develop their roadmap with artificial intelligence and disruptive technology. Mitel announced an integration with Google Cloud in 2018 to bring AI to the contact centre, while Avaya has their own AI service in the form of “Ava.”

Source: uctoday

Industry: Unified communcation news