Vishal Agrawal, Managing Director of Avaya India, is optimistic about nationwide economic initiatives that are sparking activity across industries and business sizes. In 2016, Avaya India focused on transforming its business through value-selling and increasing relevance in communications and contact center businesses. The government's 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' initiatives boosted government spending and the SME segment, positioning Avaya well for growth. Key highlights included expanding Avaya's partnership with Bharti Airtel and increasing market share in the midmarket and government segments. Trends in 2017 include customers investing in automation, analytics, and cloud services, with government spending on infrastructure and emergency services expected to rise.

1. Encircling Opportunity: From SMEs to State Governments
Vishal Agrawal, Managing Director, Avaya India, is optimistic about nation-wide economic initiatives
thatsparkeconomicactivity acrossindustriesand business-sizes,and is riding the wave to make inroads
into other South East Asian markets.
What did Avaya see in India in 2016?
For Avaya India, 2016 was the Year of Business Transformation. This transformation was driven by
multiple factors,bothinternal andexternal.Ouroperations in India increased focus on value-selling to
ensure thatwe were solvingourcustomers’businesschallenges,andtoincrease the relevance of Avaya
inour traditional Unified Communications and Contact Centre business for BPO, enterprise and global
customers.
The year 2016 also saw the government bet big on its ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives,
drivingamood swinginthe countrythat not onlyboostedgovernment spending but also impacted the
SME segment. Avaya was able to successfully focus on growth areas including government and the
midmarket, positioning us well for 2017.
What are your highlights of the year?
We successfully extended our partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom service provider,
with an agreement with Avaya Private Cloud Services (APCS) to transform their contact center
operations, and help Airtel deliver unified, seamless and personalised experiences to its customers.
Our midmarketandgovernmentsegmentsmade greatstridesinthe year,with the midmarket business
doublinginFY16 fromthe previous year, increasing its share of our business from 10 per cent to 16 per

2. cent.The governmentengagement increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent as we increasingly helped
government organisations achieve their digital objectives. For instance, we recently announced the
successful completionof the Dial 100 project with the state government of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most
populous state, to provide emergency services for its 204 million citizens.
We alsoextendedAvaya’sbrandintonew markets,witheventsinSri Lanka and Bangladesh for the first
time,makingapositive impact. We also held – a first for Avaya India – a successful consultant event in
Dubai.
What are the trends you see in 2017?
Our customers are investing in automation, omnichannel engagement, Cloud services, including
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS),andanalytics.Ourproductportfolioof the Breeze development platform,
Equinox,OceanaandOceanalyticsmeanwe are verywell positionedtogoto market with solutions that
can meet customers’ requirements.
Government spending will definitely increase in 2017, with increased spending on infrastructure and
greater roll-out of emergency services. We are working closely with State governments on providing
emergencyresponsesystemsanddigitisationof educationinitiativesas major target areas. The Dial 100
project in Uttar Pradesh highlights the scale of projects that we are able to support.