Patricia Hume, the new group vice-president at Avaya's Small and Medium Business Solutions (SMBS) division, has talked about her plans for IP Office and a wider assault on the telephony market.
"We want people to think about taking market share," said Hume, speaking at the UK launch of IP Office release three. "We are not going to be subtle; we want to own the market. We have the momentum."
Hume, who joined Avaya SMBS as global vice-president of sales and business development in January, takes over from David Johnson, who will work on Avaya's take-over of Tenovis.
"The purchase of Tenovis proves how serious we are about growing revenues outside North America," said Hume. "It also reaffirms our commitment to the SME market."
Hume also dispelled rumours of differences between SMBS and the Enterprise Communications Group, which sells Avaya's large systems.
"SMBS has the best of both worlds," claimed Hume. "There's the strength of the company as a whole, but we are also a hugely entrepreneurial business."
Distributor Crane recently split its Avaya business into two parts to mirror the two divisions at the vendor. Tim Brooks, director at Crane's SME business, said Crane's sales of SMBS systems have grown by 36 per cent year on year.
"We have worked with Patricia for nine months. She was the obvious choice to lead the business on; she has drive and enthusiasm, and is committed to supporting SMEs," Brooks said.
The vendor recently signed up telephony distributor Nimans to sell IP Office, alongside NV3, Westcon, MTV and Crane.
Release three of IP Office features the ability to work as a key system, new handsets, more installation tools and a new version of the 406 platform.
Crane is planning a series of VAR road shows to support the release.
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