Topic: Alan & Lori - Fireside Chat
Avaya CEO Alan Masarek and IAUG President Lori Wodrich will chat all things Avaya & Industry in this fireside chat. Attendees will learn about Avaya’s progress in the past year, including Avaya’s financial position and bright future. Alan is excited to talk about Avaya’s focus on the customer experience and continuing to produce innovation without disruption.
Alan Masarek
CEO, Avaya
Alan Masarek is President and Chief Executive Officer. He brings over 30 years of software and cloud-based business experience.
Alan is an industry innovator with deep expertise in enterprise communications, information technology and business services. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Vonage Holdings Corp. In this role, which he held from November 2014 to June 2020, Alan led the company through an era of transformation from a VoIP-based residential phone provider into a global enterprise cloud communications company. Over the course of his tenure, Vonage completed eight acquisitions and its market capitalization increased severalfold. As importantly, Mr. Masarek led a revitalization of Vonage’s culture, creating a talent-driven organization with a culture of agility, technology innovation and customer centricity.
Prior to Vonage, Alan served as Director, Chrome & Apps at Google, Inc. from June 2012 until October 2014, following Google’s acquisition of his prior company, Quickoffice, Inc. Alan was Co-founder and CEO of Quickoffice from June 2007 to June 2012. Under his leadership, Quickoffice became one of the world’s most widely used mobile productivity software solutions, engaging more than 26 million registered users at the time of Google’s purchase.
Alan earned his M.B.A., with Distinction, from Harvard Business School and his B.B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia.
Lori Wodrich
IAUG President
Topic: Avaya Microsoft Teams
Alongside Microsoft Teams, you have significant investments in Avaya telephony – technology, established workflows and call flows, adjacent applications intertwined, training, reports, and more. You have integration options to use your existing Avaya telephony platform seamlessly within Microsoft Teams, and that's what this presentation is about. This session explores the integration options of Avaya Click-to-Call and SBC Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams, comparing the different approaches. We'll also cover what you need for each option across the Avaya portfolio and the latest integration enhancements.
Roger Wallman
Roger is a subject matter expert within the Avaya marketing team and has extensive experience in digital communications ranging from unified communications and collaboration to contact center and customer experience. With a career spanning product management and marketing of a broad range of communications solutions, Roger joined Avaya in 2012. In his role at Avaya, Roger is responsible for creation and execution of solution marketing strategies across the Avaya portfolio.
In the evolving landscape of today's digital era, achieving unparalleled customer experience (CX) is more than a benchmark—it's a mission. However, as an Avaya customer, you realize that curating this pinnacle of CX isn't about generic solutions; it's about crafting strategies resonant with your organization's DNA and executing on these strategies with seamless integration into your Avaya systems. At the heart of this strategic endeavor lies the union of deep system knowledge, tailored expertise, and collaborative partnerships. In this session, we will survey the combined strength of ACES and Avaya Partners, a powerhouse duo uniquely positioned to understand the intricacies of Avaya systems and cater to your specific business needs.
Steve Brock
Steve is an innovator fusing creativity, storytelling, and strategic insight to bridge the gap between customers and emerging technologies. Steve has held several Fortune 500 leadership roles spearheading change and driving business turnarounds, and has extensive experience building customer and partner relationships and promoting disruptive technologies.
Topic: Workplace/Call Center/VDI
"Avaya continues to enhance Workplace client as the single solution for both UC and Call Center users. Properly deployed, Workplace is a robust replacement for older soft clients and is a single software solution for all user on all platforms. This session will detail how to effectively roll out Workplace client to your users, leverage Avaya Aura Device Services (AADS) to centrally administer the clients and push configurations, and how to configure call center users to work with the client. The session will also detail how the client integrates with Active Directory and SAML authentication providers. The session will also detail how the clients can be installed in a VDI environment.
Attendees will leave this session understanding how to roll out the software quickly and effectively to desktop and mobile devices, allow users to configure the application themselves without needing to contact a helpdesk, and how to centrally manage deployment. "
Chris Clauss
Manager, UC Engineering Professional Delivery Services
Chris Clauss brings 30 years of experience in computer and telephony technology to C1. Since originally joining SPS as Manager of Information Systems, Chris shifted focus from internal IT operations to customer facing responsibilities. As Manager of the Collaboration Engineering team, Chris is responsible for managing the implementations, understanding new UC/CC technologies, security of the technology, and helping customers implement these services. His team is responsible for deployment of Avaya UC technologies such Call Center, Conferencing, Messaging, Networking, IP Communications, SIP services, and CTI. Prior to joining C1/SPS, I started his career managing IT and telecom operations for several companies.
Topic: SIP
• Hear and see the lessons learned from slowly implementing SIP into a multi-location environment.
• Learn from my assumption errors and the necessary design improvements you need for a stable environment.
• After this session you will understand there are differences in carriers, how to challenge them for design answers and improve costs.
• Lastly you will know why the move to SIP must be made.
Jeff Dhanens
Volkswagon
Jeff Dhaenens is the Team Leader for Network & Telecommunications for Volkswagen Group of America. VWGoA has operations in nearly 60 locations in Canada and the US. Jeff is a 6 time presenter at Avaya Engage, 2 time presenter for IAUG Wired and the current Michigan Chapter President for IAUG.
Topic: CM to ACO, Top 10 Differences for Users and Admins
Are you considering migrating your CM environment to Avaya Cloud Office? Here's your opportunity to learn from someone who has made that transition and is going to share the top 10 differences between the two.
Rick Gibbons started with Nelson Mullins in 2000 when the company had 6 offices and individual System 75 systems. In his 23 years there, the network grew to a converged CM 6 environment with over 30 locations. Nelson Mullins converted that CM system to Avaya Cloud Office in 2022 and Rick had to navigate the differences between the two systems in order to keep those 2100 users happy.
Rick Gibbons
Nelson Mullins
Rick Gibbons started his career with AT&T in 1983, working on new facilities needed to support AT&T’ s Divestiture. He moved to South Carolina and joined the Marketing group in 1988. As a System Manager and Project Manager he implemented communications solutions and provided technical support to customers in North and South Carolina.
In 2000, Rick made the jump from vendor to customer, joining one of his previous clients – Nelson, Mullins, Riley, and Scarborough as their Telecommunications Manager. In his 23 years with Nelson Mullins, he has seen the firm grow from 6 offices and 250 attorneys to 34 offices and almost 1,000 attorneys. Rick led the project that replaced a legacy Avaya system and a Cisco voice system with Avaya Cloud Office in 2022.
Outside of work, Rick enjoys running and just last year completed his goal of running a marathon in all 50 states.
This session will provide a roadmap update for Avaya solutions since the sessions presented at Avaya ENGAGE in June 2023.
Topic: Job Security - Prof Dev
A Technology Management Center of Excellence (CoE) represents the best of the best and the c-suite recognizes that a CoE delivers real and meaningful business value. Deliver value and you increase the value of everyone contributing to the CoE to the business (job security).
Does your team have what it takes to become a CoE?
Attend and you’ll learn what you need to know so you can answer with an emphatic YES!
Timothy C. Colwell will lean into his expertise helping companies build Technology Management Centers of Excellence. He will share:
* What a CoE is (and isn’t) and why it matters to companies and technology management professionals now more than ever
* Key elements of a CoE and how they work together to deliver meaningful results
* What a CoE roadmap looks like and how to start your CoE journey
* What wins you should work towards as your CoE journey begins
* How to measure CoE maturity
Tim Colwell
Executive Vice President, AOTMP University
Timothy C. Colwell, Executive Vice President at AOTMP® University, is a telecom, mobility, and cloud/IT management industry thought-leader, patent inventor, and best practice architect with 30+ years of experience helping customer drive better business results. Timothy leads the content team, which develops and produces training and certifications.
Topic: Government - Federal/State/Local
Topic: Finance
Topic: Healthcare
Topic: Education
Topic: AXP Connect
Explore Avaya Experience Platform and its recent updates and innovations, including AI. Learn how these capabilities, delivered from the cloud, can also enhance the effectiveness and productivity of your CC Elite agents. Avaya Experience Platform Connect is the prime example of Innovation Without Disruption and sets Avaya apart from the crowded field of competitors. Expect better outcomes for your agents, supervisors, administrators, and, most importantly, your customers. This event offers you the opportunity to learn about these exciting innovations and how they can transform your contact center. Join us and embrace Innovation without Disruption and learn what how Avaya Experience Platform can unlock the potential for a more efficient and customer-focused contact center experience.
Diane Otto
Avaya
Diane has over 30 years’ experience in sales and marketing, with the past 14 years focused on customer experience innovations and contact center marketing. She is responsible for creating and executing end-to-end go-to-market global strategies of Avaya’s contact center cloud and hybrid offerings specializing in customer and employee experiences, customer journey, and AI.
Oliver Bengtsson
Avaya
Oliver Bengtsson is a seasoned professional in the world of technology and telecommunications, currently serving as a Senior Solutions Marketing Manager at Avaya. With a passion for innovation and a deep understanding of the evolving landscape of cloud based customer experience and unified communication solutions, Oliver is at the frontline of promoting Avaya's Cloud Solutions portfolios. Whether captivating audiences with presentations or collaborating behind the scenes to develop marketing initiatives, Oliver enjoys sharing his years of experience and enthusiasm for technological innovation by translating complex concepts into compelling narratives that resonate with both technical and non-technical audiences. His dedication to bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and real-world business applications has made him a trusted expert in the field.
Topic: AI
The potential of AI to deliver new business outcomes has never been clearer, especially when we talk about virtual agents and agent assist solutions. With Avaya systems already standing as pillars of reliability and efficiency, integrating AI can elevate their capabilities further. In this presentation, we'll dive into the practical steps to introduce AI solutions such as virtual agents and agent assist tools into your existing on-prem or cloud-based Avaya systems.
Virtual agents can streamline customer interactions, handling queries efficiently and reducing wait times. Meanwhile, agent assist solutions can empower human representatives by providing them real-time information and suggestions, enhancing the overall quality of customer interactions. These integrations promise not only an improved customer experience but also operational efficiency and cost savings for your business. If you're looking to truly maximize the potential of your Avaya infrastructure, join us to explore the real-world benefits of AI-driven business communication solutions.
Steve Brock
Steve is an innovator fusing creativity, storytelling, and strategic insight to bridge the gap between customers and emerging technologies. Steve has held several Fortune 500 leadership roles spearheading change and driving business turnarounds, and has extensive experience building customer and partner relationships and promoting disruptive technologies.
Topic: ChatGPT
ChatGPT is amazing... but you can't just plug it into your IVR, chat widget or agent desktop and expect transformative impact. In this session you'll get a feel for what ChatGPT can and can't do, and see practical examples of the kinds of applications that can be built with GPT-3.5, GPT-4 and other Generative AI technology. Use cases will include:
- Mining interaction data for insights
- Answering customer (and agent) questions
- Routing calls and chats to the right agent
- Completing tasks like scheduling and status updates
We'll also consider security & compliance risks and the steps you can take to mitigate them. You'll walk away with a much deeper understanding of the possibilities, pitfalls and the practical steps you need to take to harness this exciting new wave of AI technology.
Kerry Robinson
VP of Conversational AI Strategy, Waterfield Technologies
Topic: Migration to Cloud
Contact center migrations can feel like a never ending journey filled with U-turns and dead ends. But your enterprise is depending on you to figure it out, and keep calls flowing without downtime. Whether you’re just cloud curious, or already in the midst of a migration, Bandwidth is here to help you navigate around potential pitfalls and successfully reach your destination.
Key Takeaways:
-Key steps to take to prepare for a cloud migration
-How you can do more and worry less with smarter call routing
-How to harness Artificial intelligence / machine learning in your contact center call flows
-Ways to fight against fraud and improve security without sacrificing CX
-How migrating today sets you up for success tomorrow.
Marissa Brinkman
Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Bandwidth
At Bandwidth, Marissa drives go-to-market strategy with the mission to help enterprises build exceptional communications to deliver the best customer and employee experiences possible. As someone who is embedded within Bandwidth’s global product & revenue teams, she has helped launch numerous products to help businesses of all shapes and sizes future proof, scale, and modernize their comms stack.
Topic: Voicemail
Voicemail systems have never been just three rings to voicemail. These systems contain additional features that can be set up to enhance your overall business environment and improve the customer facing experience. This session covers several Avaya voicemail platforms including Aura Messaging and Avaya Messaging (IX Messaging) and how you can automate business functions.
Jayne Hogle
American Heart Association
Jayne is a Unified Communications Professional with over thirty years’ experience working in enterprises that required innovative technology solutions that have covered several different technology disciplines. Extensive experience in understanding multi-faceted business objectives and delivering cost effective technological solutions while managing diverse teams for multi-national organizations.
Topic: Disaster Recovery
ACO capabilities
Operational support
Reliability and security
Tim Eddinger
Seneca Foods
IAUG Board of Directors
IAUG Experience Committee Chair
IAUG Membership Committee Member Chair
IAUG CNY Chapter Leader
Enterprise Networks Manager, Seneca Foods Corp.
Vice Chairman of the Board, Finger Lakes TV
Director, Advisory Board Rochester Americans & Knighthawks
Tim Eddinger joined Seneca Foods in May of 2017 as their Enterprise Networks Manager. In this role, he is responsible for Seneca Foods overall management, design, and network planning. Additional responsibilities in this role are access management, network implementation, field operations, and telecommunications operations.
Tim has over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications and information technology industries. Prior to joining Seneca Foods, Tim held several key roles with telecommunications providers and IT managed services companies. In 2009, Tim started his transition from telecom into information technology in which time he helped built out one of the first Managed Services delivered team support offerings in the Rochester, NY.
Tim believes that cloud transformation will help businesses become more agile and provider an easier implementation. “Through the ever changing telecommunications and IT landscape, we all have to try and find the right time to put our heads and business applications in the cloud.”
Topic: WIT: Delayed not Denied
This session focuses on empowering women to seek challenging roles within Technology. We will discuss how to adapt during the ever-changing environment, balancing mental and physical health, while prioritizing family and work. Other topics will cover networking tips for introverts.
Candice Lynch
Southwest Airlines
Candice began her STEM training in college at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. While attaining her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, she had the opportunity to work on Computation Chemistry research to find theoretical protein inhibitors for thrombin (responsible for blood clotting) as a potential treatment for sufferers of blood clotting disorders. She continued to grow and love technology, working at a Chemical Company and focusing on instrument calibrations and Quality Control.
Candice began her Southwest Airlines journey in June 2007. She quickly transitioned into the Emerging Leadership and Development Program. Upon completing the program, she assumed the role of a Houston Team Leader in January 2020 and played a pivotal role in supporting our Representatives and Operations during the transition to remote work. Candice assisted in troubleshooting work-from-home PCs for Representatives and contributed to numerous Team Leader consolidation projects.
In February 2022, Candice transitioned to the CS&S Workforce Systems Team and played a crucial role in supporting the Avaya and Alvaria deployments, various Salesforce (C360) upgrades, and other technical projects. Most recently, she has been dedicated to Avaya WFO, ensuring the correct capture of call quality, accurate user provisioning, and collaborating with our Quality Department weekly on shared initiatives.
Candice genuinely loves supporting frontline Representatives and Leaders by reviewing defects, researching them, and creating technical documents and presentations to benefit end users. She is currently pursuing in MBA at Capella University and hopes to continue bridging the gap between business needs and technology solutions.