“A substantial number of small and mid-sized companies worldwide will move to IP telephony over the next five years, in a rapidly growing global market that is worth over US$3.5 billion,” said Deepinder Sahni, senior vice president, Access Markets International (AMI). “Understanding and meeting these companies’ requirements – with solutions that deliver high quality communications with a unique value proposition – is absolutely paramount to successfully serving this market segment.”
In its announcement Avaya illustrates the differing types of business using their IP Office and quotes the U.K.’s Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) as an aexample.
TCT is an innovative non-profit organization that supports teenagers and young adults with cancer by building specialist wards in National Health Service hospitals. Avaya BusinessPartner the Excell Group has a long-standing association with TCT and recognized how Avaya’s intelligent communications solutions could transform the organization’s operations.
Excell donated an Avaya IP Office network that is streamlining communications, enabling new services and helping the organization realize significant cost-savings. TCT hospital facilities in London, Manchester and Leeds are linked to support a variety of IP-based applications. For example, voice calls between TCT hospital units now travel over the Internet for free, allowing teenage cancer patients all over the country to communicate freely and securely.
Simon Davies, chief executive of Teenage Cancer Trust said, “It is fantastic that we have been able to give teenagers with cancer the opportunity to communicate with others around the country. Eventually we hope that a patient as far south as Southampton with a very rare form of cancer will be able to talk directly to a patient with the same rare cancer up in Scotland. This service, which patients use completely free of charge, is helping us achieve one of our goals – ensuring that teens with cancer are constantly in touch to offer support and advice to each other.”
As TCT looks to the future, Excell is helping the charity explore the new possibilities enabled by Avaya IP Office. For example, plans are in place for new videoconferencing capabilities that will allow doctors, nurses and consulting oncologists to hold patient review sessions over the Internet, saving time and enabling them to exchange information in real-time. The same videoconferencing capabilities will allow bedridden patients to participate in events and seminars they otherwise would be unable to attend and to build relationships by playing interactive video games.
“We’re proud to be part of a genuine answer to a substantial problem,” said Darren Strowger, Excell chairman and a TCT patron. “By combining technological know-how with a strong desire to help and support young people affected by cancer, we can help teenagers benefit from better advice, support and disease management in the hope of a long-term recovery.”