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United States-based provider of communications systems for businesses Avaya is looking for growth in overseas markets such as Asia as domestic revenue declines.

The company sees opportunities in customer contact centres in particular - a growth area in the region as multinational corporations continue to outsource their telephone operations to Asia.

'We have historically been more concerned with the US. We now must look to the globe for our market,' chief executive Don Peterson  said.

Avaya must win business overseas as the firm faces pressure in the US market. In the three months to March, US revenue declined 9.34 per cent to US$689 million.

International revenue, however, leapt 117 per cent to US$533 million. Asia contributed US$89 million, up 50.84 per cent from the same period last year. Total revenue was 21.5 per cent higher at US$1.22 billion.

'Our success in Asia has a lot to do with contact centres. If your contact centre can communicate more directly with the right people, that is a compelling value proposition,' Mr Peterson said.

Many of the contact centres being set up in Asia are based on internet protocol telephony - a strong suit for Avaya.

Asia-Pacific president Mark Leigh  estimated the market for business communication software would be worth US$30 billion next year.

Although call centres are traditionally the domain of India and the Philippines, where English-speaking skills are strong, Avaya saw opportunities in the mainland market. The company recently signed a deal with Tianjin Electric Power to build a 'converged' communications system that would tie together voice and data. It also signed a deal with a major mainland bank, although Avaya declined to reveal the name.

Mr Peterson said cracking the price-sensitive China market was not an easy task.

'China strategy is more complex. China is not one place; it is many places. When you look at the pricing there are three levels: really low, middle and very high. The really low end is not something we can compete in but the other two certainly are.'

Mr Leigh said building a voice-over IP network was not simple. The challenge was to identify what could be retained from a company's network and what must be thrown out. He strongly criticised anyone who promoted the idea that voice could be 'added on' to a data network. 'Five out of six networks are not ready for voice.'

But this did not mean entire systems needed to be junked, and price-sensitive customers could implement changes gradually to spread their costs over time.

'We've got about 10,000 customers across the region. We offer an upgrade path as well as a fork-lift approach,' Mr Leigh said.

One interesting case involved second-hand car dealers in South Korea. The salesmen formed a group and cobbled together a system using PDAs, Avaya technology and video cameras, whereby prospective customers could review cars on their PDAs before buying.

'It is truly amazing to see these 2,000 guys with their PDAs interacting with the customers and getting real-time data for them. It must be the most impressive second-hand car sales centre in the world,' Mr Leigh said.



US-based Avaya eyes revenue growth in Asia