Avaya’s new UK manager insists the vendor is in solid shape following its recent takeover by two private equity firms (CRN, 5 June).

Nick Roullier has replaced Buddy Ceronie, who has been promoted to vice president of Avaya for Northern Europe and South Africa. Roullier, who has been with Avaya for two years and previously held the post of UK sales director, will now report direct to Ceronie.

Prior to joining Avaya, Roullier held senior positions at Alcatel and Juniper and led Extreme Networks’ operations in the UK. In his new position he has been charged with growing Avaya’s business and signing up more UK technology and implementation partners.

He claimed that the vendor’s direct business in the UK had increased by 14 per cent last year, while indirect business was up 26 per cent. He also denied that changes to Avaya’s European personnel in recent months were due to people not meeting targets and emphasised that the firm boosted its UK sales force by 40 per cent last year.

He said: “Our products are really resonating, not just with our customers, but also with our competitors’ customers. We are finding that quality, rather than price, is the first decision-making factor for customers and that is great for us. “We want to expand further, but it is not just about attracting new VARs; we also want to help our partners grow their business.”

Ty Gardner, sales and marketing director of Avaya VAR Universal, would like to see improvements to his firm’s relationship with Avaya.
“Our relationship with Avaya is not particularly great ­ we do not have a relationship with anyone
at Avaya on the enterprise side of things. Just being closer to support when we need it would be nice,” he said.

“There is a definite difference between us and the tier-one partners. The guys at [Avaya distributor] Westcon are doing a good job, but sometimes you need the manufacturers onside as well. If other manufacturers are getting closer to their partners, that is where Avaya’s partners will go.”