• Utilities and healthcare also show strong representation.
Each sector brings unique modernization pressures. Here are some examples.
• Utilities: Focused on outage management, storm handling, callbacks, and fraud prevention. Predictable cost models and compliance drive their cautious approach to cloud.
• Healthcare: Prioritize HIPAA compliance, EPIC / EMR integration, and multilingual support. Incremental modernization is critical to avoid disruption to patient services.
• Financial Services: Strong emphasis on security, fraud prevention, and personalized service. AI-enabled authentication and voice biometrics are particularly appealing.
• Government and Education: Often constrained by budgets and compliance frameworks, these sectors require modernization paths that align with public accountability and long procurement cycles.
Across all industries, the theme is consistent: modernization is necessary but disruption is unacceptable. This explains the strong interest in hybrid strategies and AI adoption within existing Avaya environments.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR AVAYA, CUSTOMERS
Taken together, the survey paints a picture of an enterprise community that is committed, pragmatic, and impatient.
For Avaya customers:
• They remain invested in Avaya but they must demand visible modernization.
• AI, speech, and omnichannel innovations should be integrated now, not delayed until cloud migration.
• Cloud adoption should be staged and hybrid, aligning benefits with immediate business needs while protecting mission-critical investments.
• Loyalty should be hedged with optionality; customers should prepare contingencies to avoid vendor lock-in.
For Avaya:
• The company must accelerate delivery of AI, speech, and hybrid capabilities or risk losing customers to competitors.
• Stability is valuable but insufficient. Innovation is non-negotiable.
• Avaya’ s path forward depends on proving it can evolve quickly enough to meet customer expectations, not just as a safe option, but as a leader.
KEY TAKEAWAYS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The 2025 IAUG Member Survey confirms that Avaya is at a crossroads. Its base remains strong, but as this article has outlined, demands for modernization are clear and urgent.
Key Takeaways:
1. Avaya remains core, but competitive threats loom. Many of the respondent customers are exploring competitors.
2. Hybrid is the practical reality. Cloud adoption is attractive, but staged, hybrid strategies dominate.
3. AI and advanced speech are no longer optional. Enterprises expect these capabilities now.
4. Decisions hinge on compliance, integration, and predictable cost models. Risk and cost control outweigh hype.
5. Avaya’ s brand is stable but vulnerable. Customers trust Avaya, but patience is finite.
Recommendations for Enterprises:
• Modernize without disruption. Add AI, automation, and speech capabilities to Avaya today.
• Adopt hybrid selectively. Move workloads to the cloud where it adds immediate value.
AVAYA USERS
• Control your destiny. Avoid lock-in by integrating flexible, vendor-neutral solutions.
• Hedge loyalty. Trust Avaya for stability but prepare contingency strategies.
Recommendations for Avaya:
• Deliver AI and hybrid capabilities faster.
• Preserve stability while proving innovation.
• Reframe brand perception from legacy to leader.
AVAYA’ S PATH FORWARD DEPENDS ON PROVING IT CAN EVOLVE QUICKLY ENOUGH...
CONCLUSION
The 2025 IAUG Member Survey provides a candid snapshot of where Avaya stands in the enterprise contact center market. Customers still trust Avaya, but they expect more. They want AI now, hybrid flexibility soon, and a clear path forward that balances innovation with cost and compliance.
Avaya’ s future will not be defined by its past. The company’ s ability to retain and grow its enterprise base depends on proving it can innovate as reliably as it has historically delivered uptime and scale.
For Avaya customers, the opportunity is to modernize on their own terms, without disruption, without unnecessary risk, and with full control over their technology destiny.
The next chapter of Avaya’ s story depends on how quickly and credibly it delivers modernization.
Tom Hanson, VP of Product and Marketing at Swampfox Technologies, leads product strategy and innovation. With 30-plus years in contact center technology at AT & T, Avaya, and RightNow( Oracle CX), Tom shaped Avaya Experience Portal and now drives Swampfox ICX and CX framework evolution and holds 10 patents.
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