As a global leader in delivering superior communications experiences , Avaya provides the most complete portfolio of software and services for multi-touch contact centre and unified communications offered on premise , in the cloud , or as a hybrid . Today ’ s digital world centres on communications enablement , and no other company is better positioned to do this than Avaya . As such , the company needs to constantly transform and improve to maintain its leading position .
Avaya ’ s supply chain transformation to best-in-class has been a global , multi-year strategic initiative based on targeted investments in people , processes and partnerships directed towards a clear vision to be the very best . Fred Hayes , Senior Vice President of Supply Chain , clearly defines its vision to “ Exceed employee and customer expectations while fuelling profitable growth .” This vision drives every decision the team makes .
IN THE BEGINNING Avaya ’ s supply chain has not always been industry-leading , far from it . “ In the beginning , it was tough ,” says Green . “ 12-hour days , hair on fire supply constraints , excess inventory , completely manual processes , imbalanced supplier terms and conditions , poor cash to cash . You name it , it was bad . It was hard to imagine becoming best-in-class at the time .”
Nine years ago , Avaya ’ s supply chain was considered one of the biggest obstacles to companywide performance . Hayes recalls : “ Just to give you an example , at one point before I had started , the Chief Executive Officer at that time in an all hands meeting apparently made some reference to Avaya having the worst in class supply chain on the planet .” There was a long way to go to reach the best-in-class vision and Fred knew it began with the team . Avaya needed world class talent , with the right attitude , immersed in the right culture to deliver world class results , and this became Fred ’ s first priority .
TALENT AND CULTURE Avaya began by making substantial investments to attract , train , and retain the best and brightest candidates . The talented team at Avaya was built and developed over several years and it
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