Converged Communication Systems
One-stop-shop for All Communication Needs

“While clients these days are inundated by cloud providers, Avaya has stayed true to developing state-of-the-art communication solutions that can be delivered as cloud, on-premise, or hybrid cloud which allows us to advise and guide our clients to the best total solution,” says Steve Melchiorre, CEO, Converged Communication Systems.

In the recent past, Avaya diversified its portfolio that includes IP telephony, data/networking, video, collaboration via AvayaLive, wireless, contact center, security and more. However, CIO’s face challenges in not only picking the solutions that best suit their needs, but also in selecting the best partners and service providers that will implement and proactively manage these solutions. Being an Avaya partner for over 12 years now, Converged Communication Systems addresses these challenges through its expertise that spans across a full range of Avaya solutions including on-premise, hosted or cloud, public or private, and hybrid cloud.

“Previously, we used to sell only Avaya’s on-premise solutions, but today, our sales engagement with clients is focused much more on cloud strategy, custom integrations and enhanced support solutions which are in line with the evolution of Avaya’s offerings,” states Melchiorre.

For instance, while many CIO’s considered Skype for Business as a total phone system solution, Converged Communication Systems integrated Avaya’s solution with Skype giving clients a full telephony presence which often times is not only much more robust, but also less expensive.

“Avaya recently acquired Esna which enables real time collaboration tools inside our clients’existing business applications. Applications such as Google applications, Cisco Jabber, Cisco WebEx, Avaya Scopia, and Salesforce can now be turbo-boosted by Esna. This not only allows us to offer more holistic solutions, but also provides opportunities with non-Avaya clients,” remarks Melchiorre.

Converged Communication Systems was founded in 2003 in Evanston, IL and originally focused on selling Avaya solutions in the Chicago area. From there the company quickly grew into providing nationwide Avaya solutions and maintenance and support services.

In 2010, the company invested over $2.5 million in building a state-of-the-art Network Operations Center (NOC).

“From conception, our core philosophy has been to provide the highest level of service and support. Clients call our service desk and work with our team remotely and onsite, nationwide. We never direct our clients to the manufacturer or to a third party. We are in the business of building long-term client relationships, not transactional,” says Melchiorre.

This is contrary to what other companies may do where sales people recommend or sell third party cloud solutions, and in the process are simply connecting the client to the provider. Many of these providers have limitations when it comes to customized designs and high level support.

We have invested in building our own Avaya cloud offering, customized and fully managed by our team

“We have invested in building our own Avaya cloud offering, customized and fully managed by our team,” he adds.
In one instance, one of Converged’s clients was using a cloud PBX (private branch exchange) solution, a cost-effective replacement for an old phone system, and its contract was about to end. The client needed a true contact center, IP PBX, UC, networking infrastructure stack along with continued support for these solutions. As the client already had a VMWare infrastructure, Converged Communication Systems provided the Avaya IP Office Virtual Server Edition, loaded IP Office Contact Center (IPOCC) on client-provided VMWare, and provided fully managed and proactive maintenance, warranty and programming support.

Going forward, the company is working on a low cost cloud solution based on a shared Avaya cloud offering for small businesses. “In the mid-market we are continuing our innovation and customization of the ways clients can deploy solutions and the means by which we can support them,” says Melchiorre. “In essence, it’s easier to sell and succeed when the solutions we are pitching are consistently best-in-class,” he concludes.