Avaya Pushing ACO 9

[dsm600rr]

Was browsing around the Avaya Website and everything is ACO this, ACO that. I don't even see the IPO500v2 on the website.

We have deployed a few ACO Solutions and I have not been all that impressed really.

Pretty annoying. I am still all about the IPO On-Prem Solution - just ranting.

ACSS

 

[ipohead]

It is all about a continuous revenue stream...

 

[Travis Harper]

Avaya IP Office continues to be the flagship for Avaya's Small/Mid-Market on premise. I don't see that going away... at least I hope not.

ACO is the answer to Avaya being able to provide a cloud UC solution for all business sizes. What I like about ACO is that it is one application that integrates with so many other business critical applications via a plugin. App fatigue is a real issue with users needed an app for this and an app for that and app for the other...

For all that you get out of the box, it's a decent value for sure. To spin up the same capabilities in IP Office would cost a small fortune in licensing. There is a market for ACO with customers that want something that just works, and want it cared for by Avaya directly.

What I don't like about it is not having lower level access to the solution..because I like to tinker. but I guess that's the way with cloud in general.

 

[critchey]

ACO, and hosted in general, certainly has a place. My problem is companies thinking it is the end all be all answer for everyone. People are still desperately clinging to their POTS lines and Avaya acts like 100% of their customers will go hosted. That is the problem I see.

The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination.

 

[Travis Harper]

For customers that have a CAT3 infrastructure, I've put in Phybridge Switching to deliver POE over CAT3. This allows customers to move to SIP on existing infrastructure and have a constant set type throughout. Huge cost avoidance for the customer.

This works for customer that want Avaya IP Office on premise and with ACO.

 

[Johnhyde]

The problem we have with selling ACO is the billing and that we have no control over pricing, plus we are handing the customer over to Avaya!

 

[teletechman]

@johnhyde I have the same issue, once they are on ACO you can no longer sell them any thing. All equipment comes from ring central.

 

[Johnhyde]

Avaya made a mistake with the deal they have with ACO.
No problem with the relationship and partnering with Ringcentral, but Avaya from day one has been a channel only.

Why change this for ACO.
Avaya knows that most of the partners have their own billing platform and other products/service to sell to the customer.
For us, it doesn't make sense that our customer has one bill from us for IT/Internet/Mobile but then the customer has to sign a separate different contract from Avaya and this is invoiced separately, and we have no control over prices.

After over 15 years of working only with Avaya, we are now looking at other vendors.

Any suggestions on other vendors would be appreciated!

 

[Nortel4Ever]

Unfortunately this is the way the world of telephony is going. It's much cheaper for Avaya and companies like them to sell space in the cloud and licenses than it is to manufacture, warehouse, and ship hardware. They make the same, or even more money doing that.

 

[ipohead]

Try finding IP Office at avaya.com !

 

[Westi]

We cut over 2 customers to ACO and had to take them both back. Missing features brought the customer to a near collapse in their work flows. We also have about a dozen or so on it that went well.
Statistically the worst I have ever done as I can only remember 1 system in the last 2 decades that had to revert back to the previous system and that was because the customer yelled at me for not liking my voice on their auto attendant with a lot of profanity and would not listen that they can re-record it and I took the new system out putting their old Nortel back and left.

I also have to say that I personally find the features on the Apps great but useless for a lot of companies and the cost is over the years a lot. If you buy the system you are even after 2-3 years, with the ACO you are never even and keep paying but you have the flexibility to work anywhere in the world. It costs to have that ability and not worrying about keeping it up or making it work.

One of the main things that caused us to revert was:
Try lighting a message light on more than 1 user when you have a group message

Joe
FHandw, ACSS (SME)

Remembering intrigrant 2019

 

[TomMills]

One of the main things that caused us to revert was:
Try lighting a message light on more than 1 user when you have a group message"

Can you not do that on ACO?

APSS/ACIS/ACSS-SME
not arrogant, just succinct.

 

[dsm600rr]

Not to mention their "Engineers" at ACO are quite special.

ACSS

 

[CaptainAegis]

@TomMills
No, you cannot light the Message Waiting Light on multiple user phones for Group Mailboxes (nor other user's mailboxes) like you can on IP Office.

There are several more limitations and feature differences between IP Office and ACO.
ACO lacks many features that IP Office users love and use extensively.
Some of these differences are really surprising, in that they are not available in ACO, and can be a Show-Stopper!

Before migrating a client to ACO, it is wise to review the client's specific use cases, and the specific features they use in IP Office, to determine how that will change once in ACO platform.

Due to this, we are in the process of compiling a comprehensive list of differences that we have discovered thus far.
(thinking of starting at POST to invite others on this forum to contribute their findings related to IP Office and ACO feature and capability differences)

ACO is Powerful, and really excels in the area of Remote User Deployment.
However, as @critchey mentioned, it is not the end all be all answer for everyone.

Just a few disparities we have found: (small sample)
Only 3 calls possible on an Ad-Hoc conference call when using the J-Series Desk Phones
No Direct to Voicemail Button
Contacts in the ACO platform do not pull down to desk phones (if you want contacts in the phone, you have to add them manually via TUI or phone's Web GUI)
Only 10 users allowed in a Call Queue (max time in queue is 15 minutes)
No buttons to Monitor Call Groups, or Join/Leave a Call Group (must use the HUD and/or Web Admin to do so)
Cannot light the Message Waiting Light on multiple users phones for Group Mailboxes or other Users Mailboxes
No User Variables to affect call flows using the a TUI (must always use the Admin Portal to change call flows)
No live status dashboard, (think System Status) to aid in trouble shooting call flow issues.

Again, there are many limitations at this time, most of which are not apparent until you get into the nuts and bolts of a deployment, and then the differences start to add up

(Disclaimer: It is possible that some of the items listed above are possible, but we have not figured out how to do it yet, so if any of the above are incorrect/false, please advise, and for the benefit of all let us know how you solved for the issue)

Also to note, for the ACO platform to exhibit features/capability native in most PBX environments, your client will need to purchase the Premium License Level, which can be cost prohibitive for smaller IP Office clients. (things like, Incoming Caller ID with Name, or allowing a call in Queue to exit out to an Auto Attendant, or Extension, or the ability to push out different Outbound Caller ID for different business units on the system, and many others) At this time, you can not purchase features Ad-Hoc, so it is all or noting, meaning that you can choose Standard or Premium, but cannot cherry pick Premium Feature for an otherwise Standard License Level.

I think it would be beneficial to compile a comprehensive list of Differences and Limitations between the platforms, for the benefit of all on this Forum.
As I mentioned before, we are working on such a list, however, it would be great to get contributions from this knowledgeable Tek-Tips community, as everyone will surely encounter different scenarios.

Possibly starting an AVAYA ACO specific Forum here on Tek-Tips, would be beneficial as well?

Cheers All!

 

[ipohead]

I assumed ACO was just Server Edition in the cloud?

Is there any technical reason why the features can't be the same?

 

[sizbut]

ACO is nothing to do with IP Office. The word "Office" is just a coincidence.

Stuck in a never ending cycle of file copying.

 

[critchey]

Only 10 users allowed in a Call Queue (max time in queue is 15 minutes)

This would be a deal breaker for us I know that. 15min max time in the queue... does it just drop the call after 15 minutes?!

The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination.

 

[CaptainAegis]

@critchey
No it doesn't just drop the call, it dumps it into the mailbox associated with the Queue.
UNLESS, you have the Premium Level Feature "Route to Extension" active on the account.
In that case, you can route the call to an extension (and the mailbox for that extension) or an IVR, (ACO calls an Auto Attendant an IVR, although it has NO Interactive Voice Response capability), or another call Queue. But this is only possible with that premium feature enabled.

 

[G van Hamburg]

Imho you should compare ACO with MS Teams, not with IP Office. The word ‘Office’ in the name is just confusing.

Freelance Certified Avaya Aura Engineer

 

[CaptainAegis]

@G van Hamburg... That is a good idea as well, and a very good subject for the Microsoft Forum!
There will likely be many clients that will consider Teams vs Avaya Cloud Office/RingCentral that would benefit from this comparison, enabling them to make an informed decision on which platform to choose.

Since we are in the "AVAYA IP OFFICE" forum, and the people here are heavily involved with AVAYA products, and the IP Office System specifically, this thread, to compare and contrast two AVAYA Product Offerings, is within context and relevant to the members here.

Yes, I agree, the word "OFFICE" is confusing, and often leads people to think that "AVAYA Cloud Office" is a Cloud Version of IP Office, which it certainly IS NOT! (wish it was)
I have a suspicion that AVAYA threw the word Office in there on purpose.

There will be much growing pains as customers move from their existing AVAYA on-premise pbx platforms, over to AVAYA Cloud Office (ACO)since ACO runs on a Proprietary Platform built by RING CENTRAL and there is not feature or function parity in many cases. This gap may close over time. It remains to be seen.