Avaya vs Mitel: Which is the better business phone solution?

A reliable phone system can help you acquire and retain more customers. If customers call and can’t reach you or get a response from you, they won’t do business with you. By comparing Mitel versus Avaya, two of the leading VoIP providers, this article will help you make a more informed decision.

Before selecting a phone, you should do due diligence and compare phone systems, whether it’s Avaya or Cisco. It would also be helpful to look at alternatives to Avaya and Mitel.

Avaya vs Mitel: How do these two business phone systems compare?

First, an overview. Avaya and Mitel are two of the most popular names in the cloud-based unified communications space. Both brands have a suite of solutions for companies to optimise their communication, collaboration and customer experience.

Over 95 per cent of Fortune 500 companies use Avaya’s solution. While it shows this US company’s strength in unified communications, it also reveals the typical target audience of the product.

Mitel isn’t vastly different. With expertise in unified communications, the Canadian firm focuses more on VoIP solutions now. The company serves some of the biggest brands across media, hospitality and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) categories.

An Avaya vs Mitel comparison will show that both while their services can be used by businesses of any size, the ideal customers are medium and large enterprises.

Avaya: Top business features

These are the main features of the Avaya unified communications system:

• Call routing

• Call reporting

• Call recording

• Call transfer

• Call centre management

• Automatic call distribution

• Call list management

• Messenger

• Campaign planning

• Customer history

• Distribution management

• Customised templates

• Customised reporting

• Real-time monitoring

• Queue manager

• Resource management

Mitel: Top business features

Customers can get the following business features from Mitel:

• Call routing

• Call recording

• Call reporting

• Call transfer

• Call scripts

• CRM integration

• Call list management

• Communication management

• Active directory integration

• Messenger

• Contact history

Avaya vs Mitel: Features comparison

To effectively compare Avaya and Mitel and choose the one that suits your business needs, let’s analyse their features across cloud capabilities, unified communications, contact centre support and third-party integration.

Avaya vs Mitel: Cloud capabilities

Primarily built for large enterprises, Avaya’s cloud system with open architecture is both secure and reliable. Users can get connected from any device as long as there’s an internet connection. It’s also easier to scale with mobile conferencing and contact centre features.

MiCloud, Mitel’s unified communications system hosted in the cloud, comes with versatile connectivity. Users can access their phones from any device to improve collaboration and customer engagement. The system also delivers business analytics through an intuitive dashboard.

Avaya vs Mitel: Unified communications

Avaya has Aura for large enterprises and IP Office for medium-sized businesses to unify their communication infrastructure. Offering seamless access and reliable security, Aura can accommodate up to 250,000 users through a platform that supports conferencing, video and messaging solutions.

MiCollab and MiVoice Business are Mitel’s products that deliver most of the functionalities of a traditional PBX. Businesses get video and voice solutions to connect their employees. The systems can support up to 500,000 users.

Avaya vs Mitel: Contact centre

For companies that have to engage with hundreds if not thousands of customer calls a day, Avaya Contact Centre offers an easy-to-use interface. Along with the call capabilities, customer support members can interact through chat, instant messaging and email. Managers can track performance and get real-time reports through a reporting module.

Mitel’s MiContact Centre can handle up to 30,000 customer service agents at the same time. Representatives can use email, chat, instant messaging, social media and desktop sharing to improve customer engagement. The system also delivers self-service capabilities for customers to select the kind of support they would prefer.

Avaya vs Mitel: Integration with third-party tools

Avaya has a better range of third-party integrations. A total of 29 applications can be integrated with the system including CallTools, Zoho CRM, Vocalcom, Logicbox and Cherwell.

Compared to Avaya, Mitel has a limited number of integrations. This could be a problem for medium and large enterprises. The integrations that Mitel supports include Tigerpaw, InGenius, WebRezPro and AuguTech.

Avaya vs Mitel: Pricing comparison

Pricing for both Avaya and Mitel depends on the requirements of the business. Since clients can customise their services, the pricing will vary. You can directly contact Avaya or Mitel or talk to any of their accredited channel partners to get a quote for your company.

Chalkboard: The business-friendly alternative to Avaya vs Mitel

If you’re a small business or startup, Chalkboard is a superior and business-friendly option when compared to Avaya or Mitel. Here’s why.

Ease of access. Download the app and you get a second number for work. There’s no need to waste time asking for a quote or requesting customisation options.

Fixed pricing. You can choose from any of the affordable subscription plans. You don’t have to wait for a quote for the features you need. You get everything with your plan.

Made for collaboration. Chalkboard users can share their phone numbers. This will make your business a collective unit when engaging with customers.

Advanced messaging. Beyond organising contacts, Chalkboard’s intuitive messaging allows you to engage in conversational marketing to grow your business.

Auto-reply. When you’re busy and can’t answer a call, the phone will send a pre-written auto-reply message to the caller.

Download Chalkboard and try it now. It’s an affordable, advanced and easy-to-use business phone app made for small businesses.