National chains, with hundreds or thousands of locations, seldom have a communications solution deployed uniformly across all stores. Instead, they operate branch networks made up of equipment from multiple vendors, with varying capabilities. Many stores still lack basic features like voice mail and auto attendant. To save money, large retailers often deploy small business solutions, and then struggle with networking, using, and managing them. Systems that are overstressed, undersized, and have limited functionality can kill productivity and run up maintenance costs. Forrester Research reports that companies dedicate 76% of their IT budgets to operations, management, and support. Disparate solutions and small business systems in branch locations contribute heavily to these recurring expenses. Avaya can help retailers improve the cost/value ratio with an intelligent communications solution that saves money, reduces administrative hassles, and increases productivity. Avaya Distributed Office offers a centralized, web-based management tool—with an intuitive graphical user interface—to monitor and control all branch network locations, and dramatically reduce the time IT staff spends administering the communications network. This tool streamlines user moves, adds, and changes, and lets the administrator define, display and update groups of branch stores. Distributed Office delivers consistent productivity enhancing applications to each branch store. Every branch can automatically triage calls (with an automated attendant), distribute promotional announcements, handle voice mail, and conduct conference calls. Branches can further improve workflow with desk-phone-to-mobile-phone synchronization, IP soft phones, wireless handsets, instant messaging, and integration with headquarters’ dial plan. Distributed Office’s familiar key system interface ensures employees need minimal re-training to start using the new system from day one. Retailers must also consider the cost of setting up a new store. Half a day spent troubleshooting at a new location can lead to significant costs when multiplied across 500 locations. Distributed Office empowers retailers to quickly deploy new stores, without highly trained onsite personnel. Avaya delivers pre-configured Distributed Office platforms directly to each site. Configuration includes coverage path, dial plan/feature access codes, system parameters, station configuration, announcements, system mailbox, and more. The onsite technician simply installs the physical hardware and brings the Distributed Office branch online, where the centralized management tool will automatically discover it. | 
