Mitel Talks Frankly About the "Elephants in the Room"
At its analyst conference in Dallas, Mitel's CEO, Rich McBee, was open and frank with the industry analysts, and didn't shy away from questions about "the elephant in the room," notably Mitel's offer to acquire rival ShoreTel.
McBee began by explaining Mitel's M&A strategy, stating, "We have a very definite plan we've been executing to," adding that Mitel's merger and acquisition plans are part of a "strategy, not a random walk." Noting that Mitel has had a deliberate strategy and has been taking very specific steps towards market leadership, McBee stated, "We've been looking at the brand and making changes to it for a long time. The house is in order, and we're moving, but in a very organized way." Mitel's "definitive strategy" includes consolidating the market and buying into adjacencies (although specific adjacencies weren't identified).
As McBee explained, "We have a proactive M&A program, and continually evaluate opportunities." He explained that these things take time, and it's important to have several things in the funnel. For example, Mitel started talking to Aastra two years before the acquisition took place.
"The market is an ecosystem, especially for a vendor like Mitel that believes in openness," said McBee, noting that the industry is consolidating and "Mitel intends to be a consolidator." He added, "We have 40-50 companies in our funnel - we're always cultivating."
Mitel looks at mergers and acquisitions through multiple lenses:
-
Technology tuck-ins,
-
Vertical adjacencies,
-
Near adjacencies, and
-
Consolidation for scale (this is where a ShoreTel acquisition would fit).
Showing a slide depicting two elephants with company logos, McBee directly addressed the "elephant in the room," discussing its offer to acquire ShoreTel. This acquisition is a consolidation play, as Mitel attempts to "lead the pack and expand the herd." Part of Mitel's strategy is to mine its installed base of 60 million users in order to drive cloud growth by "providing the best path to the cloud." By adding the ShoreTel installed base, Mitel has the opportunity to move more customers to its cloud offerings. While I'm not necessarily a fan of this particular acquisition move (see my nojitter article), I now understand the thinking behind it.
Expect to see Mitel continue to acquire and consolidate the marketplace, while acquiring companies in specific vertical markets and ancillary markets. The company is putting a good deal of focus on the contact center, and I anticipate several acquisitions in that area.
In addition to its M&A strategy, Mitel representatives discussed the company's go-to-market strategy, cloud strategy, and platform strategy.
Its 3 + 1 strategy includes:
-
Maximizing value in the core (core telephony and UC products), as customers move from TDM to IP to the cloud. Its core products remain a big part of the business;
-
Accelerate in the cloud. While not all customers will want to move to the cloud, Mitel will provide a path for customers that want to go in that direction;
-
Rapidly expand in the contact center, including the contact center ecosystem; and
-
Focus on specific verticals.
When asked if it will continue developing and supporting several platforms (based on its various acquisitions and product offerings) or move customers to a single platform, McBee clearly stated that Mitel has no plans to have just one platform. The breadth and depth of the organization means that they won't have one platform, but will have separate platforms for small, medium, and large customers. In addition, the company will not force existing customers to move from their existing platform to a new one. McBee stated, "We made a conscious decision to spend money so that we don't strand customers. We don't want to rationalize platforms and make customers move to a new platform." Rather than standardizing on a singe platform, the company will standardize applications and desktops first, and then standardize provisioning, management, diagnostics and gateways, and eventually evolve call controls.
Addressing the other "elephant in the room," Mitel discussed its roadmap for Lync (soon to be called Skype for Business). The two key elements of its Lync roadmap include:
- Providing a "non-threatening overlay," including contact center, phones, attendant console, and IP DECT phones (Aastra was one of a few certified phones to work with Lync); and
- Integration and interoperability, by offering call manager integrations and fully-secure SIP trunking.
Clearly there was a lot of information shared at this event, and this article covers just a small part of the day and a half meeting. The bottom line is that "Mitel is Moving" as the company is growing and energized. There are still challenges ahead, especially as the company tries to come from behind in a crowded contact center space, as more cloud competitors enhance their offerings, and as Microsoft moves forward with its UC offerings.
Mitel is clearly stronger than it was just two years ago, when some of us were ready to write it off. The company has an experienced and skilled management and executive staff, money in the bank, and a well-thought out go-forward product and marketing strategy. Hopefully it will continue to make wise decisions.
Author's Note: On Monday November 17, Mitel has withdrawn its bid to buy ShoreTel, after ShoreTel refused to engage in any talks regarding a potential transaction.
Tags
Start YourCustomized Search
SOLUTION AREA
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
- 8x8 (40) Apply 8x8 filter
- Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (50) Apply Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise filter
- AT&T (44) Apply AT&T filter
- AudioCodes (49) Apply AudioCodes filter
- Avaya (397) Apply Avaya filter
- Cisco (574) Apply Cisco filter
- Dell (11) Apply Dell filter
- Five9 (54) Apply Five9 filter
- Fuze (39) Apply Fuze filter
- Genesys (100) Apply Genesys filter
- HP (98) Apply HP filter
- IBM (171) Apply IBM filter
- Jabra (9) Apply Jabra filter
- Logitech (56) Apply Logitech filter
- Lumen (4) Apply Lumen filter
- Masergy (50) Apply Masergy filter
- Microsoft (766) Apply Microsoft filter
- Mitel (233) Apply Mitel filter
- NEC (128) Apply NEC filter
- Nectar (58) Apply Nectar filter
- Polycom (95) Apply Polycom filter
- Ramp (37) Apply Ramp filter
- RingCentral (126) Apply RingCentral filter
- Sennheiser (18) Apply Sennheiser filter
- Slack (13) Apply Slack filter
- Tata Communications (59) Apply Tata Communications filter
- Unify (186) Apply Unify filter
- Vonage Business (80) Apply Vonage Business filter
- Yealink (8) Apply Yealink filter
- Zoom (21) Apply Zoom filter
- Acme Packet (24) Apply Acme Packet filter
- Allworx (2) Apply Allworx filter
- Arkadin (22) Apply Arkadin filter
- Aspect (34) Apply Aspect filter
- BT (25) Apply BT filter
- CaféX (8) Apply CaféX filter
- CallTower (14) Apply CallTower filter
- Clarity Connect (10) Apply Clarity Connect filter
- Continuant (1) Apply Continuant filter
- Damaka (4) Apply Damaka filter
- Dialogic (5) Apply Dialogic filter
- Dimension Data (44) Apply Dimension Data filter
- Empirix (11) Apply Empirix filter
- Enghouse Interactive (17) Apply Enghouse Interactive filter
- Inference Solutions (9) Apply Inference Solutions filter
- IntelePeer (27) Apply IntelePeer filter
- IR (11) Apply IR filter
- Jive (21) Apply Jive filter
- Kurmi Software (21) Apply Kurmi Software filter
- Lifesize (33) Apply Lifesize filter
- Lightware (3) Apply Lightware filter
- Mavenir (6) Apply Mavenir filter
- Modality Systems (8) Apply Modality Systems filter
- Momentum (36) Apply Momentum filter
- Netfortris (5) Apply Netfortris filter
- NetSapiens (6) Apply NetSapiens filter
- NewVoiceMedia (31) Apply NewVoiceMedia filter
- Nureva (26) Apply Nureva filter
- NUWAVE (5) Apply NUWAVE filter
- Orange (32) Apply Orange filter
- OVCC (8) Apply OVCC filter
- Panasonic (18) Apply Panasonic filter
- PanTerra Networks (9) Apply PanTerra Networks filter
- ScanSource (21) Apply ScanSource filter
- SIPPIO (3) Apply SIPPIO filter
- Snom (20) Apply Snom filter
- Star2Star (8) Apply Star2Star filter
- StarLeaf (12) Apply StarLeaf filter
- Tadiran Telecom (2) Apply Tadiran Telecom filter
- TekVizion (9) Apply TekVizion filter
- Unimax (7) Apply Unimax filter
- Verint (41) Apply Verint filter
- Voice4Net (2) Apply Voice4Net filter
- VOSS (85) Apply VOSS filter
- Voxbone (14) Apply Voxbone filter
- West (28) Apply West filter
- XO Communications (3) Apply XO Communications filter
- Yorktel (17) Apply Yorktel filter
- Zultys (2) Apply Zultys filter
- 3CX (8) Apply 3CX filter
- ADDASOUND (1) Apply ADDASOUND filter
- Aerohive (1) Apply Aerohive filter
- Aryaka (1) Apply Aryaka filter
- Asurion (22) Apply Asurion filter
- Avnet (7) Apply Avnet filter
- Bandwidth (5) Apply Bandwidth filter
- Calabrio (5) Apply Calabrio filter
- Consilium Software (13) Apply Consilium Software filter
- Drum (5) Apply Drum filter
- ESI (6) Apply ESI filter
- Esna (16) Apply Esna filter
- Exinda (2) Apply Exinda filter
- EZuce (3) Apply EZuce filter
- GUnify (6) Apply GUnify filter
- Highfive (4) Apply Highfive filter
- Huawei (47) Apply Huawei filter
- Imagicle (3) Apply Imagicle filter
- IPCortex (1) Apply IPCortex filter
- KnoahSoft (1) Apply KnoahSoft filter
- KOVA (1) Apply KOVA filter
- Logmein (9) Apply Logmein filter
- Metropolis Technologies (4) Apply Metropolis Technologies filter
- Mutare (2) Apply Mutare filter
- NextPlane (27) Apply NextPlane filter
- Ooma (16) Apply Ooma filter
- Patton (11) Apply Patton filter
- Radish Systems (1) Apply Radish Systems filter
- Radisys (3) Apply Radisys filter
- Shango (1) Apply Shango filter
- SMART (163) Apply SMART filter
- Stack8 (1) Apply Stack8 filter
- Swyx (1) Apply Swyx filter
- TrueConf (4) Apply TrueConf filter
- UJET (13) Apply UJET filter
- Voximplant (3) Apply Voximplant filter
CONTENT TYPE
- BC Expert Insights Market (43) Apply BC Expert Insights Market filter
- BC Expert Insights Objective - Vendor Neutral (42) Apply BC Expert Insights Objective - Vendor Neutral filter
- BC Expert Insights Planning (15) Apply BC Expert Insights Planning filter
- BC Expert Insights Solution (12) Apply BC Expert Insights Solution filter
- BC Expert Insights Vendor (80) Apply BC Expert Insights Vendor filter
- BC Expert Insights Vendor Solution (145) Apply BC Expert Insights Vendor Solution filter
- BC Expert Roundtable (133) Apply BC Expert Roundtable filter
- Bcs Webinar (0)
- Bcs Webinar Registration (0)
- Best Practice (38) Apply Best Practice filter
- Buyer Guide (14) Apply Buyer Guide filter
- Case Study (29) Apply Case Study filter
- Executive Interview (145) Apply Executive Interview filter
- Expert Roundtable (450) Apply Expert Roundtable filter
- Guest Contributions (35) Apply Guest Contributions filter
- Multimedia (38) Apply Multimedia filter
- News Analysis (2081) Apply News Analysis filter
- Newsfeed Article (1303) Apply Newsfeed Article filter
- Newsfeed Article (1) Apply Newsfeed Article filter
- Thought Leadership (21) Apply Thought Leadership filter
- Vendor Collateral (211) Apply Vendor Collateral filter
- Vendor Resource Best Practices (24) Apply Vendor Resource Best Practices filter
- Vendor Resource Buyers Guides (2) Apply Vendor Resource Buyers Guides filter
- Vendor Resource Multimedia Content (4) Apply Vendor Resource Multimedia Content filter
- Vendor Resource White Paper (4) Apply Vendor Resource White Paper filter
- Webinar (13) Apply Webinar filter
- Webinars (7) Apply Webinars filter
- White Paper (64) Apply White Paper filter
MORE FILTERS
INDUSTRY
- Banking And Investment (800) Apply Banking And Investment filter
- Education (446) Apply Education filter
- Energy And Utilities (487) Apply Energy And Utilities filter
- Finance (12) Apply Finance filter
- Government (675) Apply Government filter
- Healthcare (482) Apply Healthcare filter
- Hospitality (180) Apply Hospitality filter
- Insurance (100) Apply Insurance filter
- Manufacturing (704) Apply Manufacturing filter
- Media/Publishing (422) Apply Media/Publishing filter
- None (43) Apply None filter
- Professional Services (745) Apply Professional Services filter
- Retail & Distribution (798) Apply Retail & Distribution filter
- Technology (1611) Apply Technology filter
- Transportation (110) Apply Transportation filter
Comments
There are currently no comments on this article.
You must be a registered user to make comments