PBX and IP PBX Sales by Cisco and Avaya Go To Starkly Different SMB Customers

By John Malone, Eastern Management Group

Don’t assume that Avaya and Cisco are always selling to similar SMB customers. New research from The Eastern Management Group finds they are not. Avaya sales to first-time buyers are unimaginably strong. Cisco is the go-to company for features that improve employee productivity.

The Eastern Management Group has been examining global PBX and IP PBX purchases of several SMB sub-segments. It has also recently begun to report data on companies with 50-75 employees, one of the newly attractive markets for PBX and IP PBX suppliers, due to the growing demand for unified communications and collaboration in the SMB market.

Businesses with 50-75 employees purchase PBX and IP PBX systems of between 25-150 stations, and in aggregate account for significant sales. As can be seen in this linked EMG report, purchases to the more broadly defined SMB market are almost half of all PBX and IP PBX sales worldwide.

Among businesses with 50-75 employees the largest volume of sales, almost 40 percent, are to buyers of unified communications and collaboration PBX and IP PBXs, for the purpose of improving employee productivity.

First time buyers account for a quarter of all purchases in the study group, EMG found.

Avaya draws almost 40 percent of its sales from first time PBX and IP PBX buyers in the 50-75 employee market. Panasonic numbers are similar. According to buyer interviews by The Eastern Management Group, Avaya and Panasonic get a larger percentage of their sales from first time buyers than do Cisco, NEC and ShoreTel, for which first time buyers account for less than one- fifth of PBX and IP PBX sales. In the case of ShoreTel, the number is less than 10 percent.

Cisco, NEC and ShoreTel operate in a sweet spot of the global 50-75 employee market, getting most of their PBX and IP PBX sales from businesses wanting unified communications and collaboration.

About The Eastern Management Group: The Eastern Management Group is one of the world’s premier strategic companies. By delivering product research, market research and analytical tools to clients, Eastern Management facilitates decision making by IT Professionals and Technology Companies.