Avaya is making a clear statement about how it sees the future of enterprise software: don’t build everything yourself—build fast on someone else’s AI.
The company announced it is adopting Google Gemini Enterprise as its core internal AI platform, alongside Google Workspace for collaboration. It’s a strategic move that signals how even long-established enterprise vendors are reshaping their product strategies around hyperscale AI.
For Avaya, this isn’t just about boosting employee productivity. It’s about accelerating innovation in a market where speed increasingly defines winners.
A Shortcut to AI Scale—By Design
Instead of building large language models and AI infrastructure in-house, Avaya is standardizing on Google’s enterprise AI stack. The bet: Google’s scale, tooling, and pace of iteration will move faster than anything Avaya could reasonably develop alone.
This reflects a growing reality across enterprise software. AI is no longer a feature—it’s foundational infrastructure. And that infrastructure is expensive, complex, and evolving quickly.
By leaning on Gemini Enterprise, Avaya is effectively outsourcing the hardest part of AI development so its teams can focus on applying intelligence to workflows, products, and customer experiences.
Why “Agentic AI” Is the Real Story
Avaya is framing Gemini Enterprise as an “agentic” platform, a term that’s becoming shorthand for AI systems that don’t just answer questions—but take action.
In practice, agentic AI can navigate workflows, connect data across systems, and execute multi-step tasks autonomously. For Avaya employees, that could mean fewer silos between CRM tools, support systems, documentation, and email.
The company’s leadership says this unified AI layer will help teams work faster and smarter. The bigger question is whether those internal gains translate into better products for customers.
What This Signals for Avaya Customers
For enterprise buyers, Avaya’s Google alignment sends a few important signals.
First, it suggests Avaya’s product roadmap may increasingly reflect Google’s AI capabilities. That could mean faster feature releases and more sophisticated AI baked into communications tools.
Second, it raises interoperability questions. How tightly will Avaya products integrate with Google Workspace? And what does that mean for customers deeply invested in Microsoft or other ecosystems?
These are the same tradeoffs buyers are weighing across the UC market.
The Competitive Context: Microsoft and Cisco Loom Large
Avaya’s move lands amid intense competition from rivals like Microsoft Teams with Copilot and Cisco Webex, both of which are embedding AI deeply into their collaboration stacks.
By choosing Google, Avaya differentiates itself—but also commits to a specific AI ecosystem. In today’s enterprise market, AI strategy and platform strategy are effectively the same thing.
The Bigger Trend: Build Less, Partner More
Avaya isn’t alone. Across B2B tech, companies are deciding that owning the AI model matters less than delivering real customer value on top of it.
The vendors that win won’t be the ones with the flashiest AI demos. They’ll be the ones that turn platform partnerships into faster innovation, better support, and products that actually feel smarter.
Avaya is betting that Google’s AI foundation will help it do exactly that. Whether the bet pays off will become clear not in announcements—but in shipped features and customer outcomes.
Conclusion
Avaya’s Gemini partnership is less about internal tools and more about survival in an AI-first enterprise market. For customers, the next few product cycles will reveal whether this strategic shortcut delivers real, tangible value—or just operational efficiency behind the scenes.