Rarely will a single business application do everything that you or your employees desire. There is always a balance you have to strike between cost, features, and usability. Users of varying technical skill have to be able to use it; it needs to be feature rich enough to meet the status quo of other unified communication solutions and still bring something bigger and better to the party; and it needs to fit within your budget.

Avaya Aura and Microsoft Lync are two such UC tools that have gained popularity over the years. Both are standalone products that have separate software and hardware, provide voice, video and data, and work on virtually any device, and Lync provides instant messaging chat.

Whereas either product could potentially satisfy your needs, especially if you are just starting out with implementing a UC tool, there are companies out there that already have invested in a solution. With the release of Microsoft Lync 2013, some Avaya Aura customers may be looking over the fence wondering what it might be like to consolidate their (likely) Microsoft environments into one. Microsoft Lync 2013 ties in better to Office 365, works on more devices than before and is optimized for newer technologies (Windows 8, HTML5).

So now companies are left with a conundrum – spend more money and switch to Microsoft Lync 2013 or continue to use Avaya Aura?

Avaya foresaw that question some time ago with previous versions of Microsoft Lync on the market, and chose to answer it for you with Avaya Aura Lync Integration.

Avaya Aura Lync Integration – What is it?

Avaya Aura Lync Integration isn’t a replacement for one or the other, but is a bridge between the two, combining the best features of both products and putting them into one place. Avaya Aura Lync Integration lets you:

• Keep your current configuration with your Avaya Aura setup, and integrate it with Microsoft Office Lync
• Users can seamlessly transition from a Lync chat to an Aura video call, all from within Lync
• Features from both tools can be extended to popular Office applications, such as Outlook and Word
• Control your Avaya Aura calls from your phone, PC, Avaya Aura or Microsoft Lync
• Works with both on premise and hosted Office 365 solutions

Avaya Aura Lync Integration allows users to have the best of both worlds, without have to start from scratch and lose their investment in one system or the other.

But Won’t It Cost a Lot?

Microsoft Lync has been called “the death by a thousand cuts”, but that’s when implementing a brand-new, full-stack solution with all of the bells and whistles. Out of the box, the server software can run on any Windows OS, and the licensing schemes fit everything from on premise to hosted solutions to just needing user licenses.

If you already have a Microsoft-based environment, then the overhead is pretty low. You’ll simply be adding on Lync to your pre-existing Avaya Aura solution, and unless your users are using something other than the Microsoft Office suite, you’ll find the integration fairly smooth.

For companies just starting out, either solution on its own could satisfy your needs, but for companies looking to extend what they have and bring together the best of Avaya Aura with the best of Microsoft Lync, Avaya Aura Lync Integration may be the answer to your problems.

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