Avaya's Worldwide Channels VP Leaving

Avaya‘s vice president of worldwide channels is leaving the company next month.

Jeremy Butt, who has worked for Avaya for four years, has decided to move on, although Avaya did not reveal why. Rather, a spokeswoman praised Butt’s work and said he will stay with the company through the end of March.

Butt “accomplished much of what he came to do,” a spokeswoman told Channel Partners. “His departure is part of both his and Avaya’s evolution … Jeremy is ready to take on a new challenge outside of Avaya and we wish him the very best in his endeavors.”

Butt will remain in his role for the next month-and-a-half. He will not be replaced. His responsibilities — but not his title — will fall to Tom Mitchell, senior vice president and president of Avaya Go To Market.

Butt’s departure comes as Avaya continues to integrate the 2009 Nortel Networks enterprise assets purchase. Some of that process has gone more smoothly than many analysts and outsiders anticipated, resulting mainly in IP Office upgrades that work with Nortel and Avaya systems.

Yet, in other ways, Avaya continues to try to find its channel footing. For example, there has been significant channel-executive turnover during the past couple of years. Avaya once again is seeking to go public, in a volatile economy, and some VARs are nervous about that prospect. Others have said their profit margins are getting more narrow as Avaya tries to become more financially stable. As if that change wasn’t enough, there are reports that Avaya’s channel team is about to undergo even more reorganization. No details were available.

Butt has been with Avaya through many of these shifts. He also was a chief player in Avaya’s transition from a mostly direct sales organization to one that now is 78 percent indirect, said the Avaya spokeswoman. He further oversaw the integration of Nortel’s 5,000 channel partners.