Hispanic-Owned Businesses Will Grow IP Telephony Technologies.

Avaya Inc. presented findings of a study that examined the business characteristics of Hispanic-owned small and medium businesses in the United States.

“According to several studies conducted Hispanic-owned small and medium-sized businesses in the United States total approximately two million firms and generate more than $273 billion in revenues,” said Hernan Mariño, Avaya’s manager for the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American market, Small and Medium Business Solutions Group. “We wanted to do our own study to understand the needs and behaviors of this powerful economic force to better serve them with our communication solutions and empower them to embed communications technology in the fabric of their business operations. We found that Hispanic-owned business owners have the deeper understanding of the benefits of IP telephony technology than their counterparts, making them a critical market for Avaya, the global leader in IP innovations.”

Forecasts from the Avaya-sponsored research indicate that over the next 10 years the growth rate of Hispanic-owned businesses will be at almost three times the rate of overall U.S. firms. The company surveyed Hispanic owners of small and medium businesses in the largest Hispanic markets in the United States including California, Texas, Florida and New York. The sample categories represented included companies of: 1-10 employees, 11-20 employees, 21-50 employees and 51-100 employees. A total of 350 firms were surveyed.

Because of their intrinsic connection to Latin America and need for communications between the U.S. and the region, Hispanic-owned firms are outspending their non-Hispanic counterparts on communication systems and services. Businesses have significant expenditures for basic communication services such as continuous overseas calling, conferencing, faxing and emailing. “Beyond cost-savings, there is a tremendous opportunity for Hispanic-owned small and medium firms to make their people more productive, processes more intelligent, and customers more satisfied, by deploying IP-based communications systems,” said Marino.