Roberto Ricossa

Roberto Ricossa

Vice President Marketing & Inside Sales

Avaya

Watching Roberto Ricossa at one of the company’s Avaya Evolutions events, one immediately recognizes his passion for insuring that the company’s marketing excites, is effective, and connects to the needs of sales. 

Whether prepping Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak-- (Woz to Roberto)-- for his appearance at an event, welcoming and introducing new customers, or on stage demonstrating the latest Avaya innovations, he makes it all look easy and seamless—embodying Avaya’s call to action: The Power of We.  Avaya is a recognized innovator and leading global provider of real-time business collaboration and communications solutions.

Incidentally, his region-wide, customer-facing platform called Avaya Evolutions has reached more than 25,000 prospects and customers in over 15 cities across the US, Canada and Latin America.  It has influenced over USD $700 Million in revenue in just 12 months.

Since his 2009 start at Avaya, Roberto Ricossa has not sat still. His international marketing and management responsibilities have leapfrogged to include more projects and responsibilities while crossing more borders.

Born in Mexico City, Roberto has spent roughly 20 years in the international telecom industry.  In addition to his roles at Avaya, he has held various sales and marketing positions at Nortel and Anixter. He believes that marketing’s role is critical to sales growth, and has spent a career insuring that his marketing talents work to build a company’s bottom line.

In a Trendsetter interview, he underscored how top-level executives from the CEO to the CFO have had more exposure to good marketing and can recognize a beneficial plan when it's presented. “However,” he added, “when you help sales produce double-digit growth, marketing is no longer viewed as playing a support role, but is seen as an essential function in contributing to the company's overall well-being.

"If I could change anything in business today, I would start with a company's P&L and move marketing from an expense to an investment. This is more than semantics. ROI is at the heart of any successful business; effective marketing operates today with the expectations of an investment within a given timeframe."

In his advocacy for the role of marketing in large companies, he is a supporter of the use of social media to better connect customers with the company, noting that complaints lodged through social media need to become a priority for large companies.

Ricossa has published on subjects including the role of technology in fan experience during the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics, such as the move to mobile viewership.  He has also written about the evolution of technology and marketing over time.