The momentum behind migrating voice users to a cloud collaboration platform has been building for a while.

A main driver is the decommissioning of legacy voice services around the world, setting deadlines for voice migration that can’t be missed. At the same time, there’s a general reassessment going on into how voice calling capabilities fit into the emerging hybrid workplace.

As yet, organisations haven’t settled into their final workstyle, and this interim period brings new demands on communication and collaboration tools:

• Employees in different locations need to be able to work together and share meetings
• With a heavy emphasis on video.
• Legacy deployments can’t always support these new ways of working, holding organisations back.
• There are growing pressures to optimise IT spend.
• In many cases, this means choosing the ‘as a service’ cloud-based route, rather than investing in new, premises-based solutions.

As a result, organisations are looking to migrate to cloud-based collaboration tools with embedded voice. But what’s the best way to achieve this, at your own pace, without causing disruption to your operations?

The decision to migrate is the first step, but there are several other critical considerations to bear in mind to achieve a smooth transition:

Moving from one service to another always brings risks, but they can be avoided.

As a starting point, recognise the complexity involved and plan accordingly. Don’t think of it as a simple swap from app to app, and tailor your migration to your organisation’s size and structure. And, as you plot out your migration, include a business continuity protection plan to ensure your employees can communicate if the platform of your choice goes down.

A big bang switch over, shifting all users to a new platform at the same time, isn’t right for every organisation. 

It’s important to consider your porting options, beginning with whether you can take your existing numbers with you and how you can split number ranges to groups or individual users. 

Remember that, in many countries, number ranges can’t be split up and need to be ported in one go, so work this information into your migration strategy. These decisions will have commercial impacts, too, that need to be factored in.

A robust voice migration plan will enable your users to receive calls through collaboration tools and to make off-net calls that present the correct number to the call recipient. However, the correct configuration is critical if colleagues and clients are to be able to reach you on the new cloud collaboration platform. 

Ideally, your clients will just continue to reach you as normal, and won’t be aware of any change – but this takes careful behind-the-scenes preparation.

Getting maximum benefit from your migration depends on helping your employees to learn how to use the new cloud collaboration platform. User adoption planning is important, starting with an assessment of how much additional training your people will need. Keep in mind the central aim of enabling colleagues to work effectively, generating maximum return on your investment.

Whenever you’re using a cloud environment accessed through the public internet, it’s wise to consider security – even if there’s only a limited element of confidentiality involved. Link your security planning with your business continuity thinking, considering the availability and security of your service, as well as your device strategy.

We understand that organisations today are looking for partners who can deliver smooth journeys to flexible and scalable technologies that provide end users with consistent cloud collaboration experiences.

Our new global voice capability cloud session layer delivers exactly that. Effectively, it’s a logical routing infrastructure that provides optimised connectivity to cloud platforms.

We’ve redesigned our services so they can connect to all the major providers of cloud collaboration capabilities and use our cloud session layer to manage interactions with those platforms. As a result, you get a consistent, high-quality voice experience, regardless of application.

You can easily deploy and move your users as individuals or groups to the cloud at your pace. And this simplified voice migration path means you can keep your phone numbers, with all the required configuration carried out as a managed service.

Our approach also involves help to on-board your colleagues onto your new platform, as well as providing them with in-life training support as your solution evolves. Our service is flexible, and delivered at a pace that fits to your needs.

Our priority is to:

• Increase satisfaction amongst users.
• Improve the service launch experience.
• Accelerate adoption.
   

Importantly, our service also brings opportunities to hold down costs. You'll be able to unlock savings by moving from legacy systems to the cloud, keeping calls on-net between platforms and enabling more efficient use of licences.

Cloud voice service also makes sense from a sustainability point of view, since the major cloud platform providers typically have commitments in place to only consume green energy to power their data centres. What’s more, as a global technology company, we have significant carbon reduction programmes in place to further support your sustainability credentials.

Ready to find out more about how to jump-start your voice migration?