Infographic How to transition to cloud collaboration
By Insight Editor / 2 Jan 2020 / Topics: Cloud Unified communications
Whether to improve agility or gain modern feature sets, organizations have many reasons for implementing cloud-based collaboration solutions. Follow the five steps provided here to ensure a seamless and successful transition.
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How to transition to cloud collaboration
An overwhelming majority of businesses use cloud-based platforms for some or all of their unified communications needs. For those considering making the move, here’s a guide to follow to ensure great outcomes.
Components:
- Your organization and IT team
- Ample time for planning
- Expert support where needed
Steps:
Assess your current state.
Evaluate your existing infrastructure and processes for unified communications. What’s working and what isn’t?
Here are several questions to guide your assessment:
- What kind of experience are your current collaboration tools providing? Is it easy and seamless, or more disjointed and confusing?
- Are end-user workstyles, devices and apps supported and accessible off-premises?
- Are you aware of any positive or negative impacts your collaboration environment is having on customer attraction/retention?
- How up-to-date and cost-effective is your existing collaboration infrastructure? Is it easy to maintain and manage?
Develop a business case.
Gaining a clear understanding of how your organization could benefit from cloud collaboration will make purchasing decisions and measuring project performance easier.
Key drivers for cloud collaboration:
- Improved agility for IT (44.1%)
- Reduction in capital costs (shift CapEx to OpEx) (37.2%)
- Overall cost savings (33.1%)
- Ability to rollout services faster (26.6%)
- Access to more features and capabilities (24.8%)
Define realizable goals.
Take your business case to a granular level. Determine what you want from a cloud
collaboration solution and what you’d like to achieve using it.
For example, Cisco Webex® Calling could help you:
- Stay up to date — without any work from your IT team.
- Support your mobile workforce with anywhere, anytime connection.
- Create a seamless experience with easy integrations with apps like G Suite and Office 365®.
Evaluate cloud offerings.
Ways to purchase
- Buy through a managed services provider.
- Buy direct from cloud providers.
- Do a combination of both.
Cloud collaboration models
- Cloud
- Hybrid
- On-premises
Vendor considerations
- Technology
- Interoperability
- Capabilities
With Cisco Webex Calling, you get:
- Reliable technology from a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Unified Communications for 11 years straight
- A flexible solution that lets you leverage existing investments alongside cloud services
- Secure calling, fully featured PBX functionality, PSTN connectivity options and native mobile integration
Pro tip: Using solutions that you already have, such as existing on-premises platforms, as part of a hybrid approach can save time and money.
Prepare to move.
Outline your transition strategy, determine your needs and ready outside help. A phased rollout is recommended.
At Insight, we offer Collaboration Services for Cisco Webex Calling that take you from the drawing board to ongoing service delivery.
- Design
- Implementation and deployment
- Escalated end-user support
- Managed services
Sources:
- Cisco. (2019). Cloud Calling Comes in All Shapes and Sizes.
- Cisco. (2019). Migration Guide: 6 Steps to Smarter Unified Communications.
- Johnston, A. (2017, Aug. 13). Keep Your UC Investments Fresh for the New Digital Workplace. Cisco.
- Nemertes. (2019). Best Practices for Moving to Cloud Collaboration at Your Own Pace.
