You've decided to transition your unified communications to cloud; you've taken all the recommended planning steps to ensure you have your ducks in a row for the delivery and now it's time to press the “Go” button, so what happens now? This blog identifies the roll out steps you should follow to have a successful implementation phase of your UC transition to the cloud journey.
The Deploy stage covers installing and configuring services, configuring cloud services, testing and stabilizing ready for at scale deployment.
There are several things your team needs to consider when deploying, migrating and rolling out the transition to cloud: licenses, end user IDs, call quality monitoring, cloud PSTN conferencing preparation, cloud PBX preparation, network preparation, VPN considerations, tenant creation, tenant admin model, federation, setup QOS, pilot and meeting broadcast enablement.
Certain dependencies will determine how quickly and well you can get through the deployment phase such as Collaboration Lead/Architect to undertake the activities and engagement from the wider deployment and adoption teams.
The enable stage covers enabling new UC cloud platform users and migrating on-premises users at scale including initial configuration of voice feature sets.
When deploying at scale it is key to have repeatable, scripted process resulting in a predictable admin and end user experience. Scripting the process eliminates to possibility of forgotten steps and delay while waiting for license assignment to complete.
Enablement scripts should accept an input file listing target users to automate user licensing, migration, and initial configuration of users for your cloud UC platform.
An input file can provide the flexibility of enabling a range from a single user to a full site of thousands of users.
Once the script is launched, the administrator is then free to continue their other duties while user enablement, migration and initial configuration is performed.
Upon script completion, a results file can be audited to ensure success or determine if any follow up action is necessary for users with resulting errors.
Remember that the below must all happen in this stage:
Your roll out approach can impede or accelerate change. If users fail to develop habitual use and recommended practice the benefits of the migration will not be fully realized. We recommend to host a number of workshops with users and teams working on the project to understand how well roll out has went and identify areas that are underutilized so it can be addressed moving forward to improve productivity.
Is the end user able to use the new system to complete a variety of tasks as they had been envisioned? Can they do so in a timely fashion?
Are users relying on the new system 100% of the time? If they aren't, adoption is not complete. Sharing useful tips, tricks and shortcuts for the UC platform, like this one, can help increase usage.
Hosting a session to identify the day-to-day differences, cool new features previously unavailable and time savers such as integration with other tools like Office 365 is a great way to get people's focused attention.
It's crucial to spot check user accounts to confirm they are working correctly and to fix any problems if they arise. It will show the team you're proactive and it can give them an informal opportunity to ask questions.
Do users have access to resources to help them self-serve their knowledge requirements? Do they know they have access to the materials, locate them and navigate around them?
To summarize the deployment stage of transitioning your unified communications to the cloud involves much more than a well-executed roll out. It will help your organization massively in the Operational Stage if all the above are carried out. If you'd like to learn more about successful migration and adoption of UC migration to the cloud watch our on-demand webinar which looks specifically at successful Skype for Business migration.