Opinion: Best practices for deploying Cisco CallManager 7

DiData was one of the first organisations in Australia to do this, and Stevens provided his own organisation with hands-on experience and practical knowledge in rolling this platform out.

Cisco’s CallManager is a foundational technology for any coherent VoIP or unified communications rollout. Stevens provides some best practices to companies thinking about a CallManager 7 rollout and how to make this work.

‘Communication is the key to success for any modern organisation. Whatever your goals, whatever your technology base and whatever your industry, efficient communications will help your staff work more productively and enable your IT department to concentrate on value-adding activities.

The key to such communications nowadays is the network. IP telephony is really only the thin edge of the wedge; a fully-fledged unified communications system encompasses voice, video, email, instant messaging, video conferencing and mobile devices.

This enables workers to reach each other no matter where they are or what communications devices they have available, from a single, simple interface.

Calls can be routed automatically between fixed-line and mobile handsets; voice messages can be left in email inboxes; IM sessions can become audio or video calls with the click of a button; and perhaps most importantly, with ‘presence’ functionality fully operational, users can see at a glance whether a colleague is available and if so, by which means.

At Dimension Data we made a bold prediction some years ago that unified communications would be a key technology and dedicated some of our key in-house technical resources to investigate its potential applications.

Working closely with both Cisco and Microsoft, we have established ourselves as leaders in this rapidly-emerging field.

Our close working relationship with Cisco has allowed us to introduce key technologies into our own internal systems ahead of the market.This provides us with critical real-world experience in planning for, deploying and operating the technologies we take to market.

It shows our clients that we have confidence in the solutions we sell and confidence in our ability to support them.

Cisco CallManager 7

Cisco’s Unified Communications Manager (the product family formerly known, and still commonly referred to, as ‘CallManager’) is a software call monitoring product that tracks all network-connected VoIP components and routes traffic accordingly. It’s a foundational technology for any coherent VoIP or unified communications rollout.

Our partnership with Cisco includes participation in its EFT (early field trial) program, which gives us an opportunity to take a look at, and provide feedback on, upcoming product releases.

It also allows us to deploy new products slightly ahead of their commercial release, so we can hit the ground running when the products are released to the market.

We’ve consistently been among the first organisations in Australia to roll out the various iterations of Cisco Unified Communications Manager, and version 7 was no exception.

In May 2008 our key technical staff spent a weekend deploying version 7 throughout Dimension Data and while the experience from a user’s point of view has been invisible, behind the scenes we’re now enjoying a number of important benefits.

Some of these features include the following:

The addition of E.164 “+” dialling which enables smother integration into database applications that use features such as click to call.

The Local Route Groups feature which enable the simplification of the backend dial plan architecture.

Intelligent Bridge selection which enables the system to detect if it is an audio- or video-only conference call and then select the appropriate bridge (audio or video) for the conference.

Improved mobility features such as ‘dial via office’ which enables a user to use the mobile communicator client on their smart phone to transparently place calls through Cisco Unified Communications Manager to reduce mobile toll charges and international roaming call charges.

Active Directory 2008 support.

Additional SIP enhancements.

Dimension Data IPAD

The other key component in our rollout was Dimension Data’s own identity management system: IPAD (IP telephony– Active Directory connector).

When you have disparate communications solutions, you can manage identity information separately; it’s time-consuming but if one application goes down, the others can function.

However, in a unified communications environment, this information must be synchronised among all systems; if, for example, Microsoft SharePoint and CallManager have different information about the same user, clicking on the user’s icon in SharePoint may not result in your call being forwarded via CallManager or your instant message going to the user via Microsoft OCS.

This goes beyond just user provisioning and speaks to the need for there to be a single ‘point of truth’ for user information. That information must then be communicated and synchronised across the environment for the solution to function as it should.

We use and recommend our award-winning IPAD solution for this purpose, but the broader point is that without a means by which to properly manage identity information, you simply won’t be able to take full advantage of your unified communications environment - and the user experience will suffer as a consequence.Dimension Data’s Recommendations

With all this in mind, if your organisation is considering a Cisco Unified Communications Manager rollout, here are a number of best-practice recommendations, gleaned from our hands-on experience with our own system:

Understand your needs.

Unified communications is a powerful tool with many benefits but you must be sure you’re using the right tool for the task.

Engage with managers and users to ensure you understand their needs; Cisco’s UC solution has many features and your case for implementing it will be much stronger if you can create a ‘roadmap’ document.

This will demonstrate how the rollout will benefit your organisation over time, and address key questions such as scalability, upgrades, specific feature rollouts, ROI and integration with other IT systems.

Capacity planning is crucial.

There’s no point in deploying a communications solution if your network isn’t up to the task.

Dimension Data recommends a network capacity analysis before you roll out any technology, to ensure that your organisation will be able to fully leverage the new capabilities UC enables. This also helps you to fully understand the solution’s TCO and ROI, crucial factors in actually getting a deployment approved.

Ensure you have the resources you need.

This doesn’t just mean network resources (investigated in the capacity planning phase); it also refers to the human resources required to deploy UC across your network and train key users in its new features.

Have an identity management solution.

If you really want to take advantage of the full range of benefits UC can provide, you need an identity management system that will provide a single point of truth for identity information that is communicated to, and synchronised with, your entire system.

Schedule sufficient time for deployment.

Yes, it’s obvious, but nobody likes to rush their work. Cisco’s UC solution is relatively straightforward to deploy but as with any such task, unforseen circumstances or complications can arise and it’s better to have more time allocated than less.

Deploy.

This is where your IT team really comes into its own. Deploying new technologies can be a hair-raising experience but if your team is qualified and experienced, or at least assisted by some experts (internal or external), then the process of deploying Cisco’s UC solution should be quite straightforward.

Train key stakeholders.

A new technology is only successful if it’s actually taken up by users. At Dimension Data we trained our key stakeholders – senior management and their personal assistants – in how to use the technology. This helped drive take-up from the get-go and helped ensure it would start delivering value to the business immediately.

Make it easy for new users.

To help drive adoption by other users, we also produced a handy reference card, instructional videos and several email broadcasts. This allowed savvy users to get started right away and provided less adept users with a handy orientation that made the system approachable (once they started using it, of course, they soon realised how simple it is).

Feedback is vital!

It’s important to keep users happy, not just for your own peace of mind but also to ensure that the system is being used and desired features deployed.

At Dimension Data we keep our lines of communication open, so if a user has a need or a difficulty they can be confident that it will be heard and actioned promptly.'