So you’ve decided to switch to an integrated telecommunications solution. What next? Many businesses are choosing unified/integrated solutions with phone, video and Internet in a combination package that provides flexibility and cost savings. The conversion process can be daunting, especially if your current system hasn’t recently been upgraded, but Call One president Chris Surdenik says hiring a good, knowledgeable team can make the process go smoothly.
“It’s never the technology that causes problems during the conversion,” Surdenik says. “It’s always the people behind it.”
Smart Business spoke with Surdenik about what the process entails and how to ensure that your move to an integrated telecommunications solution goes smoothly.
Once you’ve decided to switch to an integrated/unified telecommunications solution, what’s the next step?
The first thing you need to do is an analysis of your current network. You need to check everything from physical connectivity, meaning cabling, and you need to ensure switches are up to date and that your data network will be able to handle the additional stress of an integrated solution.
If you find that you are lacking on the network side, you are going to have to have network design done and put together the architecture for your network.
Is that an intensive process?
It depends on the size of the organization and how much effort and how fast you want to run with it. Typically, for a small organization, an analysis like that could be done in two days. For a large, multilocation organization, it might take a month or two months.
And if your data gear is outdated, it’s more than likely you will have to upgrade it.
If network is ready to go, what’s the next step?
Then the conversion process involves either migrating to a new hardware solution within the organization, meaning an in-house, on-premise, VoIP-integrated solution, or migrating to a cloud-based solution.
The conversion process for both of those would typically involve new wide-area network connections, different new pipes brought into the premise to connect to the outside carrier that is going to carry your traffic to the rest of the outside world.
How long does that take?
The conversion process for the installation of the new pipes, for the porting of telephone numbers, typically could take from 90 to 120 days. A lot of it can be run in tandem, so you’re not just installing equipment, then doing the pipes; you can do a lot of these simultaneously. Once the network analysis is done, it takes the same amount of time to get everything implemented and reach a smooth conclusion.
