Jan/Feb 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

at your service: Xaas security; 78 percent said they are worried they will have less control over systems and services; and 70 percent are concerned the quality of cloud communications may be lower than premises-based systems. As VOSS Solutions co-founder Christopher May recently pointed out, too, there are also risks asso- ciated with the migration process. Businesses, said May, are advised to consider the migration a determining factor when selecting a vendor. “The traditional collection of user/phone data — manually through site surveys — is error- prone and time-consuming (i.e. multi-visits and multi-iterations),” said May. “Then, transforming the legacy user/phone data into UC- ready settings by way of spread- sheet macros is similarly open to human error and extremely difficult to validate due to the large file size and single-point access. It’s also difficult to accelerate migration proj- ects, as the only way to achieve this is by throwing more people at the problem; and the ‘too many cooks’ phenomena leads to even more er- rors and higher risk (and cost).” As May explained, it often takes several weeks before data is loaded and sites are cut over, which can lead to a decline in data currency. Manual UC migrations typically have error rates of 8 to 9 percent. “There really is no way to avoid these issues with the traditional mi- gration processes,” May continued. “This is why the enterprise communi- cations industry is starting to pay at- tention to big data and automation.” Masergy executives also point out another barrier that can arise during a cloud UC migration: replac- ing legacy PBX hardware that has not yet reached the end-of-life stage. Here, SIP trunking can help bulldoze the barriers of legacy tools. “When a rip-and-replace strate- gy is not feasible, enterprises have the option to leverage SIP trunking capabilities to extend their PBX system with new hosted UCaaS capabilities,” explained a Masergy whitepaper. “As the perfect mashup of old and new, this hybrid ap- proach to deployment creates a frictionless transition by allowing IT leaders to custom design a plan that complements existing technol- ogy. In order to deliver hybrid de- ployment options, providers must run their SIP trunking solutions on the same feature server as their global UCaaS solution. In turn, customers can overlay the most popular UCaaS features into their legacy environment.” If there’s one key takeaway for channel partners, it’s that a UC mi- gration is rarely a walk in the park. It can be complicated, risky and time- consuming — as well as an excellent opportunity for channel partners to provide ongoing consultative ser- vices and support. o Smarter Cloud Telephony Hi ! My name is V.I.C.C.I. and I am here to rescue you from hosted IP Telephony solutions… Unified Communications Platform Proprietary platform; not a shared softswitch Use any SIP compliant IP handset (RFC 2543) HD Voice, Mobile Access, Conference, E-fax, Chat and Video all in one place Offered completely as a service with simple “all in” pricing model voice fax chat conference mobile video Channel Partner Program The best recurring commission plan in the industry Dedicated Channel Sales Support Team US Based Project Management and Help Desk We manage all aspects of the installation We help you sell with a dedicated voice experts team Schedule a call or meeting with one of our IP Telephony Experts and start earning commissions today Phone: 1-888-747-4789 or Email: sales@sipiq.com Internet:  www.sipiq.com 1180 Avenue of the Americas, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10036 Smart Edge Controller Provides full system replication at the customer edge and in the sipIQ cloud Functions as a Redundant System, Secondary Router, Intelligence & Security controller Local Survivability. If ISP fails, system is still operational, with cellular backup fully operational January - February, 2019 | Channel Vision 51