UC migrations are daunting, highly manual projects that are error-prone and often take months. Today we look at how an automated approach can eliminate errors and minimize the time it takes to complete the job.

There are many reasons why your company might want to migrate to a new UC platform.

You could be looking for a leaner, cheaper solution to address the new hybrid work environment. Maybe you just acquired a company and need to bring new users into the fold. Or maybe you’re merging company divisions and need them all on the same platform.

No matter the reason, one thing is certain. You don’t want to manually migrate users onto a new UC platform.

Why Manual UC Migration Is a Bad Idea

Migrations are large undertakings that have a huge impact on the business. It’s important that they get done as quickly as possible with minimal errors.

If your company is going through a UC migration without the help of automated tools, then your IT teams and UC engineers will be stuck provisioning one user at a time into the new system.

That means they would first need to extract the relevant data they want to migrate from the old UC system; then, manually manipulate it to make it available for import before finally importing into the new system.

That process could take weeks, if not months. And to top it off, you run the risk of producing multiple errors or inconsistencies, some of which could potentially disrupt or bring down your UC platform.

How an Automated UC Migration Works

With an automated solution like Akkadian Provisioning Manager, you get access to tools that help make your migration between (both to and from) supported platforms much easier:

  • Cisco Collaboration
  • Webex
  • Microsoft Teams

For instance, a common migration we expect to see interest for is from CUCM to Webex Calling.

There are two main approaches a user can initiate in Provisioning Manager to do a migration. Let’s look at what those processes entail.

Templated Migration Task

A templated migration task in Provisioning Manager is an “easy button” task that migrates users between our supported UC platforms.

With templated migration, UC engineers configure the necessary data fields, select the systems they want to pull information from and send information to.

All administrators must do is log into Provisioning Manager and add a new migration task. From there, it’s necessary to select the migration source and the field attributes that should be migrated to the new platform. Then select the new platform and map the desired attributes to the migration destination.

Finally, run the job and all users will be migrated.

Custom Migration

Custom migrations are more involved and better suited for companies with unique data and UC migration needs or if they are starting from a platform that isn’t supported in Akkadian Provisioning Manager.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1 – Use Akkadian Provisioning Manager Reporting Manager to export data from Cisco Collaboration, Webex or Microsoft Teams.

Step 2 – Manipulate or customize the data as necessary.

Step 3 – Create your Akkadian Provisioning Manager job template to add new users, devices, phone numbers, etc.

Step 4 – Use the bulk provisioning feature to activate the job to build out users and devices in the destination platform.

3 Immediate Benefits of Automated UC Migration

The advantages of automated UC migration compared to manual provisioning and migration are simple and boil down to time/cost savings and error reduction. This is especially important when a UC engineer is undertaking a migration from CUCM to Webex Calling.

#1. Time Savings

Automated solutions are faster. We all know that. But automated UC migrations are ‘days instead of months’ faster. They also don’t have to involve the same type or number of UC engineers.

#2. Cost Saving

Automated migrations don’t require the same skillset or number of people to complete. This means your UC engineers can focus on more strategic initiatives. On top of that, contracting a professional services organization to complete a UC migration can cost thousands of dollars.

#3. Accuracy and Consistency

As we said earlier: manual migration and provisioning processes lead to human error. Automation eliminates human error and ensures that each user is provisioned the way they need to be across your organization, every time.

Conclusion – Automation is the Only Solution for UC Migrations

Automated tools, like Akkadian Provisioning Manager, make UC migrations simpler, faster, more secure, more cost-effective, and more future-proof. Before you migrate, make sure you have the right tools and solutions in place.

If your company is preparing to migrate from Cisco Collaboration to Webex or Microsoft Teams, we want to help make it smoother. Schedule a demo today.