We are long past the dawn of technology, and we keep striving for more advancements. Be it in communication, marketing, or transportation, any industry needs technological advancements. Not only will their lives be better, but they’ll also make things more efficient for their employees. It’s an investment toward an improved system that the company can use in the future.
Medium and large companies have decided to focus on operational improvements and business growth. While they do so, they’ll also benefit significantly from investing in UC automation. Unified communications (UC) are a vital point for business and operational growth. Integrating the automation of UC services can be a complex and resource-heavy ordeal, but it is worth it.
In this guide, we’ll introduce you to UC and further explore its world to help you understand its complexity. We’ll ensure that your company is properly equipped with a customized UC system for its needs. We’ll talk about the automated unified communications benefits as well as the steps to automate your UC. In these highly competitive times, it’s best to evolve and improve as much as you can to stay ahead.
What is Automated UC Provisioning?
Unified communications (UC) is a system that unifies different communication methods on a network. For example, sending voice recordings via email and having video conference meetings. It also includes chats, team collaboration rooms, and communication through different devices.
A UC platform offers a range of applications that enable many ways for your teams to communicate. The staff can then engage with each other in a unified system, helping them be more productive. It also helps your business be more efficient compared to the old analog phone system. Because of provisioning tools, remote workers are better equipped to accomplish their tasks.
With the popularity of smartphones, UC solutions allow users to enjoy consistent communication. They can access their devices and networks regardless of their physical location. Often, they only require an internet connection to make use of the online UC applications.
The increased staff mobility enabled by smartphones, combined with UC, has provided numerous benefits to businesses. Employees can work while they travel, and now they can work from home without worry. The company is then able to save significantly on physical office costs and employees’ travel costs.
The problem is that the IT staff is severely overworked unless UC provisioning is automated. Automated provisioning benefits the IT staff because they won’t have to manually troubleshoot everything. Some parts of the system can be fixed by the tools that lessen the staff’s workload. And your employees also don’t need to wait for the IT staff every time they run into trouble. There are some things that they can fix on their own, thereby saving time on troubleshooting.
Why is UC Automation Necessary?
There are more reasons why unified communication benefits from automation and is necessary for your company or business. The larger your company, the more difficult it is to manage it and your employees. This means you need a system that can handle an increasingly diverse UC infrastructure. It needs to be flexible enough for constantly changing parameters to support remote workers.
And with a lot of employees, you need a UC that can mesh an array of different applications seamlessly. It has to provide a smooth collaboration experience for your teams, whether they are in the office or working remotely. Automation helps resolve all of that and more, as it ensures you can weather the storm of digital transformation. You’ll have a solid communications framework ready during and after intense times of development.
UC automation simplifies the UC environment for growing companies with complex operations. Automated user provisioning also lowers operation costs, which allows businesses to implement change. This makes UC automation a major investment because of the return on investment (ROI) it can provide.
Steps to Execute the UC Provisioning Automation Feature
1- Activate Self-Provisioning Services
This procedure is used to activate services that support the self-provisioning feature. Please keep in mind that the CTI Manager services and the self-provisioning IVR should be running. Go to your program’s Tools and choose Service Activation. And then, from a drop-down list of servers, choose the publisher node.
Under CM Services, put a check on your CTI manager, and under its services, check self-provisioning IVR. Remember to save the settings so you won’t have to redo the procedure.
2- Enable Auto-Registration
This procedure is for self-provisioning and configuring auto-registration parameters. The first step is to go to your program’s system and look for the Unified CM. There, you must click on the publisher node. Then you need to choose the Universal Device Template you want to be applied to provisioned devices.
You also need to select the Universal Line Template for the phone lines of provisioned phones. You can use the Starting Directory Number and Ending Directory Number fields to enter a range of numbers for the phones.
The next step is to uncheck the “Auto-registration Disabled” check box in the settings. Make sure to confirm the ports you’ll be using for SIP registrations. Usually, you won’t need to change the ports from their default settings, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Finally, make sure to save these changes to avoid repeating the whole process.
3- Configure The CTI Route Point
The first step is to go to your Unified CM Administration and choose Device, then CTI Route Points. Then you can either find or add a new CTI route point for your device. You’ll find a Device Name field where you need to enter a name to find the route point.
You’ll find a Device Pool drop-down list where you need to choose the device pool with the right properties. And from there, you need to choose the right location for the CTI route point. Finally, just complete the last few fields in the configuration window and click Save.
4- Assign a Directory Number
This procedure sets up the extension associated with the CTI route point setup earlier. The first step is to go to the Unified CM Administration and choose Device again. Then go to the CTI Route Point and click the Find option. There, you need to select the CTI route point you set up previously.
Click Line [1] — Add a new DN — on the Association tab to open the Directory Number Configuration window. Enter the extension you want your employees to dial in the directory number field. Then, you just need to fill up the remaining fields of the window before clicking Save.
Conclusion
Automating UC provisioning is a necessity now for most companies, especially the larger ones. The more employees you have under your care, the more UC maintenance and troubleshooting you need to do. And your IT staff can only do so much manually, so provisioning automation will help them a great deal.
Executing a UC provisioning automation feature can feel daunting, but we’ve enumerated each step. The explanations should help clarify what the procedure is for and what each action does. After which, you and your company can enjoy automated provisioning benefits from now on.
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