How to take your phone system to the cloud for hybrid work

Given the global environment – hybrid work continues to be top of mind for many organizations. Companies are working through when/how to bring employees back to the office safely while keeping flexible work options available. In the middle of this transformation is calling and the ability to deliver a modern calling experience from anywhere.

One recurring theme I keep hearing in my discussions with business leaders is a common struggle to adopt a hybrid work model that naturally keeps a workforce productive when most of the workers rarely come into the office. The reason behind the struggle is due to companywide communications still not being as effective as when they were in the office full-time. This challenge has been solved for customers who have adopted a more modern communication platform, like Webex, that enables them to take their calls, meetings from anywhere.

The answer is obvious when you consider the constraints. Take your calling infrastructure to the cloud, so that workers can connect securely, with quality and reliability, from any location. This is usually where the second obstacle pops up. How to move your calling and collaboration infrastructure to the cloud, without disrupting all the workflows, call flows and custom applications that involve your business phone system and drive your business success.

Flexibility you need

Fortunately, this is where Cisco stands out with our ability to design a smooth transition to the cloud. Our experience with our on-premises customers has allowed us to uniquely streamline the planning and eliminate the disruption to business workflows and call flows that plague cloud-only vendors. Because every customer is unique, we have designed a transition to take our customers, small to large enterprises, to the cloud successfully with our portfolio flexibility and partner ecosystem.

It starts with Webex, the most complete collaboration experience you can find, combining market leading calling, meetings, messaging, polling, events and contact center services, integrated with smart devices for any workspace. Webex Calling is our cloud business phone system, a central element of the Webex Suite. Webex Calling elevates the calling experience from just hearing, to seeing and doing, getting business done as part of a seamless collaboration experience.

Dedicated experience

Webex Calling now includes a dedicated cloud instance option based on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager architecture. Dedicated Instance is integrated into Webex Calling and takes advantage of Webex platform services, bringing cloud innovation and an enhanced experience to customers who need to support older Cisco endpoints, local survivability solutions, or existing integrations part of critical business workflows. Now customers have even more flexibility to mix fully interoperable, on-premises, dedicated and multi-tenant cloud calling services serving complex deployment needs like geographical regulatory compliance.

Management simplicity

While we have been focusing on simplifying cloud migration – we have also been enhancing how customers can manage their calling and devices through a single pane of glass. We understand the cost in time and resources our customers face when procuring, provisioning, and managing multiple systems from multiple providers. The provisioning alone can take time and can be very frustrating. With Webex Calling and Control Hub, we have simplified the set-up, provisioning and management with Cisco Calling Plans and Integrated Cloud Connected PSTN. Administrative tasks that used to take days now take minutes.

Expansion of call plans and with global coverage

Another area that I am super excited about is the recent announcement of the expansion of our calling plans for Webex Calling. Currently, Webex Calling is supported in 85 markets around the globe, and we now support Cloud Connected PSTN in 65 countries. This makes it easier for our customers to securely manage their collaboration operations in the cloud. Our Cisco Calling Plans have recently expanded to add the United Kingdom in addition to the U.S. and Canada, with more to come.

Overall, we have exciting work underway. These enhancements are a true testament of our efforts to streamline operational processes while offering improved customer experience with more flexibility. All of this while providing global coverage combined with the service quality and security that Cisco is known for.

Are you ready to start your journey?

If you are thinking about migrating to the cloud – Webex Calling can provide you the most flexible and comprehensive calling options with choice for your global needs. We have something for everyone, whether you are a small business, a single person or large enterprise.

We are here to help all our customers on their journey to the cloud no matter where they are starting from.