Cisco PBX systems come with a lot of great tools and reporting functions. So why would you need an add-on solution like UC&C Analytics? A Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) Analytics solution can provide complete visibility into your overall communications network throughout your organization, not just for Cisco, and ensures you maximize your investment.
How can a UC&C Analytics tool help you to maximize ROI?
In addition to the great features Cisco has, a robust UC&C management solution designed specifically for Cisco can enrich your experience by providing the following:
Usage Collection - A UC&C analytics tool should track all forms of usage types including traditional voice, mobile, instant messages, file transfer, application sharing and presence. Usage tracking allows an organization to ensure all assets are being used and budgeted accordingly.
Chargeback – Does your PBX do chargebacks to the extent you need them? Most UC&C tools enable chargebacks to specific organizational units on multiple levels (e.g. division / department / team). They can also include GL codes by department and project to seamlessly migrate information into your ERP system. This can be done for every call, in real time, so you can compare interim usage to actual budget so that you can stay on track.
Business Intelligence at your Fingertips – Your UC&C solution should have robust reporting and graphic dashboard tools so you can monitor all aspects of your UC&C environment such as PRI analysis, Cradle to Grave reporting on a given number, conferences call analysis, and the ability to measure departmental and individual device usage.
Other intelligence in a robust solution includes trunk capacity monitoring to assist with adequate SIP’s trunk provisioning which then ensures you maintain a balance between maintaining company quality standards and over purchasing.
If you run a Contact Center you need to measure agent performance, hunt groups, abandon calls and the utilization and responsiveness of voicemail. All of these metrics factor into your company’s quality of service to customers and directly affects your bottom line and corporate perception.
Quality Alerts – Your UC&C solution should include alerts and reporting to calculate jitter, packet loss, latency and MOS. Again, the quality of the service of your UC&C’s environment impacts your organization’s reputation and SLA’s.
Provisioning for all Cisco Modules and more – If you have other systems beyond Cisco, your UC&C analytics solution should allow for a single point of entry to control your Cisco environment and other systems for all provisioning activities.
Some provisioning tasks that should be provided include the registration of new extensions, set up of authorization codes, voicemail set up or deletion, and changing the Calling Search Space (CSS) for phones and lines. This saves time and resources and eliminates logging into multiple systems to complete a single task.
Here are a few more important factors to consider with a UC&C Analytics tool:
Enterprise Integration Engine – UC&C systems should integrate with all your enterprise solutions: CRM, Finance, LDAP, PMS, IT, Cisco directory for streamlining data integration.
Asset Management - As great as Cisco is, it cannot handle your trunk and circuit inventory without an add on solution. Telecom expense management solutions can keep inventory of Toll-free numbers, DID`s, phones, software, hardware with employee allocation.
Budget Management - Monitoring expenses against forecasted budgets is critical to managing any company’s budget. A UC&C Analytics tool sends alerts based on pre-defined budgeting thresholds so things can be addressed before it’s too late.
Ad hoc Reporting Engine - The solution should be flexible enough to allow you to customize reporting for scenarios that are not needed on a day-to-day basis.
Cisco is a great investment for your communication needs. By adding a UC&C Analytics solution to integrate with Cisco and other heterogeneous systems you can have complete visibility and control into your communications environment to ensure you maximize your total Cisco UC&C investment.
MTS has been a technology partner of Cisco for almost two decades and is certified as Cisco Compatible. For more information about how MTS works with Cisco click here or visit www.mtsint.com.
