cloud-enabled workplace transformation with webex edge for … · cloud-enabled workplace...

Cloud-enabled Workplace Transformation with Webex Edge for Calling

Webex Edge for CallingeBook

Collaboration is essential to workplace transformation

1 Worldwide Semiannual Digital Transformation Spending Guide, IDC, 20192 McKinsey, 20183 CIRS Research Briefing 17, No. 6, MIT, 2017

© 2019 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.


Digital and workplace transformation are top of mind for many C-suite leaders. In fact, enterprises are spending nearly 1.2 trillion dollars annually on digital transformation efforts¹. Yet only 16% have seen the expected gains from this investment2. Why is that?

Most companies fall short when they fail to provide technologies that create a more engaging experience for their workforce. Companies with great employee experiences achieve 25% higher profits and two times greater customer satisfaction and innovation than their more traditional counterparts3.

So how do you equip your business with the tools that will lead to a highly engaged workforce that routinely provides exceptional service and support to customers and partners? You need a strategy that leverages cloud innovation, while protecting your strategic on-premises investments. Cloud collaboration and customer engagement are becoming richer and more intelligent — with calling, messaging, video, meetings, and content sharing augmented by artificial intelligence (AI). And the connective tissue that holds all collaboration activities together is the human voice.

higher profits

25%customer

satisfaction

2x

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business Functions/Organization/Our Insights/Unlocking success in digital transformations/Unlocking-success-in-digital-transformations.ashx

Voice is the global currency of business



Surveys show that voice is the preferred engagement channel for customers and partners, especially for important decisions (Figure 1). For employees, calling is the natural escalation of a chat session—and the point of departure for broader meetings with more participants or video and content sharing.

Figure 1. Every generation prefers live phone calls

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Online Chat

Email

Phone w/ Live Rep

Self-Service Channel Preferences

65%

55%

48%

Self-service channel preferences

Phone w/ live rep

Email

Online chat



Cloud first, but not cloud only — unified calling architecture How can you begin a cloud journey that will drive successful workplace transformation, keep your business safe, and align with your business objectives?

Cisco Webex® Edge for Calling is a new single calling architecture that connects your on-premises business phone systems (PBXs), from Avaya and others, to the cloud. With Webex Edge for Calling, you can equip your business with the latest cloud innovations now and protect your premises-based investments.


Calling evolution: new user and enterprise expectationsAlthough voice is a cornerstone of business collaboration, today’s workers also expect access to a rich variety of tools like voice, video, messaging, meetings, screensharing, and whiteboarding, all integrated within their business apps and available across all their devices. Tools with contextual enhancements like artificial intelligence, voice assistants, and intelligent proximity further improve productivity and simplicity. These tools have become central to the collaboration buying criteria (Figure 2). Nemertes Research found that businesses that use a single application like Webex for all their collaboration are twice as successful in their digital transformation as businesses that employ separate applications.

Email integration

Contextual intelligence

Meetings/video

Teams integration

Contact center integration

79%

74%

73%

71%

68%


Figure 2: Collaboration buying criteria

Source: Cisco® survey

Collaboration buying criteria


The CIO’s DilemmaWhile existing on-premises UC systems offer great features and customization support, they are more complex and costly to maintain (Figure 3). Most enterprise PBX networks involve multiple models from different vendors, on different depreciation and refresh cycles that require costly, high-bandwidth MPLS networks to keep everybody connected.

Cloud offers important advantages for digital transformation, including flexibility, minimal capital investment, seamless integration to leading cloud business apps, rapid innovation cycles, predictable operating expenses, and rapid global delivery at any scale. However, deploying multiple cloud point solutions for calling, video, messaging, and meetings simply transfers the cost and complexity to the cloud, without solving the underlying issue.

Figure 3. Typical large enterprise calling complexity

Figure 4. The problem with today’s cloud solutions

Many cloud services lack enterprise scale and are point solutions

Typical large enterprise calling complexity

Cloud PBX Team

collaboration

MeetingsContact center

Messaging


INVESTMENT OPTIMIZATION USER EXPERIENCE

MIGRATION PATH CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

TransitionRisks

Today Workplace

Modern Workplace

Migrating safely to the cloud requires CIOs and other technical leaders to address the business risks they see from cloud solutions. Most cloud unified communications as a service (UCaaS) offers are built from a collection of separate apps, made by different vendors that are not enterprise-ready and lack quality local support.

CIOs need a cloud adoption model that will safely take them into the future and address each of these risk factors that are delaying their cloud journey:

• Investment optimization: Protect on-premises licensing and infrastructure investment while moving to the cloud

• Migration path: Deploy a cloud platform with enterprise scale and security that will interwork seamlessly with on-premises systems

• User experience: Need to modernize with a seamless, non-disruptive user transition to the cloud

• Customer experience: Deliver an experience that intelligently recognizes the activities before, during, and after every customer engagement

For most businesses, the best cloud migration strategy starts with a mixed cloud/on-premises environment for collaboration. This approach can provide full access to cloud innovation for users, while connecting strategic on-premises systems together with new cloud services, to add value without disrupting business operations.

“Hybrid enables organizations to adopt cloud strategically, delivering less disruption and faster access to specific capabilities like meetings and team collaboration from the cloud.”

Figure 5. The CIO’s dilemma: innovation without chaos

The CIO’s dilemma: innovation without chaos

—Workplace Collaboration: 2019-20 Research Study – Technology Trends, Nemertes Research, 2019



The Webex single platform advantageWebex is a highly secure, scalable, and open, global business collaboration platform that integrates calling, messaging, meetings, team collaboration and contact centers with a rich suite of devices, to deliver magical experiences for users, teams, and customers.

Webex Calling is the unified communications as a service (UCaaS) app within the Webex collaboration suite, that also includes Webex Teams™, Webex Meetings, and a complete range of integrated Cisco devices for every room and situation. Enter a room with your unified Webex client running on your laptop or smartphone and the Cisco room device can automatically connect for a simpler, more engaging collaboration experience.

The Webex collaboration suite is delivered over the global Webex cloud, utilizing redundant, secure, Tier 4 data centers. Cisco’s global Webex backbone ensures the best possible media quality for all your Webex cloud services.

Figure 6. Webex: A single, global, cognitive collaboration platform

Single global cognitive collaboration platform

CallingMeetings Teams

Webex Edge Services

Jabber Devices Contact Center

Cisco Webex Platform

Unified user experience Intelligent customer journeyWorkflow integrations

AI Integration



Introducing Webex Edge for CallingWebex Edge for Calling is a core part of the Webex platform strategy. It provides a single calling architecture that accelerates workplace transformation and protects investments by enabling flexible, hybrid deployment paths to innovative cloud services. Offering a consistent, intelligent user experience, it enables workplace transformation without business disruption.

Webex Edge for Calling supports a hybrid architecture that connects Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UCM), Cisco UCM Cloud, Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS), and/or third-party PBXs directly into the Webex Calling cloud.

Figure 7. Webex Edge for Calling hybrid architecture


Webex Calling Cisco HCS/UCM Cloud Cisco UC ManagerThird-party PBX

PSTN PSTN

Contact CenterMessagingMeetingsCalling

PSTNWebexControl

Hub

• Webex Edge for Calling



Webex Calling offers several options for connecting your business to the cloud, including:

• Cloud calling and collaboration bundled with public service telephone network (PSTN) access from a local service provider

• Using your existing PSTN carrier, connecting via a local gateway

• Subscribing to Webex Calling through a Cisco value-added reseller (VAR), connecting to the PSTN through an authorized Cloud Connected PSTN provider

Figure 8. Webex Calling PSTN options

Webex calling PSTN options

Cloud connectedDirect connect to PSTN

through the cloud

BYO carrier

Local gatewayUse on-premises

gateway to break out to PSTN

CUBE

Bundled PSTNOver 25 service provider partners

today!



Webex Edge for Calling architecture supports your cloud migration with services at three levels — Network Services, Enterprise Services, and User Services.

Network Services connect your sites and people to the cloud, with an option for a global enterprise dial plan for all sites, including existing PBX sites. Network Services enable you to offload on-net MPLS and off-net network traffic to the cloud.

Enterprise Services let you centralize core enterprise routing services, like auto attendant, IVR, call queues, and voicemail in the cloud. You also get centralized management of your complete collaboration suite through the Webex Control Hub.

User Services extend unified collaboration experience to all users. Even those on an Avaya PBX have access to Webex cloud collaboration services for calling, messaging, meetings, and team activities.

Webex Edge for Calling: Network Services | Enterprise Services | User Services

Webex Calling Cisco HCS/ UCM Cloud Cisco UCMThird-party PBX

PSTN PSTN

Existingbranch offices

Webex Contact Center

Remote / mobile knowledge workers

New locations

PBX end-of-life replacements

Add apps: messaging, meetings,

teams



The right start to your cloud journey So what does this mean and how do you get started?

Figure 9. Webex single calling architecture supports cloud hybrid deployment models


Webex Calling Cisco HCS/UCM Cloud Cisco UC ManagerThird-party PBX

PSTN PSTN

Contact CenterMessagingMeetingsCalling

PSTNWebexControl

Hub

• Webex Edge for Calling


Webex Calling Network Services There are many ways to start. You may want to begin the migration to the cloud with Webex Calling for branches and remote knowledge workers. Then connect your on-premises systems, including Cisco UCM and third-party PBXs to the cloud, using Webex Calling Network Services. This gives you the benefit of a global dial plan, with site-to-site calling and least-cost routing across all your calling platforms. You can start to offload your MPLS network by routing on-net traffic over the secure, global Webex backbone. You can even leverage the global Webex backbone to save money routing your off-net traffic through the Webex cloud for your international traffic.



Webex Calling Enterprise Services After connecting everyone with a global dial plan for least-cost-routing savings, consider using the global Webex cloud to centralize your collaboration applications and inbound call routing services.

Centralize your collaboration applications for calling, messaging, meetings, and team collaboration through the Webex cloud. Then begin to centralize core enterprise call routing functions, such as auto attendant, voicemail, call queues, and hunt groups through Webex Calling Enterprise Services. This provides the advantage of centralized administration and management of your entire collaboration environment under the Webex Control Hub.


Webex Control Hub is a centralized administration platform for managing all provisioning, configuration, moves/adds/changes, monitoring, diagnostics, and analytics of your entire Webex suite. That includes calling, messaging, meetings, team collaboration, contact center, devices, even headsets — all from a single pane of glass. Control Hub also centralizes access to analytics and telemetry data for all Webex functions and products to help optimize performance and diagnostics.


Webex Calling User Services Webex Calling User Services enable you to unify and optimize the user experience through a single client serving all collaboration workloads — calling, messaging, meetings, and team collaboration — so your people will enjoy a set of consistent collaboration services across your enterprise.



Unified collaboration experience for cloud and on-premises users Through the Webex Edge for Calling architecture, Cisco is able to deliver a unified modular client app to serve all collaboration workloads on any device – desktop, laptop, mobile, and room devices.

Because it’s modular, the app adapts according to the licensing permissions of every user. This makes it easy for users who might still be using an old Avaya phone system, for example, to use Webex for messaging, meetings, and team collaboration, while continuing to use their Avaya PBX for calling.

Figure 10. Side-by-side view of Cisco Jabber® and Webex Teams collaboration clients

As shown in Figure 10, Cisco Jabber® and Webex Teams offer the same messaging and meetings experience for on-premises and cloud users, which makes the transition to the cloud more intuitive for your Cisco UCM users to start using Webex.


© 2019 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)


Start your transformation now with Webex Edge for Calling Digital and workplace transformation efforts play a crucial role in positioning your business to win long term. You need to be smart about how you ideate, plan, discuss, and deliver at every step. Cisco believes this transition will occur over years, not months, and that collaboration — and calling in particular — will be the key factor for successful transformations. That’s why we created Webex Edge for Calling. It delivers cloud innovation today, while protecting your strategic infrastructure investments.

In the end, you need your leaders and your workforce to be connected and productive wherever work gets done. Give your business the Webex advantage. Work smarter with Webex.

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