cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
1533
Views
20
Helpful
7
Replies

No More Attendant Console :(

brobinson
Level 1
Level 1

So, rumblings are in v8.x Attendant Console will no longer be supported at all in CCM, which totally sucks. For receptionists, is there an alternative in CCM? Removing this features makes it hard to sell it to SMB since competing products offer it and people really like it.. thanks!

ben

2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Jonathan Schulenberg
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

No alternatives that provide equal functionality exist within UCM. The replacement Cisco Unified Department | Business | Enterprise Attendant Consoles all have a per-operator cost.

Depending on the customer (especially in SMB) you may be able to get along with a hunt group and Cisco Unified Personal Communicator; or CCX plus CUPC. Even if you only have one attendant, the hunt group with HLog allows for easy "night mode" engagement.

Data Sheets: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/ps7282/products_data_sheets_list.html

PS- Don't shoot the messenger.

View solution in original post

That is correct - the old/bundled Cisco Attendant Console has been End of Life for quite some time now, and has been superseded by the Cisco Unified Attendant Console portfolio that Jonathan mentioned...

Its not strictly true to say that there are no alternatives within the CUCM. The CUxAC range mentioned are those alternatives. The difference is of course that they are now "pay for" offerings as opposed to being free. We are putting together some tools at the moment to assist partners with selecting which product is the right "fit" for each customer.

Overall though, the CUxAC products are well received and do provide functionality over the old CAC - with the changes this brings, the important thing is that there now needs to be some discovery performed with the customer, to make sure you're meeting their Attendant Console needs. As I say, we're putting together some tools to help you with that...However, the more discovery we go through, the more specific the requirements are, the best chance we have of meeting and actually exceeding the customers expectations

Feel free to reach out to me directly if you need any help with this?

Thanks

View solution in original post

7 Replies 7

Jonathan Schulenberg
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

No alternatives that provide equal functionality exist within UCM. The replacement Cisco Unified Department | Business | Enterprise Attendant Consoles all have a per-operator cost.

Depending on the customer (especially in SMB) you may be able to get along with a hunt group and Cisco Unified Personal Communicator; or CCX plus CUPC. Even if you only have one attendant, the hunt group with HLog allows for easy "night mode" engagement.

Data Sheets: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/ps7282/products_data_sheets_list.html

PS- Don't shoot the messenger.

That is correct - the old/bundled Cisco Attendant Console has been End of Life for quite some time now, and has been superseded by the Cisco Unified Attendant Console portfolio that Jonathan mentioned...

Its not strictly true to say that there are no alternatives within the CUCM. The CUxAC range mentioned are those alternatives. The difference is of course that they are now "pay for" offerings as opposed to being free. We are putting together some tools at the moment to assist partners with selecting which product is the right "fit" for each customer.

Overall though, the CUxAC products are well received and do provide functionality over the old CAC - with the changes this brings, the important thing is that there now needs to be some discovery performed with the customer, to make sure you're meeting their Attendant Console needs. As I say, we're putting together some tools to help you with that...However, the more discovery we go through, the more specific the requirements are, the best chance we have of meeting and actually exceeding the customers expectations

Feel free to reach out to me directly if you need any help with this?

Thanks

One important qualifier to add on Bennie's response is this: CUxAC  products do not reside on the CUCM servers. They require their own  Windows application server.

NOTE: The department-level product can, in theory, be installed on a  user's PC. How do you feel about running the server product on a user's  PC? (rhetorical)


So, you now get to quote a physical x86 server, hardware maintenance, Windows Server Standard license, backup license, antivirus, the appropriate CUxAC SKU quantity for the number of concurrent operators you want logged in, AND the professional services time to get that all setup.

Speaking of services to get that setup, I would strongly suggest going through an install of this in a controlled lab environment to get a reference cost structure established and a feel for the product first. There is a markedly different user experience than what the legacy CUAC users were accustomed to. Be sure you reset expectations prior to a customer issuing a P.O.

Lastly, since his email address is hidden and he invited you to contact him directly, Bennie Grant is an employee of Arc Solutions which is the company Cisco is OEMing the CUxAC products from.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

@Jonathan, it's one thing to look at all the additional revenue, it's another to say the customer will even buy it. Especially when competing products don't require a separate server, etc, etc.. Then they see all the additional cost piled on with Cisco and it becomes a less competitive option especially in the SMB market.

Whilst no longer bundled with either versions 7 and 8 I did hear that Attendant Console would still be supported in later versions.  i.e if you have a customer running CUCM 5 or 6 and you then upgrade to 7 or 8 you can still use the AC software.

True, but I don't want to go into new installs or opportunities and sell them on a feature that will eventually get removed from the SW.

This is incorrect. The legacy CUAC code has been completely removed starting with UCM 8.0(1). Even customers upgrading from previous versions must address this issue.

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community: