What's the VoIP Deployment Process Like?

MEETING YOUR PROJECT MANAGER

Well, it will take a couple of days for your contract to be processed. After all that paperwork is done being processed, you’ll be assigned a project coordinator from Konica Minolta All-Covered, who will then reach out to you for a sort of meet-and-greet introduction. All-in-all this typically takes 5 business days but can vary.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR CURRENT SITUATION

After your initial phone call, your coordinator will set up a time to meet and discuss the basics of your account, this includes information like how many phones you’ll be getting, how many numbers we’ll need to port over, whether you’re purchasing a basic seat or a premium seat, what kind of switch you have, whether or not you’ll need a switch, what type of firewall you’re using, what your networking closet looks like, and what kind of internet connection you have, what your wireless setup is like - all those sorts of back-end pieces of information that are essential to the deployment and could affect the complexity of the setup process. 

Your project coordinator may or may not already have most of this information - this all depends on whether you’ve allowed us to come into your business and perform a site survey prior to signing the contract. 

Even if we’ve already performed the survey, you may find that you’d like another switch installed. Now would be the best time to bring it up, so that we can update our plans and contract.  

SENDING US YOUR PHONE BILL

We’re also going to need a copy of your phone bill to see what you’re currently paying, and what numbers you’re using. 

PERFORMING THE NETWORK SITE SURVEY

If we haven’t done the site survey yet, we’ll set up a time to go out to your business and check out your closet, workstations, basically get our eyes on everything to get a better understanding of what we will need to do during the physical deployment of the service. 

REVIEWING AND SIGNING THE LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION

Once we’ve completed our network site survey and your project coordinator has confirmed our findings with you, we will send you a letter of authorization, which you will then review and sign, and then send to your project coordinator. The project coordinator will then send it to your previous carrier. 

The letter of authorization will let your old carrier know that you’re switching communication partners. The letter will also request that they hand over your phone numbers, and will give them 30 days to comply. 

MAPPING OUT YOUR CALL FLOWS

In the meantime, your project coordinator will work with you to map out your desired call flows. They’ll talk to you about your preferences - like where you want to send calls that are directed to your phone number if you want incoming calls to ring three times, whether you’d like unanswered calls to get sent to an auto-attendant or get forwarded to a cell phone. All the small details that make up the caller experience. 

GETTING A SECOND IP ADDRESS

We’re also going to ask that you reach out to your ISP to arrange for a second IP address that will be strictly for the phone system. If you’re already one of Cobb’s Managed IT Service partners, we’ll work with you to prepare that IP address. 

If we’re not providing you with any Managed IT services, you can work with your own internal IT department to set it up. This is a pretty quick process. However, it’s essential that you have this second IP address ready before our deployment date.

YOUR VOIP INSTALLATION TEAM AND EQUIPMENT

Once all that information is settled, we’ll reach out to you and arrange a port date. At that time, we’ll order all the equipment needed. Depending on your situation, we may send the equipment to your office, or we may hold on to it and bring it with us when we arrive on-site for installation

Your Cobb team will consist of one or more experienced engineers and your IT Solutions Specialist, who will come in to set up your VoIP solution on your scheduled port day. 

INSTALLATION DAY

Typically, we will arrange to make the switch around lunch to keep downtime to a minimum. You can expect to have around 30 minutes to 1 hour of downtime. After this, you’ll be good to go!

POST-INSTALLATION SUPPORT

We will provide training resources to help with onboarding, and a help desk to answer whatever questions you may have about your new UC-One VoIP system. 

If you have any questions about the VoIP deployment process or VoIP solutions, or would like to know more about our business technology offerings, please reach out to us here.

WHAT IS VOIP? 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

If you have access to the internet, then you have access to Voice over IP telephony. But what exactly is VoIP, and do you even need it?

HOW MUCH DOES VOIP COST?

There’s a lot more that goes into a VoIP system than you’d expect. VoIP systems are built with customizability in mind, so the price of both installation and monthly charges can vary wildly depending on the size and needs of your business.

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY VOIP SERVICE IF MY INTERNET IS DOWN?

So, what happens to your VoIP phone system if the internet in your office is down? Watch here to learn more!