[cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

[Bennie Grant]

I do think the "value" is in the eye of the beholder...

 

In the scheme of many large CUCM deployments, Attendant Consoles are
often an afterthought, as they are only for a handful of users (and
you're making sure you're catering to the majority of the phone users). 

 

However, this is very ironic - as for the 2,000 IP Phones users (for
example) - you may have 3 or 4 Operators - so a very small percentage of
the user base. HOWEVER, these operators traditionally answer the calls
from the main/published numbers, and therefore are setting the first
impression of your business to any new customer or client calling in.
Therefore, although a very small user base, it is important to make sure
that they can do what they need to do...

 

To be honest, this has also been the same issue that Cisco themselves
had - in the scheme of a whole Cisco UC deployment, Attendant Consoles
for them was also an afterthought (hence the current issues)!. 

 

We do find that quite often, users "don't know what they don't know" -
when you can start to offer a lot more functionality to the operators,
integration with Presence such as CUPS and/or Microsoft OCS & Calendars,
stronger directory information - the Operators become more than "just
answering calls" and become able to do a lot more for the business -
there are obvious benefits here, and does help with the "Cisco UC
Story"....Centralizing directories (CUCM, AD, Oracle, SAP, internal
bespoke systems) is also a massive value add for users - a lot of this
centers around the Operator and can then be pushed out to the IP Phones,
intranet etc

 

Anyway - that's my thoughts on this topic - of course, having lived this
for quite a few years I appreciate that my views on this topic are
skewed.

 

Cheers

 

 

Bennie Grant
VP - Operations
Arc Solutions (International) Inc
Part of the Mettoni group | www.mettoni.com <http://www.mettoni.com/>  

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Syed Khalid Ali [mailto:syed.khalid.khursheed at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 11:40 AM
To: Bennie Grant
Cc: Voice Noob; Tanner Ezell; Matthew Loraditch;
cisco-voip at puck.nether.net
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

 

As said earlier, BAC, DAC and EAC will only cost more. Although the

Attendant Console bundled with CCM is not Free but it is really good

for basic usage. But even if Cisco sells the DAC at 1000$/seat it is

still an overkill.

 

If I order 6.1 the attendant console will be there. Please point me if

I am wrong.

 

 

On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 8:28 PM, Bennie Grant <Bennie.Grant at mettoni.com>
wrote:

> There were many reasons - the main ones were as follows:

> 

> 

> 

> 1)      Cisco had VERY limited development personnel on the product -
it was

> purely being maintained (i.e. no new features)

> 

> 2)      Did not have the architecture to support new applications that
Cisco

> NEED it to in their System Releases (i.e. CUPS)

> 

> 3)      Could not support "right to left" languages

> 

> 4)      Did not support JAWS - for the Disabilities Act (as Voice Noob
says)

> 

> 5)      Has been the cause of a great many CAP cases worldwide

> 

> 6)      Simply does not offer the functionality that customers require
- was

> a major competitive advantage to other PBX vendors and their Attendant

> Consoles

> 

> 

> 

> Of course, one of Cisco's considerations is to ensure that it is
future

> proof, and also supportable worldwide (languages etc) - all of which
the

> CUAC struggled to do

> 

> 

> 

> The bottom line is that the CUAC product could not meet customer

> requirements, was problematic and was not going to be able to improve
over

> time as the rest of the Cisco UC suite moves on

> 

> 

> 

> Thanks

> 

> 

> 

> Bennie Grant

> VP - Operations

> Arc Solutions (International) Inc

> Part of the Mettoni group | www.mettoni.com

> 

> 

> 

> From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net

> [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Voice Noob

> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 11:17 AM

> To: 'Tanner Ezell'; 'Matthew Loraditch'

> Cc: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net

> Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

> 

> 

> 

> Junk!

> 

> 

> 

> I also heard it was due to not meeting the Americans With Disabilities
Act.

> 

> 

> 

> From: Tanner Ezell [mailto:tanner.ezell at gmail.com]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:10 AM

> To: Matthew Loraditch

> Cc: Voice Noob; Bill Talley; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net

> Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

> 

> 

> 

> I don't recall seeing it above, but what was the rational of removing
AC?

> 

> On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 8:07 AM, Matthew Loraditch

> <MLoraditch at heliontechnologies.com> wrote:

> 

> Not necessarily,  I have a customer with 6 operators/receptionists but

> that's because there are 6 different sites and there is an operator at
each

> site.  I'd imagine there are many others with this type of setup.

> 

> I have no idea what I'm going to do when it's time for 8.0, ARC is

> ridiculously expensive for functionality these people have had for
free for

> years.

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> Matthew Loraditch

> 1965 Greenspring Drive

> 

> Timonium, MD 21093

> support at heliontechnologies.com

> (p) (410) 252-8830

> (F) (443) 541-1593

> 

> Visit us at www.heliontechnologies.com

> Support Issue? Email support at heliontechnologies.com for fast
assistance!

> 

> 

> 

> From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net

> [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Voice Noob

> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:55 AM

> To: 'Bill Talley'

> Cc: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net

> 

> Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

> 

> 

> 

> Notice the B instead of D. I usually lead in with the CUBAC software.
Also

> if you have more than two or three "operators" you probably have a
call

> center and are putting the wrong product in for the customer.

> 

> 

> 

> From: Bill Talley [mailto:btalley at gmail.com]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:53 AM

> To: Voice Noob

> Cc: Syed Khalid Ali; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net

> Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

> 

> 

> 

> I thought CUDAC listed at $1395/seat.  I could be wrong, but is that
not per

> seat?  There's also added costs for software maintence, the server to
run it

> on, hardware maintence for the server, and labor to install it.

> 

> On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 9:49 AM, Voice Noob <voicenoob at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 

> What are you paying $5,000 for? CUBAC is list $1,800 which can scale
to

> monitor 500 phones.

> 

> 

> 

> From: Bill Talley [mailto:btalley at gmail.com]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:45 AM

> 

> To: Voice Noob

> Cc: Syed Khalid Ali; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net

> Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

> 

> 

> 

> Yes, thanks for the clarification Noob.  I was referencing sales that

> occured prior to April 19 and those scenarios would no longer apply.

> 

> 

> 

> Free goes along when you just need basic functionality of line status,
park

> monitor, basic queuing and routing based on attendant availability for
only

> or two people and no more than that.   Note the operative term in that

> statement is NOT 'free', it's 'basic'.  In my opinion, the ARC
solutions

> don't provide the same basic functionality as attendant console in as
simple

> of a way.    I'm not trying to debate which is better, as ARC is a
more

> scalable, more capable and probably more stable application.  By
saying

> 'basic' I'm including hardware requirements, admin procedures, costs,

> etc.  In the scenarios where we've installed the free Cisco Attendant

> Console, ARC is way overkill.  That's due to either resistence to
cost, IT

> staffing levels/skill sets, budgets, hardware availability, etc.

> 

> 

> 

> That being said, as Ryan mentioned, 'the writing's on the wall', and
those

> scenarios will have to be dealt with.  However, there should be a
better

> alternative for small to medium business with only one or two
attendants

> than CUDAC.  Going from free to $5k for basic functionality is a big
deal in

> some cases.

> 

> 

> 

> On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 9:02 AM, Voice Noob <voicenoob at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 

> It may be "free" but the functionality is very poor compared to the
other

> products. Also if you read the fine print it is only supported if you

> purchased and installed before the EOL date. Not if you purchase 6.1.

> 

> 

> 

> From: Bill Talley [mailto:btalley at gmail.com]

> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 8:47 AM

> To: Voice Noob

> Cc: Syed Khalid Ali; cisco-voip at puck.nether.net

> Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

> 

> 

> 

> Not speaking for Syed, but we've had clients request UCM 6.1 because
Cisco

> Attendant Console is 'free' and supported for a longer period.  With
UCM 7,

> at one time anyway, Attendant Console was only supported if the system
was

> upgraded from a previous version to UCM 7.x.  Perhaps that's changed?

> 

> 

> 

> AFAIK, CUBAC, CUDAC and CUEAC are a significantly priced add-on, too

> significant for many organizations in our case.

> 

> On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 8:16 AM, Voice Noob <voicenoob at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 

> Why would you order 6.1? You can use CUBAC, CUDAC, or CUEAC product

> depending on your needs. They are all from ARC but are sold OEM by
Cisco.

> 

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net

> [mailto:cisco-voip-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Syed Khalid
Ali

> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 6:18 AM

> To: cisco-voip at puck.nether.net

> Subject: [cisco-voip] Cisco Attendant console and CCM version 7

> 

> Dear all,

> 

> I was checking the data sheet form CCM 7 and they are not bundled any

> more. so what is the alternative.

> I heard they have Enterprise Attendant Console and ARC Console.

> 

> If we order version 6.1, do we still need to order the console
separately?

> 

> --

> Thanks,

> Syed Khalid Ali

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> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

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> 

> 

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> 

 

 

 

-- 

Thanks,

Syed Khalid Ali


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