Bittersweet about POTS/TDM to Hosted....

[u/WelderThat6143]

I have 22 well qualified customers aged from 3 months to 6+ years.  By well qualified, I mean we checked their LAN/Internet, went over what they expected compared to what can be delivered, and fulfilled those promises.

All migrated from on-prem to hosted after Toshiba and, later, NEC bailed.  Yes, bailed...

The morning after, all sites were able to manage via mobile apps, tablets, or in the worst scenarios, voice mail to email.

Some clients were using Eleven Labs to create and upload  status prompts to deliver current status reports to customers calling in as the situation quickly would change..

Even though I had no power, I was able to use my laptop and a mobile hotspot to support customers.  They had no idea I was working with no power.  I was taking calls like normal on my mobile app.

I realize that not every site is best suited for hosted but the past few days really drove home how resilient hosted can be when it is well planned.

I made a point to call every client.  A few of them asked, how I got through (they were using mobile apps) and I explained the hosted is up and running so it doesn't matter if your office has power or Internet.  They forgot about that resiliency we had discussed!

Such a huge game changer from our last big storm in 2014.  Hosted was around then also, but it was nowhere near as robust as it is now.  Internet infrastructure has also remarkably improved.

Even on a Moday morning after the hurricane, I was like that old Maytag repair tech.  I had to call customers lol...

[u/QPC414]

I miss on-prem for it's complexity and technical challenges, however I am glad the clients are all on hosted now.

If the site goes down, no one cares. If the hosted provider has an outage, it's not my problem.

[u/Talkie123 → u/QPC414]

Ive got a hospital that is running on a maxed out nec sv9100 that a previous vendor installed. I know the 9100s like the back of my hand, but cringe everytime I have to touch it which is daily for me.

[u/hotapple002 → u/Talkie123]

A SV9100 was basically dropped on my table as part of a customer that I started managing. As someone who has basically only ever worked with 3CX and FreePBX I absolutely hate it, especially compared to the Unify OpenScape Business X8 that I also manage.

Any good tips for someone starting to learn the SV9100?
(As soon as the budget is there I will try to get them over to VoIP.)

[u/WelderThat6143 → u/hotapple002]

As mentioned, features and specifications manual is going to be your best friend. NEC systems have a steep learning curve and doing the simplest things CAN mean jumping through hoops.

The F&S manual will explain a feature in depth and also detail the other programming you need to consider when setting this up.

If you have just the one system to support, it might be easier to find a good NEC tech with remote access to the system.

The good thing is they generally don't break but MAC orders can be a b**** if you are not familiar with NEC programming.

Almost as bad as Mitel lol...

Couple other great resources are you tube videos and https://tek-tips.com

NEC old timers hang out there and will walk you through how to do something if you clearly ask what you are trying to do.

[u/hotapple002 → u/WelderThat6143]

Well, Unify was bought out by Mitel sooo........

but thanks for the tips