IT-GRAD implemented the system of communications IDEAS4RETAIL based on Cisco UCM

• Project:IDEAS4RETAIL (Microsoft Exchange Server)
• Project:Ideas4retail (Hamleys World) (IT Grad Cloud (before LinxCloud))

Choosing a Solution

IDEAS4RETAIL was faced by a task to provide to the employees the single system of communication which is smoothly working regardless of a location of offices. The IT-GRAD group became the contractor of the project. The basis of a system of unified communications of IDEAS4RETAIL company was formed by the solution Cisco Unified Communication Manager. Capability of this solution to successfully perform switching of calls and management of connections in the most difficult conditions served as the key factor which defined the choice for benefit of Cisco Unified Communication Manager. Cisco UCM shows also high fault tolerance to noises and delays on the channel and provides support of a flexible virtual work place. Besides, the solution is easily integrated with other communication services by means of the API interface. For telephone recording the specialized solution of Zoom CallREC was set (access to records of calls is provided via the Zoom web interface). System management was expanded due to selection of numbers for conferences that allowed to carry out group calls and to analyze statistics on calls.

Project Progress

Processing and distribution of incoming calls is performed through IVR (Interactive Voice Response) organized based on Cisco Contact Center Express (CCX). The software packages CUCM and CCX were unrolled based on virtual infrastructure of VMware vCloud which provided high fault tolerance and flexibility. According to technical requirements of Cisco UCM virtual machines were placed on Cisco UCS blade servers in the center to data processing of IT-GRAD company and are serviced by technical specialists of integrator. For ensuring external telephony the Cisco IP phones providing wide feature set of traditional digital telesets and also a number of modern opportunities of the IP telephony are used.

Result

Thus, using solutions of Cisco in IDEAS4RETAIL company the failsafe cluster system with distribution of services by different servers is created. CUCM as a head cluster provides centralization of control of all equipment and flexible policy of call management. As a result the IDEAS4RETAIL company had an opportunity quickly and with ease to connect new remote shops to already adjusted system of communications. For example, in Ufa IT specialists of IDEAS4RETAIL independently made setup of a point, and then sent the request for IT-GRAD service-desk, and literally in 2 minutes phone of new shop was connected. The round-the-clock first technical support helps to avoid failures in harmonious work of business structure of IDEAS4RETAIL caused by unavailability of IT services and to reduce the costs connected with it. A possibility of use of products of different vendors, availability of implementation of additional services as required, simplicity of management of service through a support service of IT-GRAD — all this provides decrease in total cost of ownership with telecommunication infrastructure.

"This project brightly shows that transparency and ease in activation, setup and scaling of specific service which is received by the customer, shifting the most part of "headache" to shoulders of service provider — the development director of IT-GRAD company Sergey Chukanov comments. — We are proud of the fact that we provide IDEAS4RETAIL this high-level service with guaranteed high availability".