The End of an Era: Retiring Our Cisco Call Manager after 25 Years

After a quarter of a century of loyal service, we are saying goodbye to our Cisco Unified Communication Manager (callmanager for short). Our transformation project to modernise the communication and collaboration infrastructure at avodaq began around six months ago. We are now working successfully in the cloud and have completed the final step by switching off the on-premises service. This marks the end of an era and we have completely transitioned to a modern, flexible and cloud-based communication infrastructure. In an interview with Ronny Stein, Collaboration Manager at avodaq, who has been involved in the cloud transformation from the very beginning, we take a look at the project.

We have been working successfully in the cloud for some time now. What does switching off the on-premises service mean for us?

The callmanager has been with us for around 25 years and was the foundation of our collaboration area for a very long time. We were pioneers in the industry and migrated many customers to VoIP (Voice over IP). Initially, we even developed some of the official Cisco learning courses and did pioneering work in this area.

This latest step is definitely a milestone for us. Having already successfully migrated basic telephony to the cloud, we have now been able to completely replace the last systems that were still on the callmanager with cloud products.

On 15 October, the ceremonial shutdown of the callmanager took place in the Hamburg office. Jens-Peter (JP) Jacobs and Stefan Bohnert symbolically pressed the switch in the presence of several colleagues. We asked JP to tell us a little about the introduction and significance of the technology.

What do you think has changed fundamentally as a result of the cloud migration?

By migrating to the cloud, we are partially handing over responsibility for the system. After more than 25 years in which we were responsible for everything ourselves, we are now transferring this responsibility to the manufacturer. This leads to a certain degree of dependency, but also has advantages, particularly in terms of actuality and updates. By switching to the cloud, we basically also benefit from improved security, as the manufacturer takes care of updates promptly and always works on an up-to-date system.

The result is less complexity and more time to focus on other important tasks. The infrastructure is easier to manage, which takes the pressure off IT teams. However, it is important to choose a trustworthy vendor to ensure a reliable and secure cloud solution architecture.

How did our employees react to the complete cloud migration? Has there been particularly positive feedback?

The reaction from our colleagues was very positive overall. For the employees who only use the system, the migration was hardly noticeable and was received positively. Everyone was informed at an early stage and involved in the entire process.

Especially for the employees who operate the system and implement it for our customers, the farewell was quite emotional – they put a lot of heart and soul into the technology. And with the on-premises solution, we were able to develop very individual, complex systems, while the cloud focuses more on standardisation and simplicity.

But to emphasise this again: Even though we have switched off our productive system, we are not saying goodbye to the technology. We will continue to operate the Cisco Call Manager in our lab environment and retain the expertise. There will still be customers who do not want to or cannot move to the cloud. This is still an issue in the public sector in particular.

Both technologies have advantages and a justification for their existence. Overall, however, we primarily see the added value for us from the switch to the cloud. As we no longer have to provide our own infrastructure, we save capacity for our employees and enable easier automation in the cloud, which was one of the main drivers for the migration. Automation reduces the susceptibility to errors and improves efficiency.

What percentage of our customers are still in the on-premises environment? Is our goal to have migrated all customers by a certain date?

We see a clear trend towards the cloud, especially in the private sector. Nevertheless, the migration process is often slow. Many companies have functioning systems and migration initially involves costs and takes time. Amortisation is not always easy to calculate, which is why customers don’t decide to make the switch ‘just like that’. The trigger is often the desire to no longer have to operate their own data center. Telephony is also a central component of many companies and is not something that is changed over lightly. There are often no clear reasons for a migration as the existing systems are working reliably.

At the same time, the cloud offers clear advantages: It enables better use of resources, especially in large data centers, and helps to sustainably reduce costs through centralisation. The shortage of skilled labour also plays a role – it is becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified employees to maintain complex on-premises structures.

Looking to the future, what trends in cloud communication could become important for us and our customers in the coming years?

For us as an IT service provider and also for our customers, the importance of open interfaces will continue to grow. In the past, specialised add-on products were often developed to network on-premises systems such as Cisco Call Manager with other systems. However, the trend is moving towards open platforms that make it possible to integrate different systems from different manufacturers via open interfaces. This openness is becoming increasingly important in order to be able to react flexibly to the needs of our customers.

Another trend is the constant availability of the Internet. Companies used to be able to work without the Internet. This is unthinkable today. Without the Internet, neither telephony nor other centralised communication systems work. This is why a stable, always available Internet connection – the keyword here is ‘always on’ – is becoming increasingly crucial. Technologies such as SD-WAN will play an important role in ensuring this availability and strengthening the resilience of networks.

With the shutdown of the call manager, we are closing the final chapter of our old infrastructure and have now fully arrived in the cloud. This opens up new opportunities for flexibility, scalability and security in communication. We would like to thank our colleague Ronny for his insights and look forward to continuing to shape the future with our cloud-based infrastructure.