Microsoft caused significant waves when it announced the availability of its Lync call center platform,promising that it would provide a powerful communication experience. As users consistently challenge this platform to deliver on its collaborative promises, organizations of all sizes are finding that it also drives effective call center support. If you are considering a move to a Lync call center, you can expect to reap the benefits of a more engaging, collaborative and accessible platform. But the migration will take some work.

The Challenge of the Lync Call Center

Most business experiences have shown that jumping headfirst into a Microsoft platform is not without glitches and potential software issues. You have to protect your platform, which serves as the interaction point between your company and your customers. Plus, you’ve already made investments in your current infrastructure, and a Lync call center may not be enough for you to write that off.

Lync Call Center Offers Tools to Overcome the Challenges

For its part, Microsoft is not uneducated when it comes to launching new platforms. The company is well aware of the positioning it must take to drive acceptance and adoption in a way that makes any new innovation profitable. For the Lync call center, the company not only developed a standalone Unified Communications (UC) solution, Microsoft also provided for a well-defined migration strategy that allows you to integrate Lync call center with your existing PBX. This migration strategy allows you to leverage the benefits of Lync, while still maximizing on the investment in your current infrastructure.

Why This Migration Strategy to Lync Call Center Matters

Any change within your call center requires a new focus on how things get done. The same is true when exploring a move to Lync call center. You not only have your current PBX investment, you also need a direct connection to your existing service providers, and you must have the right security solutions to support SIP trunking to protect your network. To accomplish this, it may be time to consider partnering with a provider who can ease your migration, while paying attention to the details of your strategy.

Making the Move to Lync Call Center

Companies like AudioCodes serve to partner with your call center to make the move from your current environment to the Lync call center. Media gateways are made available through remote upgrades to support Lync call center. These gateways are also optimal platforms to deliver the connectivity necessary to allow for the easy integration of the Lync platform with your existing telephony infrastructure. Providers should also be able to enable reliable communications between your main headquarters and your branch offices, delivering the necessary firewalls, data routing and access.

Lync Call Center – Long Transition Process

You do have the option to invest in hardware to implement the Lync call center, yet partnering with proven providers does allow you to migrate from your existing TDM equipment and more recent IP PBXs to the full UC platform offered in the Lync call center. The process is long, yet it also helps to preserve your current investments, protect your approach to customer service, and focus on your strategy for eventually implementing a standalone UC environment.