Mastering Webex Calling Migrations

Looking to migrate users to Webex? You have user data in your on-premises Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) system today, and Cisco provides a user synchronization tool to quickly import that data into the Webex Control Hub. Simply export your user data from CUCM using the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT) and begin the data transition. During the process, the migration tool can identify users by several attributes – user-synced from LDAP, device associated to user, manager ID present for user – just to name a few. 

Webex Calling requires phones to run different firmware than your on-premises CUCM system. If you have modern Cisco 7800 or 8800 series telephone devices (7800s require V03/V04 or newer hardware), this is no sweat. It has never been easier to migrate your phones from enterprise firmware (EPP) to multiplatform firmware (MPP). Cisco has (finally!) created a process to automatically generate the per-phone device license that Cisco requires for the phone firmware migration. 

This makes bulk phone migrations quicker and easier, paving the way for timely, automated migrations. The migration process is simple. Start by uploading a BAT file from Webex to CUCM, which signals the phones to kick off the migration. From there, the process completes the transition to MPP firmware, hosted and managed in the Webex cloud.

With the previous tasks in place – users migrated to Webex, and migration tasks to convert phones to MPP firmware – now we can focus on the full phone configuration migration. This begins with the same data export from CUCM using BAT, so we can reuse the export we created to migrate users previously.  

Once the data is imported to Webex, there is some data mapping to be done. You can easily map Device pools from CUCM into Locations in Webex Calling, review phone number assignments and correct as needed, and verify phone/device eligibility for migration. All the above tools can be combined into one flow, to automate the overall migration process.

Cisco provides the tools to make your migration to the cloud efficient and cost-effective. And if you still haven’t explored the migration from Cisco Jabber to Webex messaging, Cisco has a migration tool for that as well. Additionally, Cisco provides Webex APIs that unlock more powerful data migration capabilities, which CDW engineers can leverage to complete more advanced types of Webex migrations. For example: Webex Meetings or Calling (cloud to cloud) migrations that become necessary when organizations divest or merge with one another.  

CDW has more than 20 years of experience in partnering with our customers to migrate telephony and communications systems, including extensive experience migrating customers from their CUCM systems into the Webex cloud. CDW can provide a wide range of services – a full-service migration, a tiered migration focused on the tasks you need a partner to complete, or a jumpstart with a consultative approach to enable your team to migrate on your own.  

And we can provide CDW Managed Services on any Webex Calling enabled organization, offloading management tasks to our skilled support team. Reach out to your account manager today for more information about how CDW can help you migrate to Webex Calling in the cloud.