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Progress update - November 2024
In November 2024, the Telephony Infrastructure Modernization Project advanced its mission to modernize legacy telephony systems, achieving several key milestones. The project developed a standardized process to track system upgrades, ensuring clear documentation and accountability throughout the transition. Additional customers were successfully migrated to modern platforms, including Microsoft Teams and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), enhancing communication capabilities and aligning with the project’s modernization objectives. Progress continued on drafting comprehensive internal service model documentation to standardize workflows and clarify roles for delivering Telephony services.
To support stakeholder engagement, the team began creating concise, audience-focused one-pagers to communicate upcoming changes effectively. These materials complemented the announcement of sunset dates for legacy systems, which will be strategically shared during a town hall on Nov. 21. Updated one-pagers and website resources will be published to provide clear guidance on the sunsetting process and assist customers with the transition.
Read the full November project status update.
Overview
WaTech is migrating from legacy telephony hardware and services to modern alternatives.
The purpose of this project is to modernize the legacy telephony hardware and service delivery model by streamlining and standardizing how telephony services are provided.
This effort will focus on retiring the legacy hardware, which has reached the end of support that is deployed at some customer locations. The goal is to migrate legacy hardware and technologies to modern cost-efficient standardized solutions for WaTech and our customers.
Objectives
Services
- Identify services that need to be discontinued and set dates for sunset.
- Identify and document future service delivery models and technologies for voice services.
Migration
- Coordinate with customers to migrate to modern voice services such as Microsoft Teams Telephony, Avaya SIP and WaTech Connect.
- Review TDM (Centrex) and offer to move customers to our modern services such as eFax, Teams, etc.
Customer sites
- Partner with our telephony customers to sunset legacy telephony hardware and solutions currently in use.
- Assist our customers with planning and migration to WaTech’s standardized telephony solutions.
- Ensure out-of-date hardware is updated or moved to a network or cloud-based solution.
- Review agencies’ needs and discuss options to migrate to Microsoft Teams or Avaya SIP.
Cost savings
- In most cases, moving to these new technologies will lower telephony costs. For example, both Microsoft Teams Telephony and Avaya SIP include domestic long distance and voice mail with the service. Microsoft Teams is offered for $4.50 per month and Avaya SIP for $22 per month. A non-SIP Avaya service averages $25 per month plus voicemail and long-distance charges, and Centrex lines start at $45 per month.
Benefits
- Cost savings from converting to Teams or SIP.
- Cost savings from review of bill and removing unneeded services.
- Moving to a modern, supportable telephone service.
- Removal of old hardware and lead/acid battery-based UPS devices from locations.