UC Migrations: Why It’s Like Moving a City While It’s Still Awake
If moving houses is stressful, migrating Unified Communications is like relocating a city — while it’s still awake and working!
When we talk about Unified Communications (UC) migration, we're not just referring to switching tools or moving software. We're relocating conversations, call flows, meeting cultures, integrations, and muscle memory—all while keeping business as usual.
It’s one of those transformations that looks clean on a PowerPoint slide but unravels in real life with undocumented hacks, legacy dependencies, and well-meaning workarounds that nobody remembers setting up.
In many enterprises, UC and telephony systems were stitched together over time. They “worked,” so they were left untouched. Until suddenly, the business demands scalability, security, remote readiness, or deeper CRM integration—and that’s when the cracks show.
From porting numbers and preserving call logic to managing users, roles, and compliance—UC migration is operational surgery. Tools help, yes. But they’re not enough.
What Makes UC Migration So Tricky?
UC isn’t just “Teams for meetings” or “Zoom calls.” It’s:
Presence indicators in Outlook
Click-to-call in Salesforce
Transcripts flowing into ServiceNow
Call escalations triggering CRM workflows
Agent analytics feeding HR dashboards
Now imagine changing that entire engine… while the car is still moving.
Even the smoothest migration plan can break invisible dependencies. Because UC isn’t just infrastructure—it’s how businesses talk, coordinate, and respond.
Real-World Glimpses of How It Goes Wrong
When British Airways faced internal communication failures in 2023, it caused major delays and public fallout. That wasn’t due to a migration—but it shows how mission-critical UC really is.
In another case, Volkswagen’s shift to a global UCaaS model got tangled in integrations across Teams, legacy voice infra, and SAP CRM. The rollout was delayed by over six months in some regions—not because the tech didn’t work, but because it didn’t fit together.
Where Technology Helps (But Doesn’t Solve Everything)
Modern UCaaS platforms like Zoom Phone, RingCentral MVP, and Avaya Experience Platform are pushing the boundaries:
AI-based call routing and transcription
Predictive alerts and real-time dashboards
Cloud-native scalability for hybrid teams
Open APIs to tie into Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP, and more
But again—tech alone doesn’t solve migration complexity.
So What Does?
It takes people who understand both the platform and the pain.
A well-executed UC migration isn’t just a checklist. It’s:
Deep discovery and stakeholder mapping
Clean integration with CRM/ERP systems
Data validation across tools
User acceptance testing, training, and adoption
Zero-downtime transition planning
What Good Looks Like
We recently worked with a global logistics firm with 15,000+ agents across North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Each region had its own UC flavor—Cisco in one, Skype in another, and a patched IVR in between.
The ask: migrate to a unified Avaya cloud UC instance without disrupting SLAs, CRM workflows, or frontline coordination.
It required:
Pre-migration sandboxing to simulate call flows
API-level hooks into Salesforce and Oracle ERP
AI-driven monitoring for quality assurance
Regional cutovers with real-time rollback options
It wasn’t magic—it was
method,
mindset, and
muscle memory
built over years of doing this right.
Where Aress Comes In
With 25+ years in IT services and deep experience in UC, CRM, and cloud platforms, Aress has been behind the scenes in countless complex transitions. We’re a registered partner of Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft, and AWS—not just resellers, but real-world enablers.
Whether it’s migrating a 500-seat contact center or integrating voice intelligence into CRMs—we’ve done it, scaled it, and supported it through production reality.
Unified Communications isn’t just a tool—it’s a trust layer. And trust is built when migration doesn’t feel like one.
Curious about making your UC transformation seamless?
please visit: www.aress.com | www.aress.support | www.aress.ai
About the Author
Mandar Jambotkar is the Vice President – Cloud Engineering at Aress Software, with over two decades of experience in delivering reliable, scalable technology solutions across industries. With a background spanning cloud infrastructure, unified communications, support operations, and strategic partnerships, Mandar brings a practical and customer-centric approach to everything he leads.
At Aress, he plays a key role in shaping support delivery models—especially in high-availability, multilingual, and SLA-driven environments. Known for his clear communication style and attention to detail, Mandar often steps in at the intersection of technology and business to simplify the complex and ensure that solutions work not just technically, but operationally.
When he’s not translating business problems into tech roadmaps, you’ll likely find him building bridges between teams, ideas, and expectations. Connect with Mandar to exchange thoughts on dependable support strategies and smart service design.