CUCM isn't just for Call Routing! Route your faxes and even manage PA Systems!
November 08, 2018
CUCM isn't just for Call Routing! Route your faxes and even manage PA Systems!
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) Call Manager is used to manage all our phone numbers throughout our organization. Additionally, it is used to route a portion of fax numbers to our eFax server (StoneFax) as well as a recent implementation of Informacast which is used as our PA system at our school sites. It routes all our calls, digital and analog throughout our whole school district.
- Ease of reporting. Able to obtain bulk reporting on current extensions assigned by location, which is very helpful to us as we have 21 different school sites. It makes it easier to manage when we are working on particular projects.
- Extension Mobility is a very awesome feature of CUCM that allows users to login to any phone on our network with their own extension. This has served particularly well with our school counselors that roam to different school sites. It's easier for them to provide staff and parents one phone number to contact them at, as opposed to several numbers from all the sites they visit.
- Cisco Meet Me is another awesome addition within the CUCM that allows for conference calling within our own phone system. No need to purchase a 3rd party phone conferencing when it can be implemented within your own infrastructure. It is extremely easy to configure and has been very beneficial for the executive staff in our district.
- CUCM can improve by actually showing the administrator which DID numbers are available for use. We have a large block of DID numbers provided by AT&T, but when configuring them on the phone system we have no idea which ones are actually available for use. The worst thing is, if it's not configured on call manager BUT it is being used as a voicemail line on Cisco unity, I have no idea until I cross check the number on the Unity Server. It's really cumbersome having to go back and forth between unity and CUCM to ensure I'm actually configuring an available phone number.
- Improvement with CUCM and Unity configuration. Having to configure phone numbers and voicemails on two separate systems wastes a lot of time. And there have been times where a phone number had been configured, but we forgot to attach the voicemail inbox to it, leaving the user without voicemails. I hope this can be improved in the future. I'm not against having two separate systems, but I wish there was a better way to integrate the two especially when it comes to voicemail management.
- Improve on the User Interface. If you have no familiarity with CUCM, it is extremely hard to navigate and find the settings that you need. Unfortunately I did not receive much training, but the system wasn't that intuitive to be able to navigate easily. I had to youtube and google many things in order to make sense of the layout. Additionally, the Cisco user guides are extremely hard to follow as well.