10 Keys to Ensuring the Success of Your Lync Deployment Justin MorrisManaging Consultant - AUModality SystemsOSS205

Why does this matter?

Critical to getting it right first time

Based on real world experience

Not strictly technical - Level 200

I’m not Letterman - order does not signify importance

Who am I?8 years UC experience in Australia and the UK

Deployed the largest Lync voice deployment in the UK

Contributor on The UC Architects Podcast

Lync MVP

Founder of Sydney’s Lync User Group

Blog @ justin-morris.net

Twitter - @justimorris

#1 - Business User Buy-In

Your Job is to Improve the Lives of Users

This is job number one

Early and Repeat User Engagement

Ensure you have business sponsorship

Support the Cultural Change

Lync enables new ways of working

Some functions work in different ways e.g. Team Call/Group Pickup/Transfer

Measure Success and Gather Feedback

Ensure you are open to questions, suggestions and feedback

Promote success stories within the organisation

Use the monitoring server to gather usage information and act on it

#2 - IT/TelephonyTeam Buy-In

The business will take cues from IT

IT should be Champions of Lync, particularly when they interact with the business

IT should be using Lync first to fully understand it

Put aside differences

Telephony and Networks staff need to be friends, not enemies

During early phases you’ll need to work closely with and depend on telephony staff

#3 – BusinessPolicy Decisions

Lync Enables New Abilities

Work with the organisation to enable as much as possible

Often the default answer will be “no” to new abilities

Help the business decision makers understand the risks and benefits

Define new business policies

Help the business define new staff policies using Lync

Focus on delivering value to users, not “how we’ve always done it”

#4 - Lync Depends ona Solid Infrastructure

Lync does not stand alone

Lync success depends on many technologies

Many technologies often means many teams/IT staff

Understand the dependencies and identify weaknesses

Dependencies to Consider

Exchange Unified Messaging

NetworkBandwidth, QoS, CAC, PoE, WAN, Firewalls and Branch Sites

Wireless

Desktop Client RolloutConsider Device Drivers, USB Security and Patching

Users don’t care - it’s all Lync to them

Users aren’t interested in why it’s not working, it’s just not working

You have to protect Lync’s reputation within the business

#5 – Completingthe Solution

Completing the UC Picture

Lync 2013 provides the core UC solution

How do you address the remaining communications and regulatory requirements?

Additional Telephony Use Cases

Contact Centres

Operator ConsolesReceptionists are one of the most important people in your organisation

Facility DevicesFax machines

Common Area Phones

Door entry systems

Paging systems

Warehouse phones

Compliance Solutions

Regulatory RequirementsLegal disclaimers

Keyword Detection and Filtering

Ethical Walls

Security RequirementsControl external access to Lync/Exchange

Avoid DDoS attacks and account lockouts

Call Recording

Determine Requirements e.g. training or regulatory

Complying with Australian monitoring of voice comms guidelines

Lots of Microsoft Qualified Options AvailableInvestigate and Test

Consider Patching and Support

Consider the impact of dependencies on future plans

Remember to consider High Availability and Disaster Recovery for these components

#6 - Planning and Testing High Availability and Disaster Recovery

Having a plan is good

Users are used to voice “always being available”

It’s not good enough until it’s tested

Areas often overlooked

Inbound carrier re-routing

Branch site DHCP/DNS

#7 - User experience is all about endpoints

Vast Differences in Quality and Cost

From a few dollars to hundreds of dollars

Don’t try to make unrealistic savings here

Areas to consider

Always use Qualified or Optimised Endpoints

IP Phones or USB headsets

Bluetooth vs DECT

Get a few options and test – talk to all the vendors

#8 - Rollout Strategyand Planning

Rollout Strategy

You are swapping out a business tool, get it rightFirst impressions really matter

Big bang or gradual?Which users when?

All features at once or a staged feature rollout?

Rollout Strategy

Setup before users arrive or setup with users?Do users expect to hit the ground running?

Or are they happy to “learn on the go”

#9 - User Training and End User Support

There is a lot to Lync, don’t ignore trainingBusiness users may not be as savvy as IT

Lots of training options

You can’t train users on every feature in one goStart off with the basics

Re-visit and build up skills

Give your power users the opportunity to learn more

The difference between OK and Great

Good end user support is critical

It’s a specialist skillset - end user support need to know the Lync client inside and out

#10 - Infrastructure Support and Lifecycle Management

Good Support is Vital

OptionsIn-house

Microsoft Premier Support

Certified Support Partner

Or a mix?

Third party components need support too

Monitor Your Lync Deployment

Monitoring Server Reports

SCOM/Synthetic Transactions

Voice Quality Management with Network Probes

Gateway Monitoring

Lifecycle Management

Patching (Clients, Servers, OS, Firmware)

Key Takeaways

Key Takeaways

User, Business and Technical Buy-in

Rollout and Support

Supporting Infrastructure

Q&A

Related content

OSS411 - Addressing Lync 2013 Security AspectsWednesday 3pm – 4pm

Track resources

Ignite - Ignite.office.com

FastTrack - fasttrack.office.com

Office Blogs – blogs.office.com

Office 365 Trust Centre - trustoffice365.com

Office 365 Customer Success Centre – success.office.comRegister for Office 365 Ignite - aka.ms/ausignite

Track resources

Melbourne Lync User GroupNovember 12th, 6pm at Microsoft FWP

Sydney Lync User GroupNovember 12th, 6pm at Microsoft North Ryde

Thanks! Don’t forget to complete your evaluationsAsk me questions on twitter@justimorris

aka.ms/mytechedmel