Challenge
A city government's voicemail ran on a server so old that it could no longer be supported. It also depended on an email system the city wanted to leave behind.
If the server failed, every department would lose voicemail at once, with no quick way to restore it.
Approach
We moved voicemail to the service built into the city's existing phone system, which removed the old server and its dependencies together.
- Collect the list of active extensions and how each person wanted voicemail delivered.
- Configure the built-in voicemail and create the mailboxes.
- Forward voicemail to email for the staff who asked for it.
- Rebuild the phone menus, dial-by-extension and shared mailboxes.
- Stay close after the change to correct anything that surfaced.
Result
The city retired the old server and removed a dependency it had been carrying for years.
- Staff kept their extensions.
- Voicemail available in the inbox.
- One less unsupported system to worry about.
Our advice
Old systems rarely fail at a convenient time. If something is past the end of its support, plan its replacement while it is still working.
Related service: Digital phone systems.