Akkadian Labs is a software developer in the “collaboration space”. We deliver unified communications solutions purpose-built for and compatible with Cisco products.
What We Do
We are uniquely positioned to help solve client issues in a couple of ways.
One, we help leverage the investments you’ve already made in UC, creating an easier time deploying, managing, adopting and using the technology.
Two, we work with clients who are looking for new ways to innovate and serve their customers better through technology initiatives. Our software enables IT teams to improve their service level agreement (SLAs) for UC.
More specifically, our ecosystem of products is designed to:
Save IT personnel time
Reduce errors and inconsistencies
Increase user adoption of UC tools
Bridge the gaps in the capabilities of Cisco tools
Limit the need for expensive professional services
How We Do It
As the graphic illustrates, we are a software layer that sits on top of Cisco, which seamlessly integrates with all the native Cisco Collaboration apps.
Consider UC as Part of Your Overall Security Posture
Cyber security should be a high priority for users of Cisco Unified Communications (UC) technologies. While CUCM, Unity Connection, Webex, Jabber and related collaboration software may not seem like attractive targets for hackers, such systems expose organizations to several operational cyber risks (i.e. risks associated with procedures rather than inherent in the software itself). This is particularly true as other areas of IT, such as networks and databases, get better protected. Attackers are now seeking to penetrate businesses through any exposed surface area, including UC.
A compromised UC platform is a fertile ground for this kind of mischief. It’s a major problem. Research by the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) estimates that telecom fraud costs organizations and carriers over $29 billion year.
You should consider ways to mitigate risks in UC. InfoSec policy can be expanded to include collaboration, which has not usually been considered in an entity’s overall security posture.
Akkadian Labs announces its new status of “Cisco Preferred Solution Partner”. As an independent software vendor (ISV), access to preferred partner resources, assets and integrations will help us enhance our solutions, like Akkadian Provisioning Manager which enables companies to leverage their Cisco collaboration technology investments for better business outcomes.
To qualify, our solution went through interoperability verification testing (IVT) to achieve “Cisco Compatible” status. Cisco also recognized our Cisco Marketplace presence and the availability of premium 24/7 customer support.
Akkadian Labs already supports over 500 Cisco customers who rely on our tools to enhance their unified communications solutions. Here’s what our Cisco Preferred Solution Partner status means for our customers:
Assured Interoperability Rigorous testing to validate functionality.
Accelerated Deployment Access to developer environments to maintain our products for Cisco UC upgrades.
Improved ROI As a Cisco dedicated ISV, we are laser focused on helping our customers get the most out of their UC tools.
Companies trust Akkadian Labs’ turnkey software to streamline the provisioning of their UC environments without the need for costly third-party services or consultants. Akkadian Provisioning Manager alone manages over 3 million licenses; it is the go-to solution for the world’s leading Cisco Collaboration technology customers.
Cisco UC Provisioning Software Helps Design Firm Leo A Daly
Since 1915, Leo A Daly has been providing designs for architecture, engineering, interiors, and many other planning services. In the past century, the company has developed an impressive reputation. Now, internationally recognized for its work, Leo A Daly has 34 offices around the globe.
Migration from a Legacy PBX System to Cisco Unified Communications Manager
The company recently found itself with a challenge as the voice environment was operating on two different platforms, an older, end-of-life PBX system and a Cisco Collaboration system. The company decided to migrate all 800 users to one, updated Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM self-provisioning). Additionally, the firm wanted to update its users to newer Cisco Collaboration features. While planning for the upgrade, Leo A Daly’s IT team discovered that the time required to provision each user, device, and application could total 30 minutes-per-user.
This inefficient process requiring a lengthy provisioning time was not an option for the company. With over 800 employees to migrate to CUCM, the provisioning process would have consumed 400 hours of staff time. This meant the migration would consume a full-time employee’s work week for approximately ten weeks. Although the end product of the CUCM migration would offer the company much value, the IT team could see that the migration project was on track to tie-up the IT staff, keeping them away from more important tasks.
Software Offers Provisioning Efficiency and Collaboration Adoption
As the legacy system was end-of-life, Leo A Daly needed the migration team to upgrade and deploy as quickly as possible. The company found a solution to their provisioning dilemma when they were introduced to Akkadian Provisioning Manager™ from Akkadian Labs. For Leo A Daly, the decision to use Akkadian software for its migration needs, primarily came down to efficiency. Tim Milan, an Information Technology Specialist with Leo A Daly, was part of the team that helped purchase and deploy Akkadian Provisioning Manager.
“What we like best is Akkadian Provisioning Manager’s ease of use. It auto-fills everything— you add extension and user ID and everything else fills in. Creating templates was very easy.” Tim Milan, Information Technology Specialist, Leo A Daly.
Using Akkadian Provisioning Manager, the IT team at Leo A Daly was able to reduce the time to provision from 30 minutes per user down to just five seconds per user. This time savings was all it took for management to see the value in Akkadian Provisioning Manager. But for Leo A Daly’s IT professionals, the draw to Akkadian Provisioning Manager was about more than just time. The IT team wanted to expand collaboration offerings to the company’s business units.
Utilizing Akkadian Provisioning Manager allowed the team to provision Leo A Daly employees with new collaboration tools, without additional steps. The CUCM migration and upgrade could now include new collaboration technology rollout and adoption.
IT Team Offloads Provisioning to Office Administrative Team
Because the software is so easy to use, it was now possible for less experienced staff to take on provisioning tasks. However, before handing over responsibilities, the IT team needed to protect the business-critical UC environment. The IT staff was able to partition access, and therefore protect their CUCM, allowing the receptionist and office administrator to become provisioners. “The distributed workload frees up the technical staff for higher level tasks,” said Milan.
For Leo A Daly, the ROI was clear. Not only did the company save hundreds of hours on provisioning, it also increased its access to new Cisco Collaboration applications.
Akkadian Labs Support and Software Stand Out
On working with Akkadian Labs, Milan had this to say:
“The support we received from Akkadian Labs was awesome. The support team was quick to reply and had great answers.”
Milan was thankful for the recommendation to use Akkadian software that he received from the company’s Cisco Collaboration partner. That one recommendation led to an effective transition, one that has satisfied Leo A Daly’s business unit users, as well as the company’s IT professionals.
Like Leo A Daly, small, medium, and large businesses utilizing Akkadian Provisioning Manager have seen noticeable improvements on time spent account provisioning. These companies see their IT staff spending time on other projects, leading to a sizable return on investment.
Akkadian Provisioning Manager will provision the following in 40 seconds: end user, extension, voicemail, device profile, Jabber desktop, Jabber mobile, single number reach
