Cisco Jabber Proof of Concept

Background

In December 2014, the technical team supporting the Harvard Phone project to upgrade the current Centrex telephone system announced a plan to evaluate the Cisco Jabber mobile client*.

Volunteers were solicited from across the University and 35 people agreed to participate in a proof of concept (PoC) to test the usefulness of the Cisco Jabber mobile client. In addition, all participants received a WebEx account.

In addition to testing the usefulness of the client, the technical team also sought to test back end implementation process, support and communications.

The PoC ran for 3 weeks and participants were asked to temporarily give up the use of their desk phones and rely solely on the Jabber Client to make and receive phone calls.

At the conclusion of the PoC, participants were asked to respond to a survey to collect their feedback. A summary of the survey results follow.

*A mobility client allows users to extend the functionality of their Harvard desk phone to their laptop and/or mobile phone.

Cisco Jabber/WebEx Proof of Concept

• Overall Considerations

– Rollout and use of Jabber during the PoC is not indicative of how it will be used in production

– Limitations to use of Jabber over WiFi is expected to be resolved before roll out

– More training and user aids will be made available

• Purpose of conducting the Jabber/WebEx PoC

– Understand the ‘back office’ requirements to roll out and support Jabber

• Process for roll out

• Support with HUIT HelpDesk

– Test the messaging associated with service roll out, end user installation and use

• Emails to end users, website, online training materials

– Determine usefulness of VoIP client

• Will it improve overall productivity?

• Will it be easily adopted?

• What are the use cases?

Who responded…Profile of respondents

• 20% of participants have responded to our survey

– 67% of respondents downloaded their Jabber client to their laptop

• The majority found it somewhat easy to very easy to make and receive calls on their client

– 83% of respondents downloaded their Jabber client to their mobile device (phone or tablet)

• 100% used iOS devices

• The majority found it somewhat difficult to make and receive calls from the Jabber mobile app

– 33% used WebEx to participate or run meetings

• None were able to use WebEx enabled Telepresence

– Using WebEx to join a Telepresence meeting

Survey Response Summary

• What went well

– 100% of respondents found the website and informational materials useful

– As a concept, most like the idea of a Jabber Client

• Less clutter on the desk top without a physical phone device

• Having a Harvard telephone number that is ‘mobile’ is a plus

• The chat feature if enabled across the University will be a useful tool

• Very helpful when working remotely

• What could have gone better

– Initial set up and testing was time consuming

– Not being able to use WiFi was an issue

– Call quality was an issue, some dropped calls and clipping made conversations difficult

– Inconsistent ability to use features when using mobile device vs laptop

– Not enough time to unlock iPhone or laptop to answer the Jabber client

– Not many opportunities to join a WebEx meeting or Telepresense meeting

Lessons Learned

• Simplicity and ease of use is essential

• Needs to work the first time

• A blend of user aids are needed

– Some instructor led training

– Some self service tools/aids

• Communications are key

– Messaging needs to be short and to the point, no jargon

– Website is essential to support questions, follow up and self service