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University of Missouri

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Impact

  • 100% smooth flights for 20,000+ phone lines
  • Improved partnership with University of Missouri’s chosen carrier
  • Successful deployment by a cohesive, focused team, working towards a shared goal
  • Telecom transition completed on time and within budget
From helping to augment the current staff, to managing new and existing project managers, and easing tensions between our team and our carrier, Convergent was a critical piece of the University of Missouri’s telecom transition success.

Challenge

The University of Missouri was founded in 1839 as the first public university located west of the Mississippi River. Updating the school’s phone system to handle today’s data volume was identified as a priority for this thriving campus.

In 2016, the University purchased a new VoIP system from Cisco. Although they attempted a self-installation, the team ran into both internal and carrier challenges. As they discovered, selecting a system was only the first step; the University needed a partner to manage the deployment of more than 20,000 phone lines at multiple university buildings and two hospitals plus support its staff during the transition.

Convergent’s Solution

Convergent was chosen to handle staff augmentation, project assistance, and providing an on-site project manager to help with the deployment of the University’s new VoIP system. Convergent also acted as a liaison between the University and CenturyLink to improve and maintain their partnership.

Convergent started with a critical basic – project management. Convergent convened and managed active status calls with the entire internal University deployment team to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and ensure that milestones were happening on schedule. Implementation of project management software helped maintain the schedule, progress, and budget.

Convergent then tuned its focus on supporting Missouri’s team with key aspects of the transition including overseeing every flight, onsite management for all flight cutovers (improved upon through Convergent-designed project templates), and managing on-site staff, which included both the University’s team and additional support provided by Convergent. In addition to overseeing the deployment and training, Convergent worked with the University on a behavioral analysis to determine how to prepare for success throughout the deployment and beyond.