Summary

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Summary The importance of the preplanning phase cannot be overemphasized. Because time was spent to "plan the plan," the result was a transition in which obstacles were identified and dealt with ahead of time. Considering issues that revolved around the impact the initiative would have on users ensured buy-in and greater speed to competency. Putting together a cross-functional team with the right expertise and accountability resulted in a much more reliable, stable network and a support team that has been onboard since the beginning. Following is a short summary from each section of Chapter 2. Importance of a cross-functional team� The AVVID Tiger Team was made up of an executive sponsor, a steering committee, a team lead and program manager, and a core team that included four tracks representing expertise in technology, support, finance, and each of Cisco's global theaters. Executive management sponsorship� Executive sponsorship was instrumental to the team's ability to gain buy-in from the user community. The executive sponsor should be the highest-ranking individual within the corporation. The executive sponsor for Cisco was its CEO, John Chambers. Chambers' role was to champion the initiative, tie in the business objectives for the migration, communicate the vision and importance, and commit the resources required to complete the project. Managing change� Understanding user needs, communicating the who, what, where, when, and why, instilling a culture of openness to change within the organization, and managing expectations built acceptance by the user community. Where do you begin: the engineering story� Building the right team with experience in either voice or data helped fill the gaps, enabled a comprehensive understanding of the current infrastructure, and determined what it would take to evolve to a converged network. In addition, planning the dial plan, ensuring the ability to scale, and determining the best location for the infrastructure laid the groundwork for a successful migration.

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