Auto Provisioning — Everything You Need to Know
It is important for an organization’s communication system to be easily available to all its stakeholders — be it employees, managers, or clients. All these users need to have easy access to the communication resources on its network, so they can connect with each other and do their jobs effectively.
The process of accessing an enterprise’s communication resources would get complex if every individual user had to follow a long-drawn manual provisioning process to activate their device. Auto-provisioning is emerging as an automated, one-click solution that is freeing users from the time-consuming process of manually provisioning their phone systems.
The tool is used to provision IP phones in bulk. This includes configuring all user information, local phone book, firmware, and more. With auto-provisioning, what once took hours now happens with a few quick clicks. Businesses can easily deploy an entire enterprise-grade phone system without any IT support or technical know-how. The setup and management of their account happen inside the web browser, just like any other subscription-based service.
Automatic provisioning uses the power of cloud-based technology to help VoIP businesses automatically provision their IP devices. Without this automation technology, every IP phone would require manual provisioning by a qualified technician, at every customer location. And if the phone’s firmware or feature set were to upgrade or change over time — which they often do — it would require a follow-up technician visit. This can be a costly and time-consuming process.
Cloud-based auto-provisioning nips this problem in the bud. Using this tool, an organization’s IT department can streamline its operations using a scalable and secure process. The fact that nearly all mainstream IP phones are supported by auto-provisioning is a marker of the convenience that this tool provides.
In this blog, we will look at how auto-provisioning works, its impact on the management of business phone systems, and the benefits it brings to businesses.
Table of Contents
What is Auto Provisioning?
There are two types of provisioning: manual and automated. An organization’s customer experiences and operational efficiency are directly impacted by the method they choose to provision their devices.
Auto-provisioning allows an enterprise to deploy its telecom services instantly through a software application, rather than doing it manually for every device. This tool is especially useful when deploying large numbers of IP phones that require advanced configuration.
Manual provisioning, on the other hand, requires time and hands-on availability of your network engineers. Choosing an auto-provisioning model is a much simpler and time-saving tool. For instance, to deploy VoIP devices, service providers can connect them to a centralized, auto-provisioning server, allowing them to streamline the deployment process and onboarding operations. IP telephony service providers usually manage thousands of users for multiple clients. A centralized automated system can save time and effort for both their service engineers and users.
Auto-provisioning is emerging as a go-to tool for telecom service providers as it enables them to deploy IP phones that automatically locate the provisioning server and download the correct configuration files once it is plugged into the internet. It allows users to activate their phone service through a web interface without having to enter any configuration settings.
Auto-provisioning comes with a set of pre-defined instructions and procedures that can be carried out electronically to provide customers with speed and instant access to their phone solution. This highly scalable activation solution addresses the multi-services needs of softphones and IP desk phones to accelerate business and productivity.
Why Auto Provisioning is Important
In the past, all VoIP PBX and handset provisioning was done manually, unless it was a proprietary system. It was common for IT engineers to spend long hours setting up a business office due to the tedious task of provisioning each phone. This also made the management of the phones a tedious job, as certain phone models were provisioned differently. With each addition, move, or change, the provisioning process became longer, more complex, and less manageable. It was also difficult to quickly diagnose and isolate bugs and other issues.
Modern-day service providers, however, are transitioning their operations from providing traditional telephony services to offering a hybrid of innovative physical and virtual telephony solutions. Not only are these services delivered to customers on-demand, they are also required to respond to the surrounding changes in the network in real-time.
With a growing pressure to deliver services faster, in a more flexible manner, and at minimal costs, it has become critical for IP telephony service providers to use the benefits of auto-provisioning to maximize service agility and operational efficiency.
