Cisco Messaging On Hold

Cisco's Call Manager solution provides significant flexibility with respect to the various methods available to house On Hold Messaging, Information on Hold or On Hold Marketing content (MOH). Cisco Message on Hold was either a very well thought out feature by Cisco, or a lucky break for the marketing folks at their customer sites and the On Hold providers that support them. A Cisco Call Manager can support a 3rd party player via a direct connection to a physical port, or via a wav file that can be loaded directly onto the server (eliminating need for the 3rd party player). Each solution has its merits. The advantages of using the wav file as a solution are:

• Eliminates purchase of 3rd party player hardware
• Call Manager can support well over 255 file slots. This means that different departments can offer different Cisco MOH, resulting in the creation of programs with direct focus on the type of caller. This is a remarkably high level of flexibility for providing highly focused and targeted marketing and information within one system.
• Some 3rd party players require a 'visit' to the player to update it via CD, cartridge, chip, USB upload or even cassette. Perhaps this is not appealing if the Cisco Call Manager is located in a secure data room (but certainly, the player could be located outside of the data room).

The advantages of using the 3rd party equipment are:

• The Cisco On Hold Messaging content can be easily managed and updated by end-users as opposed to having to rely on Call Manager programming personnel to install and manage updating the file from time to time.
• In some situations, the audio quality of a 3rd party player can be better than a wav file that is seeking a level of voice compression that may alter the intended sound of the program.

Cisco MOH is also an advanced solution for branch office sites that may be served by a 'router only' solution. The SRST router can support a wav file within the router itself. This makes Cisco MOH a truly unique solution in that these branch locations can have their own customized On Hold Messaging programs and not have to simply stream a bandwidth eating solution from Call Manager (though it certainly can). The router can also alternatively support a 3rd party player via a connection to an E&M card within the router. It is important to note that typically, the voice personnel that are granted programming access to Call Manager are not typically given access to program the routers.

When preparing for an installation of Cisco MOH, it is extremely important to understand how Cisco MOH plays wav files. In a network configured for UNICAST, the Cisco MOH wav file plays from the beginning each and every time a station makes a request for an audio file. This works well for Recorded Announcements and Automated Attendant Greetings, but not for general On Hold Messaging. A network configured for MULTICAST works a bit better in that the file can be accessed by multiple stations and callers hear the content from wherever that file is playing at that point in time. This is optimal for nearly all On Hold Messaging and Information On Hold applications. Nearly all Cisco deployments are set up as UNICAST by default.

Cisco Call Manager also comes equipped with properly licensed music files already in place. The music genres and styles are limited but are essentially free. Regardless, the flexibility of the Cisco MOH solution makes Messaging On Hold, Information on Hold, or Marketing On Hold an inexpensive and effective marketing tool for the customer.

For more information on how to leverage the Cisco MOH capability, please call On Hold Marketing at 800-342-0098.

This information is based on OHM experiences with new and ongoing installations. OHM cannot attest to its complete accuracy or be responsible for design changes made by Cisco or any other platform providers.