Overcoming Challenges in a Two Floor Call Center Networking Project
Starting a call center networking project is not always an easy task and if all the work is awaited on one person. This was exactly my situation when I was ordered to organize the network for a new Call center which should occupy two floors.
The Initial Assessment:
First, on getting to the site, one would be able to determine the size of the project we would be undertaking. The call center has been put into two floors. The first decision I made was to assess all the buildings in a bid to at least have a feel of the situation. This included the establishment of where working spaces would be in the facility, placement of the cables within the passages, and the possible positions of switches, routers, and other communicating devices.
Cabling: The Backbone of the Network
Connection of cables from one floor to the other was quite difficult and this required a lot of planning as well as the manner in which it was going to be done. These cables required proper routing and could not present any issue. The cables also had to be measured properly, cut and labeled so that all devices to be connected should be connected by the cables.
Setting Up the Systems:
After this it was then time to put in the sets of cabling once these were done the next step was to put in the systems. The switches, routers and the workstations and the putting up of the DMZ, firewall and the connectivity of the entire network. Every device was to be connected to the network and the connection had to be examined if it was fine or not.
Troubleshooting and Testing:
The final tasks of the project concerning the systems included identification of faults and the assessment of the effectiveness of the system. But it can perhaps be said that this is the most planned set up that remained because any problem that was not diagnosable was most likely to cause a glitch in the running of the call center. I had to verify all systems links, assess existing problems, and make sure that the entire network is steady and safeguarded.
The Challenges of Working Alone:
The worst moment, which can be stated as the major challenge I had to overcome when managing such a large scale project at a certain moment is the fact that I had to do it alone. I continued pulling through fully aware that the success of the project depended on me. This was so because all the activities had to be done at specific times hence a lot of planning had to be done.
The call center got operational and was actually working properly and I was happy to be part of a such a good team.
