For channel leaders, this year feels less like business as usual and more like a reckoning. The UCaaS market is growing, but the old ways of managing voice, contact center, and collaboration are no longer sustainable.
Resellers and service providers face three imposing structural pressures in particular: migrating legacy estates, supporting increasingly fragmented hybrid environments, and protecting margins in a market where customer churn is an ever-present risk.
Cisco’s answer has been decisive. It is not waiting for enterprises to trickle into the cloud on their own terms. Instead, it is driving its vast installed base from BroadSoft, BroadCloud, HCS, and Call Manager directly into Webex Calling. That push is being reinforced by the Webex Cloud Connect programme, which makes it easier for customers to join via direct operator peering rather than building costly local gateways.
The result is a surge in Webex Calling momentum. But partners know the real challenge lies in execution. Migrations must be delivered quickly, reliably, and profitably. This is where AudioCodes positions itself as an essential ally.
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Migration At Scale Without Margin Erosion
Partners cannot afford to stumble on migrations. Moving large estates from legacy Cisco platforms into Webex Calling is a chance to capture significant revenue, but the complexity of integration, routing, and assurance can eat away at profit.
Roy Wizeman, Director of UCaaS Platform and Solutions at AudioCodes, put it bluntly: “Cisco is directly pushing its on-prem customers to the cloud… all roads lead to Webex Calling.”
The opportunity is clear. The risk is that partners who lack automation or operational efficiency will see gains offset by spiralling costs.
AudioCodes offers two routes. For service providers already in Cisco’s Cloud Connect program, its technology accelerates delivery. For those not enrolled, AudioCodes can step in as the Cloud Connect Provider itself. In both cases, its Live Platform takes on the heavy lifting, automating provisioning, routing, and ongoing management.
This automation flips the economics of migration. Instead of consuming engineering time and margin, partners can scale projects quickly and focus on customer outcomes. In an age when speed is absolutely critical, that difference is decisive.
Solving the Hybrid Puzzle
The second challenge is that organizations rarely operate in a neat, single-vendor world. Wizeman outlined the situation: “Many enterprises still run hybrid environments. They might have Webex Calling in some regions, Microsoft Teams in others, or even keep on-prem deployments in certain sites.”
Supporting this mix has traditionally been one of the most costly and complex burdens for service providers.
This is where AudioCodes’ breadth matters. Its portfolio spans SBCs, gateways, Cloud Connect certification, and even mobile connectivity through its Tango Networks partnership. Crucially, Live Platform consolidates all of this into a single pane of glass, allowing partners to manage both straightforward voice deployments and sprawling multi-UCaaS estates in one place.
That consolidation extends well beyond streamlining operations. It elevates partners as trusted advisors capable of guiding customers through hybrid complexity, turning what could be a cost center into a strategic differentiator.
Building Stickiness Beyond Voice
The third battleground for channel leaders is retention. UCaaS is highly competitive, with low switching costs. Price alone cannot keep customers loyal. Stickiness comes from delivering differentiated services that customers rely on day in, day out.
This is why AudioCodes embeds AI-driven features directly into Live Platform. Once connectivity is in place, partners can unlock transcription, compliance recording, and meeting insights on a pay-as-you-go basis. There is no need for partners to develop or host these services themselves.
Benny Matityahu, VP of Unified Communications and Collaboration at AudioCodes, described the advantage clearly: “That’s what makes AudioCodes unique — we’re not just a vendor or a platform provider. We’re both. That end-to-end approach helps partners move faster and capture more opportunities.”
By helping partners expand into these services, AudioCodes ensures that once a customer is embedded on Webex Calling, with AI-powered applications layered on top, switching becomes far less attractive. This creates recurring revenue for partners and deeper engagement with customers, protecting margins and reaffirming long-term relationships.
The Partner Play
For service providers and resellers, the migration wave created by Cisco’s Webex Calling push is both a challenge and an opportunity. Customers will move. The only question is whether partners can do it profitably, simplify the hybrid sprawl, and create stickiness beyond the voice layer.
AudioCodes has positioned itself squarely at the heart of that opportunity. By combining its dual role in Cisco’s Cloud Connect ecosystem with the automation power of Live Platform and the value of integrated AI-powered services, it empowers partners with the ability to capture growth and defend margins.
As we head rapidly towards 2026, the UCaaS market is unforgiving. But with Cisco setting the pace and AudioCodes providing the tools, channel leaders have a clear path to scaling migrations, mastering hybrid environments, and locking in recurring value.
Discover how AudioCodes can help you capitalize on Webex Calling adoption and unlock new growth opportunities. Learn more about AudioCodes’ Webex Calling solutions here.
