Deployment Scenarios
Administrators can combine the features of SignalWire Work across a spectrum of deployment scenarios from completely open and ad hoc to very curated, with many choices in between.
At one end of the spectrum, system administrators can choose to run a completely open SignalWire Work deployment, requiring minimal administration. In the most open model, system administrators can choose to simply let any users choose any vanity room names and enable the system to “auto create” all meeting rooms.
In this scenario, meeting participants can decide on-the-fly. For example, one might suggest, “Let’s meet on SignalWire Work next Tuesday at 11. Let’s call the meeting ‘Steve7266’ - OK?”
To secure the meetings, system administrators can simply assign one default moderator PIN for all ad hoc conferences to issue to all internal users and to issue one default guest PIN for all external users. Administrators can rotate these PINs periodically — not unlike distributing shared gate codes to residents of a gated community.
In addition, administrators can "require moderators" in attendance before any guests who have the guest PINs can speak to each other. This measure helps to ensure that guests cannot simply make up their own meeting room names to meet on the moderator’s SignalWire Work deployment.
Pros:
Enables users to simply get together and decide on-the-fly what to name their room to meet in
Requires no system administration of users or rooms
Gets up and running quickly
Cons:
Limited security model because of widely distributed PINs
Limited feature availability to rooms (e.g., no telephone access, no preconfigured security, no preconfigured advertisement of rooms)
At the other end of the spectrum, system administrators can lock down SignalWire Work usage by restricting usage to predefined rooms for workgroups and specific individuals and then issue PINs for each room individually. As in a physical office, people can become aware of the room layout of the virtual office and know where to find others. Some rooms may be advertised as open, similar to an employee lounge, a water cooler, or a lunchroom. Other rooms might be for dedicated tasks (e.g., “war room”, “help desk”).
Pros:
Meeting rooms are a familiar concept
Easy ability to jump between meetings
Enables use of advanced features for rooms
More selective security
Cons:
Requires some upfront meeting space design
Requires ongoing administration (often by delegating administration to a wider audience)
Doesn’t easily facilitate meetings with guests where meeting organizers don’t want to reuse previously known meeting IDs or PINs
As with all extremes, both the a totally open or a totally curated deployment each has its own advantages, but most early SignalWire Work users have ultimately chosen a hybrid approach where they allow for a combination of both ad hoc and curated meeting room setups.
There is always a tradeoff between ease-of-use and access restrictions, and the same applies to SignalWire Work. As such, most early SignalWire Work users have reserved rollout of security features for targeted rooms, while allowing ad hoc collaboration spaces (allowing room auto creation) to run more freely.
Open Ad Hoc Collaboration
At one end of the spectrum, system administrators can choose to run a completely open SignalWire Work deployment, requiring minimal administration. In the most open model, system administrators can choose to simply let any users choose any vanity room names and enable the system to “auto create” all meeting rooms.
In this scenario, meeting participants can decide on-the-fly. For example, one might suggest, “Let’s meet on SignalWire Work next Tuesday at 11. Let’s call the meeting ‘Steve7266’ - OK?”
To secure the meetings, system administrators can simply assign one default moderator PIN for all ad hoc conferences to issue to all internal users and to issue one default guest PIN for all external users. Administrators can rotate these PINs periodically — not unlike distributing shared gate codes to residents of a gated community.
In addition, administrators can "require moderators" in attendance before any guests who have the guest PINs can speak to each other. This measure helps to ensure that guests cannot simply make up their own meeting room names to meet on the moderator’s SignalWire Work deployment.
Pros:
Enables users to simply get together and decide on-the-fly what to name their room to meet in
Requires no system administration of users or rooms
Gets up and running quickly
Cons:
Limited security model because of widely distributed PINs
Limited feature availability to rooms (e.g., no telephone access, no preconfigured security, no preconfigured advertisement of rooms)
Curated Room Setup
At the other end of the spectrum, system administrators can lock down SignalWire Work usage by restricting usage to predefined rooms for workgroups and specific individuals and then issue PINs for each room individually. As in a physical office, people can become aware of the room layout of the virtual office and know where to find others. Some rooms may be advertised as open, similar to an employee lounge, a water cooler, or a lunchroom. Other rooms might be for dedicated tasks (e.g., “war room”, “help desk”).
Pros:
Meeting rooms are a familiar concept
Easy ability to jump between meetings
Enables use of advanced features for rooms
More selective security
Cons:
Requires some upfront meeting space design
Requires ongoing administration (often by delegating administration to a wider audience)
Doesn’t easily facilitate meetings with guests where meeting organizers don’t want to reuse previously known meeting IDs or PINs
Hybrid Setups
As with all extremes, both the a totally open or a totally curated deployment each has its own advantages, but most early SignalWire Work users have ultimately chosen a hybrid approach where they allow for a combination of both ad hoc and curated meeting room setups.
There is always a tradeoff between ease-of-use and access restrictions, and the same applies to SignalWire Work. As such, most early SignalWire Work users have reserved rollout of security features for targeted rooms, while allowing ad hoc collaboration spaces (allowing room auto creation) to run more freely.
Updated on: 12/22/2020
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