3CX vs. Avaya Contact Center

In many scenarios decision is driven by budget and compared to other solutions at the time of purchase [3CX] was simply the cheapest solution for what it has to offer. If you are looking for integrations, extensibility, and advanced functionalities, this might not be a solution for you. At the time of use (and this may have changed by now), there was a lack of APIs, CLI commands, and similar so nothing could be automated with the system. There are ways of importing data through CSV but automation would solve us so much time and support calls if we were able to connect with other systems.

Incentivized

I would say well-suited for the everyday user, with the ability to use the products. I think it's really user-friendly in that way. The lack of education for the end users, maybe through some of our companies, makes it difficult. And the turnover.

Incentivized

• Simplicity: Using a single 3CX interface we can manage every phone and extension used throughout our company.
• Flexibility: There are a wide variety of options to configure each extension and phone. Changing anything after the hardware is deployed is very easy.
• Portability: Phones with 3CX can be easily moved or repurposed within an office or at remote locations, including users' homes. The mobile app allows users to use their office extension anywhere without exposing their cell number.

Incentivized

• The app and the ability to use the "office" phone while on the road.
• There's an easy implementation and training process to get everyone on board quickly.
• Flexibility of transferring calls to different mediums - I can switch a phone call to a conference or patch in other parties with ease.

Incentivized

• I would like to be able to see direct-dial numbers on the handsets. Currently that is not possible but that would be a nice feature.
• You need an SBC per location, which can be a point of failure.
• You also need a server that might get disconnected, which is another point of failure.

Incentivized

• Calls are automatically terminated at an agent and do not allow for the agent to "manually" answer the incoming call. This is very problematic as agents are not able to prepare properly for incoming calls. In addition, agents have stepped away from their desks and forgotten to put themselves in an away status, and calls have been directed to them, and they just sit there with no agent present. This is a very undesirable feature of the system.
• Password resets are extremely problematic and continuously cause problems for users. Agents are prompted to change their password upon expiry, and when they follow the instructions as outlined, it rarely works and ends up needing a full reset. The challenge questions are useless and do not work at all.
• Support can be a bit challenging as there are definite language barriers that have made both explaining the problem and understanding the recommended solution difficult.
• The system is sometimes unreliable and will randomly log agents out with no explanation. Agents are then advised by support to log out, clear cache, and log back in. This is not feasible in a busy call center.

Incentivized

I am really not the decision maker on this subject but given the cost of the investment in Avaya, I do not see the company not renewing the use of Avaya. The new licensing model no longer requires expensive upgrades to stay current with new features added to the system and really helps with the cost of investment.

Incentivized

Avaya has versatility in calling, receiving, and configuring. Being able to have notion of location, exchange of messages. we could see supplier information and configure it to our liking. as it is practicality for configuration and manual handling. Interactive and easy to learn screen. Being able to generate call reports for analysis of service in others

Incentivized

The 3CX Phone System is only a five because while they provide set-up/how-to/Q and A documents to help your district or company get started, they do not offer support for free. The documents provided, though, are good enough for you to get you up and running. We also found a good source of help through a sip trunk provider, which was a 3CX reseller provider.

Incentivized

I give it this rating because the support services of Avaya have proven to be reliable when needed. Great feedback for our queries has always been received from the support agents. 24/7 availability of support, which is very essential as our Call Center department also functions this way, therefore, the knowledge and technical support we require is always available to us.

No, everything was implemented by Avaya Support

Incentivized

The main differences between 8x8, Inc. and 3CX is pricing and ease of use in my opinion. The 3CX system uses annual based pricing plans based on of simultaneous calls your company needs, not the number of extensions/users and offers a free plan. 8x8, Inc. charges per extension with different plans. We currently have 19 extensions so the 3CX system makes more sense for us, however, if your company only has a few extensions you may want to throughly consider both options. In my experience, it was difficult to add new extensions and phones with 8x8 because at least at that time we had 8x8 I could not add anything on the web admin. I had to call a sales rep which took a lot more time. Also, if you didn't purchase a phone and/or headset directly from 8x8 at a usually higher price than Amazon for example then you would have to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to hours on the phone with 8x8 tech support to program the phone to work with the 8x8 system so adding a new extension could turn into a long ordeal. I can easily add new extensions on 3CX directly in the web cpanel. Granted, if you are actually adding a new phone number you would need to purchase that number from a company like ATT first before adding it to 3CX. The difference between a phone number and an extension would be a phone number allows a customer to call in directly using that number. The extension would require the customer to call the main business number then be transferred to the extension. 3CX provides a list of supported phone models on their website

Incentivized

Switched from Polycom to Avaya, although polycom worked well there were too many reoccuring connectivity issues and the turn around time for solving them was also too long. Avaya has fewer connectivity problems and their support is much better too. Pricing wise they were similar so we didn't have much to lose.

Incentivized

• 3CX has a lot to offer for a very low cost as its business model is based on simultaneous calls and not per device. It's very cost effective and very affordable.
• As the 3CX server does not require a high-performance server to run, with the Public Cloud option, it might allow even further savings.

Incentivized

• Overall from a business objective standpoint, Avaya has to have had a positive impact on our Return on Investment. Its use in day-to-day operations has been beneficial to not only the company, but the business as well.
• Using the Avaya soft phones supplies a business or company a way to limit expenditures on the hard phones by allowing the use of Avaya soft phones. The equipment is no longer needed, save for headsets to be used with the application itself.
• Business objectives have to be just that, objectives. Economics begs for ways for a company to limit expenditures that may see little or no return. Avaya has tackled this issue and won!

Incentivized