8x8 X Series (Formerly Virtual Office) vs HCL Sametime (formerly from IBM)

• Conference call feature is great. We have created multiple conference bridges, we even have one tied to our virtual attendant.
• We like the flexibility of the auto attendant and being able to have more than one profile saved that we can change as needed
• Having Virtual office was especially great when hurricane Irma came through last year and our office had no power, it allowed us to continue to operate from our cell phones without the customer realizing there was anything different.

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• Sametime's web-based interfaces are "zero load", requiring no plug-ins to be installed to join a meeting, launch a meeting, or use chat in a browser. A plugin is required only if you want to share your screen.
• Integration with IBM Notes is very tight. Sametime's chat status can change according to your Notes calendar. You can easily see if someone who just emailed you is available to chat. Your chat History is right inside Notes as well.
• IBM's mobile apps are top notch. We automated the apps for our users thanks to IBM's work with third party MDMs. This made it very simple for us to deploy the Sametime mobile apps -- Chat and Meetings -- and get new capabilities such as Audio & Video mobilized quickly.
• No down time, ever. The rock solid WebSphere back-end of Sametime means the environment is always up. Period.

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• The iPhone app is powerful, but clunky.
• The technical support (which was absolutely amazing when we first signed up with 8x8) is terrible now. The same goes for their customer service (that is, if there is a problem that tech support can't fix or doesn't handle well, and then you call customer service to complain, they'll just pat you on the head and tell you to go on your way).
• The web interface is difficult to use, both from a user standpoint and an administrator standpoint.

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• Not convenient for a large group meeting.
• Very basic tool for internal communication only not available for third party communication
• Very basic and limited mobile app features.
• High speed connection is needed to connect to Sametime

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• When I am the only person covering the phone, I can get messages or calls anywhere and anytime and make sure that they are forwarded to the right person. This ensures that appointments are kept and employees don't waste time on appointments that get canceled.
• When someone is out on leave, it is convenient to forward their calls to someone else to make sure customers get attention when needed.
• Text capabilities allow our patients to contact us promptly for appointment cancellations. We are then able to fill those times with other patients who need to get in.

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• Sametime keeps many of our team members in contact throughout the day which leads to increased productivity which makes everyone happy.
• We use the team chat room feature every day. This allows a team to stay focused on the task without any extra messages that are not on topic.
• The split between IBM Sametime, Slack and Google Hangouts has caused some issues when team members are not checking for messages on a certain app.

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