Aircall vs. Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)

Aircall is a great fit for any SaaS organization for sales and support groups. Since I come from sales, I cannot talk about support, but for the sales team, it's a great help. It's intuitive and user-friendly. No need for formal training as it's very easy to access all the features you need. I particularly like the option of taking calls on my mobile phone while I am away from my desk or traveling, and also how I can easily manage my working hours and schedule. I also like its ability to interact with different CRMs and other useful tools like Slack, etc.

Incentivized

Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams is a remote/virtual team collaboration tool must have...especially if you already use Microsoft tools. Of course, since it now part of an MS 365 subscription, it really doesn't make sense to use anything else. It is easy to use and just works. I'm not sure how anyone who works with digital files/documents and needs to work with other people doing similar work can be effective without such a tool. Of course, there are a number of alternatives like Zoom or Webex, but why pay or use another separate tool if you don't need to. :-)

Incentivized

• Aircall's integration with HubSpot is fantastic. I can call from anywhere in HubSpot and know that my call is logged automatically. During my call, I have easy access to a contact's record and can pull up any information I need in just the click of a button. The only limit I've found is that it doesn't (yet?) auto-log to tickets. This seems to be pretty common among other integrations so it wasn't seen as a con in our buying decision.
• I really like the Aircall dashboard and being able to customize who has access to what number. We even have the ability to give outbound calling privileges only to certain team members. It's also great that you can set up each individual number's answer tree to ring to the correct person.
• There's a lot of cool features that don't make sense for our particular business, but I think Aircall's metric tracking and coaching abilities would be really useful for a lot of teams. I remember in my first call hearing about a feature where a manager can listen in and "whisper" tips to a rep during a call that only the rep would be able to hear. I can see how this would add value in a coaching situation.

Incentivized

• Instant messaging to anyone who we know only by name/email. Even if they're offline, they get the message in missed convos and a notification automatically goes to them via Outlook mail. All conversations are saved and accessible via Outlook.
• Video and voice calls are a norm in the WFH scenario, and an average employee has around 4-5 calls a day. Skype gives notifications for upcoming meetings, allows easy scheduling via outlook calendar, and its audio/video quality [is] reasonably good compared to the amount of data it consumes.
• Status availabilities - in the WFH scenario, you could be off for lunch, out of office, busy, sharing screens - and might not want to be disturbed. Skype allows you to do that, and in case you're off, ensures that you know that you have missed messages.
• Screen sharing - we have to share screens at least once or twice a day with a coworker when working on some issues/features, and Skype easily lets us do that. One of the best things about Skype is that the screen can be shared without being on a video/voice call - which is of immense advantage because oftentimes, you could prefer sharing the screen, while it [is] too noisy to talk.

• No schedule for bank holidays
• No feature to update more than one phone line at the same time
• Admins don't have access to the timeline of a call to see with which agent it rang
• Missing agent-specific stats when your phone lines are organized in teams
• If calls are setup to ring to a first group and then a second, if the whole first group is already busy, it does not go to the second group but puts the customer on hold

Incentivized

• Connection issues can be hard to diagnose when they come up(as some knowledge of server information may be needed to reestablish as the connection troubleshooting options on the sky are not as user-friendly as the rest of the platform.
• Some issues setting up camera/sound could use more info on troubleshooting options with playback sound, video, etc.
• Statuses sometimes are unreliable and do not display correctly .

Incentivized

I give this rating as aircall is very easy to use but also lacks a parallel dialing feature which makes it slower to use. aircall has a pretty seamless integration with salesforce which is helpful. For the cost it is definitely very reasonable but it also lacks a live coaching/listening feature which is very valuable as a manager.

Incentivized

The software is simple to install and configure. It is rather simple to explain for correct use. It is possible to profile users for the different functions offered. It is integrated quite completely with Outlook and with Active Directory security. It performs all communication functions well with one or more interlocutors and the possibility of granting control of your computer is convenient.

Incentivized

I provide this rating based on my overall experience using Aircall. I have used it on my previous company as well and that being said, it is a proof that Aircall is a great tool to use in contact centers and with B2B businesses that has direct communication with clients.

Very easy to use. Even though Microsoft Teams has a lot of features and integrations, as a user I feel completely comfortable on finding what I need, getting information about the app extensions and using them. It's a very comprehensive tool, intuitive design and does not make me feel tired to be using it. I am glad with the current experience.

We've enjoyed using Aircall so far and have had no issues with it. The platform is easy to use, looks nice, and makes it easy to keep track of everything.

Incentivized

I have only had to reach out to the Support team at Skype for Business once with an issue, and I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the quickness and thoroughness of their response. The wait time was short and my question was dealt with politely and clearly, so I would say the support team has it together.

Incentivized

Skpe for business is utilized company wide in regards to my company. Everyone not only uses it, but uses it often. It is an effective way of communicating. It also integrates very nicely with outlook and all conversation history is pushed to a folder within the outlook system. We also have it so that if someone misses a message, they are sent an email reminder saying that there is a message that went unread.

Incentivized

We used to answer phone calls on our fix line when at the office. The quality was very bad but we had in mind that a VOIP solution would be too expensive. When lockdown began last year, I had to redirect calls on my own mobile phone which was not efficient. Also I couldn't receive voicemails, have a history of calls or choose working hours.

For the below reason I will always choose this app over its competitors: Better audio and video quality, Little to no disconnections or freezing when on a call/video conference Integrates well with mailbox/ calendar/ one drive, and SharePoint is easy to use

• Because of the lack of local partnerships with South African telecoms companies, calls to South Africa is very expensive. This was not originally apparent when opening the Aircall account.
• Not having the option to display a local South African number in the CLIP, means that people are not always eager to pick up the phone when they see an overseas number ringing.
• The only positive impact has been the collaborative experience and being able to maintain a virtual office

Incentivized

• Skype for Business has enabled a migration in part away from fixed line telephony and introduced the user to mobile working with a headset which cannot be overstated as being a game changer.
• Being able to schedule Skype for Business meetings through Outlook has meant meetings with colleagues without a meeting room has been a great enabler.

Incentivized