AT&T Office@Hand vs. Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

Well suited for very basic needs and low phone count. For basic service it will perform as needed. If more advanced needs are required, this will not turn out to be a good fit. Lack of Voicemail to text or email greatly angered the company, slow Video conferencing pushed us back to Zoom and the app was not well put together in my opinion so adoption became almost impossible.

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager platform would be most suited for the below scenarios. 1. An organization with very restricted policies and compliance where can't move to cloud-based solutions for data security. They can install the CUCM on-premises. 2. An organization that is still on a legacy phone system could adopt CUCM to save costs and have better services.

• Receiving phone calls
• Making phone calls

• This solution is extremely stable and has been running in our environment for several years without (unscheduled) downtime.
• The ability to have voicemails automatically sent as an email message is extremely helpful in helping us to keep in touch while away from the desk.
• The Call Manager provides us very granular settings to route our calls as we want.

Incentivized

• Terrible customer service
• Many advanced features that most now want are not developed yet
• No Voicemail to text or even as an attachment to emails so getting voicemail remotely is horrible/difficult

• Administration web page is little bit hard to understand at the beginning specially if you are not familiar with naming convention and GU Interfaces.
• Call Detail Record interface is fine but would be desirable to include more options that fit organization needs in terms of reporting purposes.
• Self Care Portal interface could be more useful to the end user if it includes options to manage some features without administrators involving.

Incentivized

We have been using this product for 20+ years and will continue too. This is a great product and new features are always coming out.

Incentivized

Although it's very easy to use, once you understand the concepts of IP telephony, as I said before, I think Cisco could have improved the management interface of the platform, adding modern technologies and the design language of the other platforms like DNA Center, etc. This interface hasn't had a substantial improvement for about 10 years

Incentivized

CUCM is supported by most third-party vendors for related products, so it makes finding solutions to specific needs easy. Also Cisco TAC is very knowledgeable, and we have never run into a problem they have not been able to resolve. Usually they are resolved without the need to escalate tickers either.

Incentivized

This was the first phone system we implemented that could span multiple locations. We were very satisfied once fully implemented

Incentivized

Horrible. Collaberate was a little slow at times in responding, but they never just left us hanging with unresolved issues. I am now going with a local guy so I do not have to deal with this stuff. I get very irritated when I am transferred to someone over seas that English is not their first language, and they are working off of a script. Although some of them were more helpful than my assigned migration person.

We have been a Cisco based shop and have looked at other cloud voice options such as MS Teams pbx, and others, but ultimately, the features, endpoints, and reliability of Cisco has been the common factor in staying with them as our voice provider. Their integrations, room systems, and hybrid design allows for us to be flexible and keep a high up time vs reliance on 100% cloud.

Incentivized

• I wish I had never switched from my local VOIP phone provider
• Office at Hand is a mistake I wish I'd never made

• Communication and collaboration - Our offices are able to communicate both internally and externally due to this system.
• Down time - Struggles with CUCM has caused a lot of down time due to the instability of the system.
• High Costs - the cost of both the license and the maintenance was much higher than other systems.

Incentivized