Avaya UCaaS vs. Google Hangouts (Classic)

Call centers where lots of calls come in per day are better suited for Cloud office. Small businesses or companies that don’t really make outgoing calls or receive a lot of incoming calls other than within the company would not really be suited for Avaya Cloud Office.

Incentivized

Had I completed this review a couple years ago, I would have given a rating of 9 or 10 as Hangouts (Classic) is an excellent product. However, now that Google Chat has succeeded Hangouts, I would not recommend that any new users begin using it where other more modern options are available. Android users who want an internet based instant messaging that also supports calling and video calling could benefit from using Hangouts (Classic) as Google Chat requires the user to also have Google Meet installed to make video calls and there is no voice only calling option.

Incentivized

• User-friendly GUI management interface with the possibility to create different rooms, notebooks, calendars, and chats.
• The management interface for recordings is made in the rooms with the possibility of downloading them to the location.
• Link and file sharing with other participants.
• Chat with all participants and individual.

Incentivized

• Google Hangouts (Classic) is embedded within Gmail's scheduler, so setting up the link is as quick as a click of the button. It's a one-step process.
• Google Hangouts (Classic) is user-friendly and [has] features to share screens easily.
• Google Hangouts (Classic) is much easier to use than its competitors.
• Google Hangouts (Classic) have [a] good connection time and there are few glitches.

Incentivized

• Avaya has very strong contact center offerings and more contact with our salesperson would be helpful, so we can explore the latest offerings
• Although it's adequate a slightly more intuitive UI would be helpful
• More integrated reporting at the end-user level.

Incentivized

• I would like to see improved video support, so that saved videos can be sent back and forth via Hangouts more easily, without having to start a separate meet chat
• More pronounced notifications of messages would be helpful; pop up notifications are good, but once there is one, additional messages do not pop up
• Custom muting times would be great, so that if I am in a 90 minute Zoom meeting, I can set it for that time; right now, it is 1 hour or 2 hours. Easy to forget.

Incentivized

Things change, business requirements change so when we come to renew we may explore other options, we might go all in on Teams or look at something different - we need something that allows us to increase and importantly decrease our licence count more flexably which Avaya / Ring Central don't allow.

Incentivized

There are few times that we have not been able to take advantage of the tool, but those moments are related to the bandwidth of each person in [their] home. Those who have low signal cannot access meetings on the platform smoothly.

The tool is almost self-implemented. It is likely to be available in every pc or mobile device a user or potential user might have, and all you need to do is adding the company's account and you are done. Once you are setted up, you have almost all actual communication methods available in one tool

Incentivized

Throughout a year and and a half of remote learning, we only experience two minor technology issues that were resolved within an hour

Incentivized

We have not been faced to any performance issue.

Incentivized

I have never contacted support directly. However, my rep with Enterprise Systems is excellent. Since joining Avaya, all inquiries and/or concerns have always been resolved within a reasonable amount of time. If it's a less complex issue, it is resolved in real time. I receive a response within 30 minutes or less. When he is out of the office, he always has a backup.

Incentivized

Google Hangouts works great and does not require a lot of work to troubleshoot. Everything is simple and easy to use. Google provides all of the tools that one requires to utilize Google Hangouts and any information can be found in the built-in help tools. There is also a forum for users to report issues and typically, Google responds well and will try to work out any issues.

Incentivized

whilst on site it was delivered by teams to the desks , not the fault of the trainer

Incentivized

The online training was clear and effective.

Incentivized

Thank to the help of Avaya implementation team, the migration was done with minimal impact. All activities were well defined and done in time.

Incentivized

Apart from Cisco Webex Calling/app no other vendor offers their own phones hardware, gateways. We need to add other vendors like yealink, Poly, Audiocodes to complete the solution. This makes things very difficult from management perspective. As you have to hire a person who can manage a multivendor environment. Also, in case of outage, multiple bridge open and every vendor blame others. Cisco is costly so we gave a chance to Avaya UCaaS based on its history and reputation in Calling market.

Incentivized

Google is the white cotton socks of the conferencing world. It’s a great ad-hoc tool, but not too much more. If you are not looking to spend money or operate completely on WiFi (without data charges), it’s a great free option as well. The benefit of being free and open is also the liability. It doesn’t have a great integration story with other corporate tools, but [it doesn’t have to] if you aren’t looking for that. All in all, it’s as helpful and ubiquitous as a public payphone…without the pay…and with a video capability.

Incentivized

It fits us well being in multiple geographic areas and we can purchase local numbers or do a BYOD SBC setup

Incentivized

• This made working from home possible, allowing me to take calls that I wouldn't be able to without having them forwarded by our communications department
• It works with Teams, realizing when I'm on a conf call and automatically sets a status of away, preventing my phone from ringing, but allowing me to see the voicemail via text so that I can respond
• If I step out of the office for a little bit, I can have my calls go directly to my cellphone to make sure I'm still available if needed

Incentivized

• I believe it was part of the google suite that was purchased. It was worth the cost as it was cheaper. I believe it is now free, but also becoming deprecated. It is much better to use Teams, Discord, Telegram, etc. Google does not provide enough support or features to make using hangouts worth it these days.

Incentivized