The Cisco Board Series offers room devices for hybrid teamwork. Its latest generation models, the Board Pro 55 and Board Pro 75, bring video conferencing and co-creation to small and medium-sized workspaces, conference rooms, and ideation spaces. These room devices feature an AI-powered chipset, a responsive, 55- or 75-inch touch screen, speaker-tracking dual cameras, built-in speakers and microphones, and a versatile set of mounting and peripheral options. Users can join any video meeting,…
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Polycom RealPresence Group Series
Score 6.0 out of 10
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The Polycom RealPresence Group Series is a video conferencing codec that connects to a standards-based video conferencing infrastructure to allow users to make video conference calls. There are three products in the series – RealPresence Group 300, RealPresence Group 500, and RealPresence Group 700. It is certified to use with Office 365 and Skype for Business.
The above-mentioned tools that I used before are not much more effective than Cisco Webex Board Series. It enables me to save everything on the cloud which I have created on the Webex Board and associate it easily with a virtual meeting. My team members can easily pick up where …
Polycom Group Series was very good for what it used to do for its time, however newer technology that provides a more simpler method to configure, join and host video conference meetings has come in the form of Zoom and [Microsoft] Teams which is hard to go back from and …
When it comes to the functionality of the board's display in a hybrid meeting, the Cisco Board Series Pro does a good job of making remote participants feel included by clearly relaying In large conference rooms, the AI virtual lens and the camera views, such as the People Focus, make sure that all are visible.
If you're always working in the Polycom ecosystem then the Group Series codecs are reliable and the quality of the camera and microphones are extremely good. However, the system relies heavily on either having onsite server technology and/or cloud based bridging capability. In addition, the peripherals like cameras and microphones are quite expensive. Maintenance and support costs also make the ongoing investment a costly one
The only issue that we have experienced with Polycom RealPresence Group Series is the speed dial functionality. When attempting to use the speed dial buttons, the system occasionally sends a call through the computer system, not the phone. While the computer call option is valuable, not everyone can answer calls that way and we have had to do a manual lookup of an extension and call back when that happens.
By leveraging the features of the Cisco Board, sales teams can deliver more engaging, interactive, and impactful presentations to clients, whether in-person or remotely, potentially leading to improved client relationships and increased sales effectiveness. We can easily train internal employees across multiple offices without the need to have them come into one site for training
It is very easy to use and pick up, even for people who haven't used these devices before. There can be some initial difficulty in knowing what to do and when, and the lack of remote control is a fairly big letdown. If the screen is far away from you, it is not great to have to keep getting up.
The directory is slightly dated and unless you have a Skype for Business integration license, dialing users into a call is difficult. The Group Series Remote whilst minimalistic is actually more difficult to use than the previous HDX remote. Having to recharge the battery on the group series remote is both annoying and difficult as if you do not keep on top of it, you will be faced with a situation where the remote is not working and then have to try and find another one. Not ideal if you need to start a video call (assuming auto join has not been enabled in the admin portal).
Cisco Webex Board Series comes from a reputed company like Cisco. They are known for their loyal customer base and a major reason for their customer base is their awesome customer support. They are quick to respond and the demo team explained very elaborately. The whole process was done within the given timeline. We are totally impressed by their support.
I can't say I've needed support more than a handful of times. One was for trying to connect a Polycom Conference phone and a Real Presence together. After a few months, we came to the conclusion it wasn't possible, that was the only frustrating occurance with support. Any other time if we needed to RMA a device, it was very smooth.
The Cisco Webex Board is part of the Cisco product line and is really well integrated as such. We have been using Webex for meetings and so it felt Natural to leverage the tools made for this environment. It's quite seamless for our users, even the novice ones. The other key element is that we knew that this significant investment was for the long term, and we trust that Cisco will keep bringing innovation to add to the user experience.
The Polycom RealPresence Group Series was top of the line. It had a lot more features as well as the ability to integrate with Microsoft Teams. With Highfive, you had to pay to keep the device running and it was more like renting it. Although we pay maintenance with Polycom we will own the devices. The Highfive camera also didn't move. Lifesize was comparable but it did not integrate with Microsoft Teams at the time. It may as of now, I am not sure.
Once pexip integrates Polycom/skype this will be a big win for us due to the RPTouch integrating the "one - touch join". This will increase adoption of video greatly.
Before the Group series with peripherals was implemented the cost of a video room was twice what it is today. Massive win.
Due to provisioning and automated firmware the IT involvement has been greatly reduced. No longer is there a need for manual changes to individual endpoints.
