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Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services vs. FluentCloud

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ACisco offers hosted unified communications as a service.N/A

    FluentCloud

    Score9.6 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    FluentCloud, from FluentStream Technologies, is a dynamic, cloud-based business phone system. FluentCloud includes FluentStream's leading phone system, phone service and customer support team, all in one. The FluentCloud product aims to provide businesses with new telecommunications flexibility, with an emphasis on price and performance. In addition, the vendor offers a wide range of custom applications and communications integration strategies to businesses and software…

    $20

    per user per month

    Pricing
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesFluentCloud
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Essential
    $20.00
    per user per month
    Advanced
    $30.00
    per user per month
    Complete
    $45.00
    per user per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesFluentCloud
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Unlimited calls to the US and Canada, first-class quality and 99.99% uptime US-based customer support team and fully customizable plans with “A-La-Carte” options.
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesFluentCloud
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services and FluentCloud
    Feature
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
    -
    Ratings
    FluentCloud
    8.9
    2 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Hosted PBX00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    User templates00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Call reports00 Ratings7.82 Ratings
    Directory of employee names00 Ratings8.72 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services and FluentCloud
    Feature
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
    -
    Ratings
    FluentCloud
    8.4
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Answering rules00 Ratings5.62 Ratings
    Call recording00 Ratings9.62 Ratings
    Call park00 Ratings6.92 Ratings
    Call screening00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Message alerts00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services and FluentCloud
    Feature
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
    -
    Ratings
    FluentCloud
    7.0
    1 Ratings
    12% below category average
    Audio conferencing00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services and FluentCloud
    Feature
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
    -
    Ratings
    FluentCloud
    5.0
    1 Ratings
    45% below category average
    Mobile app for iOS00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesFluentCloud
    Small Businesses
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    Score9.1 out of 10
    CallFire
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Webex Calling
    Score8.8 out of 10
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    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Webex Calling
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesFluentCloud
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    9.6
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesFluentCloud
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    It is well suited for: Clients with call managers that want to continue using Cisco and want to minimize the new CAPEX. Clients that want to outsource the platform management and support. Clients that have a variation on the number of extensions. Although, Cisco HCS, is a solution that has a higher opex than the ones supported in ISP IP Centrex.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FluentStream Technologies
    I have tried a few programs over the years to record and track calls and this one is by far the best. Easy to use and more functions than I will ever use. I love the reporting options. There was one particular scenario that comes to mind where I was glad to have FluentCloud. I had a client that was really really angry, cussing, yelling, threatening suit, etc. because he had gone to an appointment almost 2 hours away and when he got there the woman told him that we forced her to schedule the appointment, that we were pushy and rude and she just wanted to get off the phone. Thankfully I found the recording and was able to prove to him that she DID schedule the appointment but she also picked the day and time, answered all of the questions and took absolutely no persuasion at all. Basically it was an easy close. The client couldn't believe it and still to this day he is my client.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • VoIP best practices
    • UC and IM
    • Centralized management and provisioning
    • Reduced OPEX/CAPEX in the implementation
    • Security and integration with other UC platforms using SIP (Except Lync)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FluentStream Technologies
    • FluentCloud is excellent at customer service, their staff is always helpful and responsive. I have never had a typical service experience where first diagnosis is always the user's system. Their engineering staff is also hands on, I've been so grateful to have Brian's help in selecting the right router - he even configured it for us.
    • Ease of use, the system is quite easy to use even beyond adding extensions, users, new DID phone numbers and complex routing queues. It's also easy to configure feature codes and program them so users can perform multi-step tasks with a few key punches on their dial pad. We use feature codes to allow callers to switch their caller ID to our DID numbers that are local to the area on the fly.
    • Robust features: ability for whisper coaching, barge in and a dashboard to visually check the status of each user.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Integration with contact center plaforms
    • Integration with other UC platforms
    • Lower the tennant size and clusters capacity
    • Cisco's pressure to buy more and more licences, even not having a stale client pipeline (From the ISP point of view)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FluentStream Technologies
    • There are times when calls are really garbled, there was a couple months there that we couldn't listen to any of the recordings because they were not decipherable.
    • They changed something recently where now when you are listening to a recording and you hit pause it takes you back to the beginning when you start again rather than just continuing where you left off. That is a pain in the butt because I have to pause quite often for interruptions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    FluentStream Technologies
    At this time there our research has found that feature for feature there isn't a better solution for our needs at this cost point. We have had great success and don't foresee a need to change
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco HCS platform is to be seen as a centralized UC platforms, that can be scalable as an IP Centrex solution and as rich in functionalities as a Cisco CUCM. If you're looking for a solution and your main focus is IM & P functionalities rather than voice, Lync is a good solution. If your focus is voice and telephony, Cisco is a better solution
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FluentStream Technologies
    I have used others besides what is listed below but FluentCloud is by far the best I have used, especially when it comes to tracking and reporting call volume and production of our calls. Being a call center that is production based on call volume having something like FluentCloud is essential.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Reduces the need to have a higher CAPEX in order to buy all the licenses at the start of the project.
    • The licensing is perpetual, the only associated cost with the licenses are SWSS.
    • Desktop sharing isn't a functionality.
    • Cisco SMB series can be used only with the higher cost licensing (Foundation/Standard).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FluentStream Technologies
    • FluentCloud is a good value, we have done extensive cost comparison and the feature set vs price is very favorable.
    • The lack of a contract and ability to dynamically add or remove extensions as needed is great, we only pay for what we use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    FluentCloud Screenshots

    Screenshot of Completely hosted VoIP solution with 99.99% uptimeScreenshot of Online web portal with full self-management capabilitiesScreenshot of Full Call Reporting Dashboards