Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services vs. Google Hangouts (Classic)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers hosted unified communications as a service.N/A
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
The classic version of Google Hangouts is a communication platform that includes messaging, voice, VoIP, and video call capabilities. It was part of Google’s G Suite offering and integrated with applications such as Gmail and Google+. Users of the classic version of Hangouts will be migrated to the new Hangouts Chat collaboration tool, and Google continues to support conferencing via the new Hangouts Meet.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesGoogle Hangouts (Classic)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesGoogle Hangouts (Classic)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesGoogle Hangouts (Classic)
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesGoogle Hangouts (Classic)
Cloud PBX
Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
Google Hangouts (Classic)
6.5
57 Ratings
23% below category average
Hosted PBX00 Ratings6.915 Ratings
Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)00 Ratings7.725 Ratings
User templates00 Ratings5.422 Ratings
Call reports00 Ratings9.034 Ratings
Directory of employee names00 Ratings3.345 Ratings
Call Management
Comparison of Call Management features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
Google Hangouts (Classic)
7.9
66 Ratings
7% below category average
Answering rules00 Ratings8.033 Ratings
Call recording00 Ratings7.437 Ratings
Call park00 Ratings7.018 Ratings
Call screening00 Ratings9.036 Ratings
Message alerts00 Ratings8.158 Ratings
VoIP system collaboration
Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
Google Hangouts (Classic)
9.0
84 Ratings
8% above category average
Video conferencing00 Ratings9.379 Ratings
Audio conferencing00 Ratings9.379 Ratings
Video screen sharing00 Ratings8.048 Ratings
Instant messaging00 Ratings9.352 Ratings
Mobile apps
Comparison of Mobile apps features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
Google Hangouts (Classic)
8.4
85 Ratings
1% above category average
Mobile app for iOS00 Ratings8.773 Ratings
Mobile app for Android00 Ratings8.271 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesGoogle Hangouts (Classic)
Small Businesses
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Score 9.1 out of 10
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Score 9.1 out of 10
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Score 8.6 out of 10
Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesGoogle Hangouts (Classic)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(1 ratings)
7.9
(91 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(7 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(36 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications ServicesGoogle Hangouts (Classic)
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.
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Google
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.
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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)
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Google
  • 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.
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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)
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Google
  • 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.
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Usability
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Google
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
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Support Rating
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Google
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.
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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
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Google
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.
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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).
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Google
  • 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.
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ScreenShots