Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) vs. eFax Corporate

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.

For the daily faxing needs, eFax gets the job done. We get notified when the fax has been received or sent successfully, but it takes so long at times. I'm not sure if it's eFax's encryption system that is delaying the Rx/Tx time, but it needs to be improved immediately.

Incentivized

• 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

• The fax always goes through, there are no issues with reliability.
• It offers a variety of features such as taking photos and saving files.
• It can receive faxes too.
• It can save faxes for a long time and allows you to save contacts.

Incentivized

• 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

• The user interface could use some work, as it's a little dated looking, and it's not so simple to receive faxes, at times.
• Administrator functions. If the user's account is locked for any reason, the administrator cannot unlock their account. It causes a lot of inconveniences.
• Unable to see the bill. For whatever reason, eFax does not allow viewing the bill from the online portal.

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

For our logistics side of the business, we use eFax to receive orders. We are using it to transmit a variety of documents as well. It comes in handy if you really need to accept faxes.

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

eFax support is great. They are quick to assist you with any issue regarding eFax. I haven't had to wait long on support services or answers. During an outage seems to be when the queue times get long but on a normal day, they are quick to answer and fast on a solution.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

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

eFax is for serious business professionals and it comes with so many tools, including a free App and a desktop app, which makes it extremely easy for you and your employees to send and receive faxes. You can take a photo of a document and fax it over to someone in another state in a few minutes!

Incentivized

• 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

• We were able to reduce costs by using eFax and make our faxing company-wide simpler!
• We were able to remove a landline for faxing.

Incentivized