Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) vs. Freshdesk Contact Center

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.

One scenario where Freshdesk Contact Center is well suited is when we have a lot of parents calling in with requests about student transcripts, and or grades, we can better interact with each caller and not have a lot of people on hold waiting for a long time. One scenario where Freshdesk might not be well suited is when callers get the chatbot more often than talking to an actual person.

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

• From this centralized help desk, we are able to allocate tickets and communicate with staff and clients via email.
• The ability to phone a lead or customer directly from Freshdesk is fantastic.
• Handling of waiting lines.

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

• Cost - the system was felt to be way overpriced for the feature-set it provided. For the cost of 10 support agents, I could engage with a full-blown VoIP UCaaS provider to support 20-30 users.
• The system was dependent on the Amazon Web Services system, which was prone to outages, and as it was outsourced by Freshworks to Amazon, resolution time did not have clear SLAs.
• Non-US support - any issues encountered with the system would go through international channels which decreased resolution time depending on when the development team was available.
• Call reliability was questionable - sometimes agents would have ringing devices that would have no one on the other end - other times calls would be dropped without explanation.

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

It's a really simple and affordable software solution if you're looking to upgrade your system or processes to a softphone. The service has been fantastic for both our outbound sales team and our inbound customer service team. As a manager, I'm really grateful I found FreshCaller early on in the process of evaluating companies to go to for a softphone.

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

Freshcaller support is great. They will respond very quickly once I submit a ticket. On occasion, they are unable to answer a question and require a deep dive on some research for random questions but that's completely understandable. Overall, great service, great quality, and very accommodating. This is one of the better support groups, in my opinion.

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

After multiple checks and constant research we found Freshdesk is one of the leading product service providers and the best at it too. We used to have PSTIN hard phones which caused a lot of drops and customer discontent. After Freshdesk, it has been a cakewalk. Really happy with it.

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

• Call logs helps analyse the interactions which each lead - helps space out if need be.
• Follow ups are simplified due to viewing of past activity.
• Easy integration helps in saving costs of phone calls.

Incentivized