Call Manager is a unified call control center from Cisco that supports enterprise collaboration functions across the spectrum of IP telephony, video & web conferencing, and messaging. Features include call forwarding, call back, call transfer, ad hoc conferencing, and call park.
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Microsoft Teams
Score 8.1 out of 10
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Microsoft Teams combines video conferencing software with team collaboration tools. The communications platform allows MS Office users to conduct conference calls and share files via SharePoint, and join or initiate a group chat.
CUCM is actually our old system that we're currently transitioning away from. While CUCM certainly has more features than the Microsoft Teams phone system, and it's far more customizable, what we really needed currently was a cloud system that allowed more options for remote …
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 …
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UCM), previously Call Manager, and Microsoft Teams are online communications platforms designed to centralize communications across large businesses. Cisco UCM is an established enterprise option with extensive flexibility for complex communications needs. Microsoft Teams focuses more on collaboration within a business, offering extra features to help users work together better.
Both products are used mostly by enterprise-level businesses, though Microsoft Teams also has a strong presence in mid-size companies.
Features
Both Microsoft Teams and Cisco UCM include core communications features like high-quality IP telephony and video conferencing, but they each offer unique benefits.
Microsoft Teams offers robust collaboration features. This includes real-time collaborative editing on Microsoft Office files and seamless integration with other Microsoft products. It also uses a centralized UI from which users can start a group chat, share a file, schedule an event, or make a phone call. Its contact search tool helps users find exactly who they need to talk to by name, role, or department.
Cisco UCM is known for being a reliable enterprise-grade solution that can scale and adapt to most business needs. It has a wealth of features and customization options for both implementation and end-user experience. For example, large businesses create custom configurations for multiple call centers and business locations across the world. As an industry-standard solution, there’s plenty of expert knowledge available to help design a solution that fits specific needs.
Limitations
Despite both being comprehensive communications platforms, Microsoft Teams and Cisco UCM won’t be ideal for every buyer.
Cisco UCM may be extensively customizable and scalable, but can also be highly complex to implement. You’ll need experienced engineers with plenty of product knowledge to set up the platform properly and make full use of its feature set. Some users may find the interface dated and disorganized. Finally, its high price point and complicated licensing models can make it a hard sell for small to midsize businesses.
Although Microsoft Teams may be easier to implement, users often report a frustrating learning curve. The user interface can be confusing and unintuitive, making it hard for new users to get going or learn advanced features. Permissions can be clunky to manage, and some users find that the software consumes too many computer resources.
Pricing
Microsoft Teams has four tiered purchasing options. The free tier includes all of the core features, such as audio/video calls, screen-sharing, real-time collaboration within Office documents, and file-sharing (limited to 10 GB).
The business basic tier is $5.00 per user per month, adds meeting recordings, and increases the file-sharing limit to 1 TB plus 10 GB per license. The business standard tier is $12.50 per user per month and adds desktop versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. The final tier, Office 365 E3, is $20.00 per user per month and adds the ability to host online events for up to 10,000 attendees.
Pricing for Cisco UCM is available via quote from Cisco partners. Overall, Microsoft Teams may be a better fit for small and midsize businesses than Cisco UCM, given its price point. Cisco UCM’s complexity and price point mean that large enterprises will likely get more value for their money than smaller organizations.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager is suited for medium to large customers who are in search for a solid call control platform with added security in mind. Cisco Unified Communications Manager also supports receptions, small groups and also a mini contact center type of set up with its Hunt Group, Pick up Group and call queuing facilities and also with set up of music on hold function while calls queuing.
It is well-suited for an organization with many team members who are scattered throughout different locations. It offers organization and clarity to projects, files, and tasks in one centralized location. It would be a bit of an overkill for a small organization where everyone is in the same location 5 days a week
Microsoft Teams is included with our Office 365 subscription and we have no intention of migrating off of Office 365 and Microsoft products. Since Microsoft Teams is included for free with our Office 365 subscription, and since we enjoy all the features, benefits, and functionality, there is no question that our team will continue to use the product
The usability part of Cisco Unified Communications Manager is very much simple from a usability point of view. Day-to-day Move Add Change Delete (MACD) can be performed by the administrators very easily with simple training. From the initial deployment point of view, some of the thing can be improved to simplify the process.
If you have the full Microsoft Office suite, it works really well because it's integrated well within its ecosystem, but if not, it can be annoying because it tries to open a shared file in the web versions of the file equivalents. The web version is also a bit slow, and the login is very difficult to handle if you have multiple Microsoft or Outlook accounts.
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.
The overall support provided by Microsoft for Microsoft Teams has been quite good but there is still some room for improvements. Microsoft needs to proactively work on fixing the open bugs in order to provide a seamless experience to the users. But over the service and experience provided by the Microsoft team have been quite satisfactory.
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.
Microsoft Teams offers a much more integrated experience between their chat and video call function compared to Google Chat and Slack. Both other tools are much better for internal communications are they have simpler UI without other features. Whereas Microsoft Teams can be used for more critical conversations, particularly between external companies, and has been very useful in sales conversations which is what we chose it for when speaking to companies that work exclusively through Microsoft.
Honestly, this tool is worth every penny. Yes, it's not free and you pay for the quality of services and the license. But the ROI and the benefits are all there. Also, the renewal, negotiation, and contract terms are all very well explained by our Microsoft account manager, and she's a charm.
I used Skype for Business to take calls, hold conferences, and provide remote assistance to users. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, is superior to Skype for Business in my opinion. My job entails a lot of screen sharing.
Because our unit decided to go all in with Microsoft Products, the integration and flow of our communication and files are seamless.
Microsoft Teams is very secure. Only those who are logged in with their university credentials can access the files we share and the events we host. Therefore, we don't have to worry about privacy and security for the virtual events we host.
If our virtual events are open to the public, joiners outside the organization often struggle to join because Microsoft Teams is not the most familiar tool amongst the public.
