Microsoft Teams vs. West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Teams
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
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.
$5
per month
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Score 4.0 out of 10
N/A
West (formerly Intrado) has executed a series of transactions to transition their UCaaS business to numerous other providers, notably Fusion Connect.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft TeamsWest Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
per user/per month
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
$5.00
per user/per month
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
$12.50
per user/per month
Office 365 E3
$20.00
per user/per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft TeamsWest Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscounts are available for non profit organizations.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft TeamsWest Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Top Pros
Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
Microsoft TeamsWest Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
7.2
182 Ratings
9% below category average
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
-
Ratings
Task Management7.5137 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts6.270 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling7.9153 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation6.795 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access7.9174 Ratings00 Ratings
Search7.3160 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual planning tools6.6111 Ratings00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
7.7
191 Ratings
4% below category average
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
-
Ratings
Chat8.8190 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications8.0189 Ratings00 Ratings
Discussions8.5177 Ratings00 Ratings
Surveys7.2104 Ratings00 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase7.0117 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting7.047 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts6.243 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook8.8156 Ratings00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
7.4
177 Ratings
9% below category average
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
-
Ratings
Versioning7.1122 Ratings00 Ratings
Video files7.4150 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio files7.6152 Ratings00 Ratings
Document collaboration8.1164 Ratings00 Ratings
Access control7.5148 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced security features7.0110 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive6.353 Ratings00 Ratings
Device sync8.0124 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
-
Ratings
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
9.0
1 Ratings
11% above category average
High quality audio00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
High quality video00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Screen Sharing
Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
-
Ratings
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
7.5
1 Ratings
6% below category average
Desktop sharing00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Online Meetings / Events
Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
-
Ratings
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
7.6
1 Ratings
4% below category average
Calendar integration00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Meeting initiation00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Record meetings / events00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Online Events Collaboration
Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
-
Ratings
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
7.0
1 Ratings
9% below category average
Live chat00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Online Events Security
Comparison of Online Events Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Teams
-
Ratings
West Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
7.0
1 Ratings
7% below category average
User authentication00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Participant roles & permissions00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft TeamsWest Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.8 out of 10
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.7 out of 10
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft TeamsWest Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(269 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
5.8
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.1
(52 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(113 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
6.2
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
6.9
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft TeamsWest Unified Communications Services (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Positive: The virtual workspace created for a work team within the same company, for the resemblance of information and communications in one place.Negative: The access for members of a non-profit organization who have external emails from the host but need the same access as an internal person since their volunteer work is part of the very core of the federation.
Read full review
West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
It is well suited in our organization for their large department Monday meetings and meetings such as that. Would not really be needed for a conference call with only 10 people or less attending.
Read full review
Pros
Microsoft
  • Virtual meetings - ease of set up and execution
  • File sharing! We build channels for projects, and being able to invite only project members is huge!
  • Peer-to-peer communications - being able to "ping" one of my colleagues, either text, video or call-only, on-demand, is what runs our business.
Read full review
West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
  • Large conference calls
  • Reliable calling technology
  • Easy to call in with no confusion
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • The feature of notifications in the mobile application could be improved. Sometimes notifications of different teams are not visible and are only visible when the application is opened.
  • It uses lots of computational resources while running and thus, slows down the system sometimes.
  • It allows a few channels per team. The number of channels could be increased for better productivity.
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West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
  • Hold music is normally loud and not pleasant
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
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
Read full review
West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Usability
Microsoft
User experience has been much better than the previous Skype for Business app. It has an easy-to-use interface with persistent chats. The search feature is very fast and useful. MS Teams has mostly focused on Collaboration and team building features which are very useful for organizational communications. Since Teams is accessible from multiple platforms like Laptop, Desktop, Mobile phones, etc it has been very convenient from a Mobility perspective.
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West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
Rare, but outages do happen
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West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Performance
Microsoft
Sometimes about once a week I get a message that says "Sorry, there seems to be something wrong". But it goes away in a few minutes.
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West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
Using Microsoft Teams has resulted in much faster business communications with both co-workers and consultants. There has been little need for support with this software as the interface is very intuitive and the product is overall very well designed. We did encounter an issue with the built-in phone service, however, this was quickly resolved by the support team.
Read full review
West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
I find everything I need for my day-to-day work.
Read full review
West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Our company and IT department previously used Skype for our communication needs. Skype was not dependable in my opinion, because it seems each time I used it during a call and/or a meeting, I and several other team members would get disconnected more than once. This caused a great interruption of our meeting, caused team members to have to ask others to repeat themselves and caused a general lack of interest in employee attendance during meetings.
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West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
We only use intercall and always have, our in house phone system is Cisco.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
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.
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West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Microsoft
It does not appear to have a limit to how many teams and employees we can have using it
Read full review
West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Microsoft
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.
Read full review
West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • I'm not sure I can point to a specific ROI, but it has improved our ability to communicate and work more effectively together.
  • It's also nice to have records of every interaction, photo, and document that has been shared. Less chance of something completely disappearing.
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West Technology Group, LLC (formerly Intrado)
  • It does cost our company money so we try to give out numbers only when needed
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ScreenShots