Overview
What is Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)?
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…
Cisco Unified Communication Manager
One of the best options around to get the most bang for buck
If you want the best Call Manager this your solution.
Great Product but needs innovation to Sustain in Market
Heading toward the endangered species zone
Cisco Unified Connections Manager - The Apex of a Traditional Phone System
Call it CUCM
It just keeps working - Set it and forget it
Amazing solution for the corporate telephony!
We used it as a …
My Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Solid Proven Environment that bridged on prem and cloud services.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Review
Cisco Call Manager can do anything you need it to do (and plenty you don't need it to do too).
Cisco Unified Communications Manager - Your system can grow with your business
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- Audio conferencing (39)8.888%
- User templates (38)8.282%
- Directory of employee names (38)8.181%
- Answering rules (41)7.878%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
What is Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)?
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.
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Alternatives Pricing
What is Broadvoice?
Broadvoice is a provider of hosted voice, UCaaS, CCaaS, and CX solutions for small and mid-market enterprises and BPOs. Broadvoice solutions offer enterprise-class features to simplify communications and streamline operations.
What is NetFortris?
NetFortris provides business phone systems using Polycom and Yealink IP phones. They offer three subscription-based pricing plans, all including unlimited VoIP and desktop phone options. Advanced plans include other features such as video collaboration, softphone, and on-demand recording.
Features
Cloud PBX
A cloud PBX system is based on cloud computing technology where data is stored and transferred over the intenet without any need for on-site PBX equipment
- 9.9Hosted PBX(19) Ratings
Hosted telephony infrastructure obviated the need for local PBX hardware
- 6Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)(29) Ratings
IVR is a phone menu allowing callers to interact with the system through voice and keypad
- 8.2User templates(38) Ratings
Create and apply batch configurations to multiple users at once
- 5.3Call reports(37) Ratings
Historical call analysis and trending metrics
- 8.1Directory of employee names(38) Ratings
Voice directory of all employees for self-service dialing
Call Management
Customized phone system settings
- 7.8Answering rules(41) Ratings
Ability to enter rules to route calls to main number or other extensions in case of absence
- 5.6Call recording(26) Ratings
Automatic recording of inbound and outbound calls
- 8Call park(37) Ratings
Ability to hold calls in virtual location and subsequently access from any phone in system
- 7.5Call screening(34) Ratings
Ability to block numbers or send calls directly to voicemail
- 7.8Message alerts(38) Ratings
Receive SMS and email message notifications for voice and fax messages
VoIP system collaboration
Team collaboration via cloud phone system
- 9.3Video conferencing(29) Ratings
Built-in video conferencing capabilities
- 8.8Audio conferencing(39) Ratings
Audio conferencing credentials for all on the system.
- 6.2Video screen sharing(15) Ratings
Users are able to share their screens with other meeting participants on video conference calls.
- 6.7Instant messaging(18) Ratings
Users are able to communicate via chat, either one-on-one or in a group message, through an instant messaging or chat tool.
Mobile apps
Apps are compatible with mobile devices.
- 8.4Mobile app for iOS(23) Ratings
App for iPhone and iPad
- 9.1Mobile app for Android(21) Ratings
Android app
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)?
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) Integrations
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) Competitors
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) Technical Details
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
---|---|
Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(170)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(26-44 of 44)Efficiency Achieved
- Simplified on-boarding
- Allows us to handle a large population of remote agents
- Provides us with High Availability/ Failover capabilities
- Constant need to refresh end-points
- No granular restriction to self service portal
- New security only available in newer versions
A great system
- It shows the calls that come in.
- How long a call lasted.
- It also shows how many calls a rep took that day.
- I would like it to show the individual when I select their name.
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager is extremely reliable as a phone switch should be. We have never experienced downtime attributable to it.
- The Cisco platform is easy for users to learn and utilize.
- Integration with voicemail and directory services are well done and easy to use.
- Integration with Jabber text services and presence are handy time savers and conveniences.
- It can be tricky to implement emergency services through the product (think 911 calls).
- Would like to see additional enhanced conference calling capabilities to potentially replace paid services.
- Phone sets can be expensive when purchased in small quantities.
- More soft buttons for additional saved phone numbers would be handy.
- Versatile
- Easy setup and configuration of new and existing phones
- Easily expandable
- Expanding hardware is expensive.
- Adding licenses is very confusing because of the license tier system they have in place.
Call Manager Use in the Enterprise
- Call Manager has easily scaled with our growing business.
- Ease of deployment to end users.
- Ease of management for phone and it’s firmware.
- The GUI interface could certainly use a refresh. It’s been a few years since there update.
- Integrate management of other UC solutions (i.e. Unity, Emergency Responder)
Review of Callmanager in a global setup
- Large ecosystem to integrate additional solutions like for DECT or emergency services. If it's not included as a basic feature, there is a large possibility that a Cisco solution partner has a fitting solution.
- High flexibility
- Long support times
- Updates take too long and too many steps
- Administrative possibilities, many features of video endpoints cannot be configured via Call Manager
- Licensing - it's too complex because of the many different models
For video only solutions maybe an expressway as call control would be sufficient and Call Manager too oversized.
Opinions on CUCM from a Genesys PureConnect Developer
- The web GUI for management may feel a bit clunky at first for being a modern application, but the navigation features (back, dependency views) quickly differentiate it from other environments.
- Good API documentation on DEVNET and a fairly strong supporting community.
- It plays fairly well in its own ecosystem (UCCX, IM and Presence, Unity) so the breadth of the ecosystem makes for a lot of functionality being available to you with adjuncts.
- The AXL API for Call Manager feels particularly dated. The fact that it hasn't been deprecated for a more modern REST/JSON supporting API is a little lackluster.
- CUCM's solution to elements missing API coverage is to open SQL queries via the API. This seems lazy of them rather than just increasing API coverage.
- I know I'm hammering on the API's here, but the disparity between all of their applications' API seems like a terrible design decision. AXL is very different from Unity which is very different from Finesse. This creates a barrier to learning the ecosystem that just doesn't feel necessary.
- The dial plan feels dated, clunky and almost indecipherable compared to some more streamlined applications.
That said, if you are in that situation it is worth looking at Cisco's broadsoft solution, as it is aimed at smaller and less complex customers.
- Ease of reporting. Able to obtain bulk reporting on current extensions assigned by location, which is very helpful to us as we have 21 different school sites. It makes it easier to manage when we are working on particular projects.
- Extension Mobility is a very awesome feature of CUCM that allows users to login to any phone on our network with their own extension. This has served particularly well with our school counselors that roam to different school sites. It's easier for them to provide staff and parents one phone number to contact them at, as opposed to several numbers from all the sites they visit.
- Cisco Meet Me is another awesome addition within the CUCM that allows for conference calling within our own phone system. No need to purchase a 3rd party phone conferencing when it can be implemented within your own infrastructure. It is extremely easy to configure and has been very beneficial for the executive staff in our district.
- CUCM can improve by actually showing the administrator which DID numbers are available for use. We have a large block of DID numbers provided by AT&T, but when configuring them on the phone system we have no idea which ones are actually available for use. The worst thing is, if it's not configured on call manager BUT it is being used as a voicemail line on Cisco unity, I have no idea until I cross check the number on the Unity Server. It's really cumbersome having to go back and forth between unity and CUCM to ensure I'm actually configuring an available phone number.
- Improvement with CUCM and Unity configuration. Having to configure phone numbers and voicemails on two separate systems wastes a lot of time. And there have been times where a phone number had been configured, but we forgot to attach the voicemail inbox to it, leaving the user without voicemails. I hope this can be improved in the future. I'm not against having two separate systems, but I wish there was a better way to integrate the two especially when it comes to voicemail management.
- Improve on the User Interface. If you have no familiarity with CUCM, it is extremely hard to navigate and find the settings that you need. Unfortunately I did not receive much training, but the system wasn't that intuitive to be able to navigate easily. I had to youtube and google many things in order to make sense of the layout. Additionally, the Cisco user guides are extremely hard to follow as well.
CUCM isn't appropriate for smaller organizations, in my opinion. It's a really robust system and if it is needed for a small amount of call routing, I think it would be too much work to establish servers and switches for CUCM in a small organization.
Cisco Call Manager
- Versatile
- Easy setup and configuration of new and existing phones
- Easily expandable
- Updates for new phones are not easy to implement.
- Expanding hardware is expensive.
- Adding licenses is very confusing because of the license tier system they have in place.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM)
- Flexible configurations
- Accepts 3rd party SIP devices
- Great support from Cisco
- Cost
- Difficult setup without training
- Administration slows down with concurrent users in database (10+)
Cisco UCM
- Easy of use
- Robust
- More features than you could ask for
- Cost
- Tech support can be a bear
- Initial setup can be difficult
Cisco Call Manager, a robust phone system
- Cisco Jabber is a great application that can be used with the Cisco phone system. You can do audio or audio and video. It also allows for chat.
- Hunt groups. You can have multiple people in the same group to ring multiple phones at once.
- Using Cisco Unity with Call Manager you can create Auto Attendants and call menus.
- Coming in brand new to using Call Manager it takes a bit to get to know it. Definitely get with someone who has experience and can learn how to manage it. I started 1.5 years ago with Call Manager and I'm decent now but I still have access to a tech for the complicated stuff. Document how to do everything and it will be easy to repeat!
- It's very easy to make a mistake in setting up an extension.
- It's hard to think of another Con. The biggest thing is learning how to do it. You don't need a certification to learn but it is best to learn from someone who has the knowledge and document as you go. The best way is to have them walk you through all the fixes and you learn as you fix things.
- It is good at allowing for specific phone configurations. If you want to get granular, this is the tool for you.
- The single number reach feature works well, allowing simultaneous ringing to outside devices, such as a mobile phone or home phone.
- The Cisco IP Communicator application is great. I use it every day to emulate my physical phone from my laptop. I have used it extensively when working from home or at our co-location where cell service is not available. I just connect to the company VPN, launch the application, and use the phone just like it was on my desk. It even looks the same.
- The user interface is not intuitive; if you don't know what you are doing, a single, small change can become a major problem.
- Provisioning a single device requires lots of clicks and manual input of data; easy to misspell something by accident.
- I find the provisioning process to be rather time consuming, but that may be because unified communications is not my primary role.
- CUCM is not particularly friendly to non-Cisco hardware; you can configure other makes (we use Polycom for conference phones), but the configuration process is pretty involved, and requires time and experience.
- Remote Troubleshooting
- Remote support of devices
- Organization of the company's phone lines and devices
- Ability to copy existing profiles from other phones for fast deployment
- Certificate Deployment
- The web interface is a little dated and sometimes confusing
- Changes sometimes have to be saved two times which is repetitive
- Some of the descriptors in the drop downs are not clear
- Sometimes interface can be slow
- From an administration perspective the product is incredibly intuitive, and a joy to manage.
- Training a new user on the software, and hardware takes no time at all and Cisco provides a lot of detailed information to pass along to the end users.
- The ability to have everything practically seamless makes this a wonderful solution. From basic telephony, video conferencing, to instant messaging either in the office, or on the road, having unified presence and voice/video capabilities has been a huge selling point for our customers.
- When I first started using the product the learning curve was a little steep, but overall once you take the time to learn the Call Manager it's incredibly intuitive. I don't know that there's much I think could need improvement.
- I've had end users complain about having too many options at first, but once they start using more of then this complaint usually disappears. I'm not sure this is something that really needs improvement, but I list this for lack of other ideas for improvement.
- Compared to other systems I think Cisco hit the mark on this one, and I don't have many areas that I would consider improving upon.
Senior Engineer, Telecommunications
- Call Manager provides no-cost communication between all our offices globally.
- Call Manager administration is easier than traditional TDM and or other VoIP systems
- We used to be a full Cisco shop with Cisco routers and switches. However, we've changed our infrastructure to use Brocade and it works well with other systems.
- It would be nice if Cisco-provided better management tools. We used to use Prime Collaboration but moved over to Riverbed UCExpert
- Our offices can sometimes fall victim to robocalls so it would be nice if Call Manager had an easy way to reject these calls instead of doing it on the cube router or provider side.
- I've been using Call Manager for a while now and I find that with each subsequent upgrade that it gets better and better. Maintenance upgrades can sometimes be difficult and I'm not sure how to address it but I've been using a new tool called Prime Collaboration Deployment that's helped. I think in general CUCM is a great product.
Managing Call Manager
- Day-to-day administration is relatively easy
- Phones are user-friendly
- Able to administer a nation-wide system from one location
- Initial deployment can be difficult
- Expensive
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM)
Cisco solutions work with great productivity when focusing when delivering Cisco's ecosystem. The quality of its telephones and solutions is currently a great driver to sell Cisco over other kind of manufacturers.
When talking about Cisco, you get the possibility to increase your collaborators productivity, offering some other modules, like for example:
Jabber
Unity
Mediasense
etc...
- Can be deployed using a centralized and virtualized approach or using a server (For example BE6K)
- Quality of its phones and equipments
- Evolution of its solutions and roadmap
- Ease to reach information and its capability to create documentation to help the partners
- Desktop Sharing
- Federations with other IM&P solutions
- Integration with Lync
- Video solution, without the need to use VCS
- Clients with a very high need to scale and with a lot of sites.
- Solutions that need a collaborative solution that focuses on the functionalities rather than the price.
- Clients that need a evolving solution and have their own technical support.
Powerful Phone System
- The system is powerful and can handle a huge number of phones.
- The GUI is powerful.
- It is easier to set up advanced functions than with some competing products.
- To get the most out of the system you need to use the command line, which is very complicated.
- The system is much more expensive than competing systems.