Best Video Collaboration Solution Available - Cisco Spark Room Series
Updated October 20, 2020
Best Video Collaboration Solution Available - Cisco Spark Room Series
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Spark Room Kit
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Webex Room Series
I was first introduced to Cisco Spark Room kits during the Cisco Live 2017. We purchased our first unit about a month later. This was set up for one of our smaller remote office around 10 people. The technology built into this unit is amazing and setup was a breeze. We have multiple other models of Cisco Telepresence systems and by far this has been the best unit Cisco has developed. Video conferencing is becoming essential to the way we do business. With many teams and remote offices this is a way to bring everyone together to collaborate on ideas and solutions.
- The Cisco Spark Room series has many new technologies that make this unit well worth the purchase. The auto room framing feature makes manual zoom and focus a thing of the past. The unit will auto zoom and pan to frame the screen around a single person in a conference room or zoom out and capture the whole room if there are multiple people in the conference. The Cisco Spark Room series also has an active speaker tracking system that will track users in the room and pan and zoom when that person is speaking.
- The Cisco Spark Room series units can be cloud or on-premise registered taking advantage of whichever platform best suits your needs and current investments.
- When the Cisco Spark Room series units are attached to 4K TVs or monitors you get the best possible resolution for video viewing with crystal clear presentations.
- Cost may be only con that I can see when cloud registered. I believe the average subscription cost is around $99 per month and depending on how often the device gets used this can extend your ROI.
- Being able to hold a video conference has reduced the overall travel within our company. This has kept costs down and productivity up.
- Cisco Spark Room series has made collaboration very easy and an effective business solution for our company. Meetings can be scheduled easily or adhoc allowing our users to get answers or collaborate on solutions much quicker than ever before.
- When used with Cisco WebEx we can now have remote users that are traveling or at a remote jobsite join a video conference from their smartphones giving us a much wider reach into our work environment than ever before.
- Polycom and Skype
In my opinion Microsoft and Polycom are entry level video conferencing solutions. Their overall cost may be cheaper but you are getting what you paid for. They seem to be designed for the small business needs and don't offer a seamless collaboration experience. If keeping it simple for your users and providing a complete collaboration experience is your goal the Cisco Spark Room series video units are hands down the best solution available.
Do you think Cisco Room Series delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Cisco Room Series's feature set?
Yes
Did Cisco Room Series live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Cisco Room Series go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Cisco Room Series again?
Yes
Cisco Webex Experience
The easy of use is the one benefit that is easy to measure. Users can walk into the room and start a meeting without having to know anything about the system. The touch panel is easy to navigate and use.
We utilize Cisco Unified Communications, WebEx Cloud and the full Cisco Telepresense portfolio to provide a seamless user experience for any of their meeting and messaging needs.
The system is easy to use for video meetings, audio calls or any combination. Very easy for user to navigate and manage. Great product for any organization.
Using Cisco Webex Room Series
Project management, administration, HR, IT
3 - Our IT group support Cisco WebEx Room Series. A knowledge of our Cisco Unified Communications products is needed to support the WebEx Room Series units as they fully integrate into the Unified Communications platform.
- Reduce travel between field offices
- Provide a great meeting experience with video and presentation
- Bring remote teams together
Evaluating Cisco Webex Room Series and Competitors
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Vendor Reputation
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
- Analyst Reports
- Third-party Reviews
Product features and usability would be the key decision factors. If our end users cannot easily use the product it will fail.
I don't think we would.
Cisco Webex Room Series Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
Cisco Webex Room Series Training
- no training
Yes it was easy to lean without training. If you have any experience with other Cisco UC products it will be very easy to learn to use.
Configuring Cisco Webex Room Series
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
Cisco Webex Room Series Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Yes - The premiums support provides security and feature updates for the product.
Using Cisco Webex Room Series
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- placing calls
- Starting meetings
- Sharing a presentation
- Nothing
Cisco Webex Room Series Reliability
Integrating Cisco Webex Room Series
- Cisco Unified Communications
- Cisco WebEx Cloud
Full integration into each.
Relationship with Cisco
Upgrading Cisco Webex Room Series
Yes - Upgrades are very smooth and easy to perform. The only unexpected impact would be UI changes if any.