Item: Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Rating: 8
Author: Amanda Carpenter

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco is used throughout the entire organization. I believe it was about 5 years (maybe more) when they changed to Cisco and we got new phones. It's nice to be able to log into your voicemail (or even your extension) from a different phone if you need to move. I also like how it's connected to Jabber so I can get to my voicemail or make calls from my computer if I'm away from a phone set. It's pretty easy to use, has a nice display. For our adjunct faculty, it is nice that they can log into the phone and then log off when they are gone, since they use shared space and share phones with one another.

Pros and Cons

Good for sharing phones. Has the ability to log into a phone to get voicemails and receive calls. Then another person can use the same phone later.
Like the connection to Jabber on the computer. Great for when you are at a computer but not by the actual phone.
The voicemail settings are great. I love that I can set my vacation voicemail to expire at a certain date and time, so I don't have to remember to change my voicemail back when I return.

One thing I have trouble with is changing my name for the standard greeting. I changed it for internal calls, but I couldn't get it to change overall.
I think for the future a touchscreen would be nice.

Return on Investment

I think it was positive in that it was an upgrade from the system we had before.

Support Rating

I think it's fine, the only support I have is from our IT department here and I've never had a problem with them. They were able to help me when I moved offices and had to reconfigure my extension to another phone.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

It's great for in the office use. If you're dialing into a meeting you have the ability to listen but mute yourself. You have speaker and headset options, which is nice. The different voicemail features are particularly helpful when you are traveling or out of the office for different reasons. You can even save some of your away voicemails for future use.

Cisco IP Phone

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)