Item: Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Rating: 6
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) is our primary voice platform being used across our organization. We use Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) for every possible business use case related to Enterprise Telephony imaginable. Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) is also used presently for all our voice-related compliance requirements and hence is fully integrated with many other collaboration platforms in order to meet those unique business requirements. Our main objective of sticking with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) as a hardware-based solution is to address specific business use cases that are regulatory and compliance requirements given that we are a large financial institution. We have moved away from Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) for key use cases which do not have dependencies on compliance that Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) solves.

Pros and Cons

Integrated well with other Cisco platforms
Recent code versions have better compatibility with third-party solutions

Biggest bottleneck with most of Cisco's hardware-based collaboration platforms is code management
If Cisco can figure out the number of bugs that constantly keep appearing for these platforms, it could face lesser challenges competing with challengers

Most Important Features

Choice of multiple end points
Great compatibility with other Cisco platforms
Decent tech support

Return on Investment

We would have moved away from Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) a long time ago if our business didn't have specific compliance needs that Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) solves
Code upgrades and the complexities that come with it are Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)'s biggest downfall
Choice of multiple end points is one good positive about CUCM
Jabber is easily the worst IM & Presence that could accompany CUCM

Alternatives Considered

Unify Office by RingCentral, from Atos, Talkdesk and Genesys Cloud (formerly PureCloud)

As per the comments earlier, Cisco's focus has finally moved to Cloud and Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) primarily stays as it solves specific business problems that Cloud-based platforms are trying to solve, slowly but surely. Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) works extremely well with most Cisco platforms and technologies. So if you are an all-Cisco shop, going with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) for your hardware-based telephony requirements should be an easy decision.

Key Insights

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

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

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

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

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

Other Software Used

Azure AI (Cortana), Cylance Smart Antivirus, Pulse Secure Unified Client

Likelihood to Recommend

The product in general (in my humble opinion) has plateaued with regards to features and functionalities that it can provide in comparison to most cloud-based solutions available in the marketplace today. Plus, directionally and strategically, Cisco has realized, albeit a bit too late, that cloud is where the future is. COVID exposed the lack of scalability and the ability to quickly adapt. Cloud is the future. Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) will exist for use cases that do not cater to large enterprise telephony requirements but rather to address more unique nuances like hardware-based storage for compliance, etc.

Usability

* Even with advanced versions, the number of bugs that keep popping up lead to newer patches and hence leading to various change cycles to upgrade the base version with the new service releases
* This leads to many operational interruptions
* Jabber services are still unreliable
* MRA phones are also not the easiest to use even with a good bandwidth internet

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Technical support not required	Unnecessarily complex Not well integrated Inconsistent Feel nervous using Lots to learn

Easy Tasks

Simple audio calls
Voicemail
Call Forward
Do not disturb

Difficult Tasks

Extend and connect
MRA

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes - IP Communicator is better than Jabber. IPC is being discontinues which is a shame

Heading toward the endangered species zone

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)