Simply the BEST collaboration alternative
Updated July 27, 2023
Simply the BEST collaboration alternative
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Overall Satisfaction with Webex App
It's a daily tool to communicate with all employees and a lot of clients and providers. We collaborate by sharing screens, audio, video conferencing. Day after day is improving as fast as the cloud develops itself. The usual improvement speed of cloud services is really taken advantage of.Today's Webex App has evolved into a complete solution for enterprise communications, providing all available options to contact whoever we need, being with a chat message, a voice call or a collaboration meeting.
- Usability in all platforms
- Monthly improvements, a lot of new features
- Easy to add new users, even when they don't have a paid account
- It demands a good hardware for the heavy clients and/or mobile devices.
- Not all features are available around the globe because of regulations or carriers limitations
In our company, it started as a "Cisco thing" before 2020, and it exploded during the pandemic, reaching all user levels and every meeting room, becoming a standard for any meeting requirement where a voice call is not enough (we still don't use Webex for voice calls, but is available in the platform with the right carriers and tools).
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Meet
- Zoom
While the integration depth with each platform it has been changing version after version, is always a clean follow up of the corresponding implementation guide.
I have only mentioned one alternative since it supposed to be "the competition" for WebEx App, but in general, all the alternatives lack something. If not a good integration with a communications system, maybe the support the vendor has, maybe the endpoints available for HD video conferencing, maybe a connector to a calendar. I really think that Cisco's technology "combo" across all layers of communications is unbeatable.
Do you think Webex App delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Webex App's feature set?
Yes
Did Webex App live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Webex App go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Webex App again?
Yes
Webex App Feature Ratings
Cisco Hybrid Work
- Webex Meetings
- Webex App
- Webex Webinars
- Webex Events
- Slido
- Cisco Webex Room Series
- Cisco Webex Desk Pro
- Cisco Webex Board Series
- Cisco AnyConnect
- Working from anywhere (e.g., coffee shop, airport)
- Working from an office or other company space
- Working from home
Particularly, we are going through a reshaping proccess within the company's structure and bussiness model that will probably impact our current communication's scenario, and still some definitions haven't been made to typify each use case due to this, but we continue to rely on Cisco products for every layer of our communication's needs due to their trustworthyness, flexibility and almost assured ROI.
Before 2020, most jobs almost certainly involved going to an office or
environment that didn't change and was within the company's domain,
regardless of the specifics. Before the year 2020, it was common practice to use desktop computers and wired connections to the network. Today
we are in a scheme where most of the devices are wireless and work
environments do not have any extra definition other than "where the
employee sits and has an internet connection", so the great challenge
that has arisen has undoubtedly been the security of ubiquitous
connectivity, since the possibilities of network violations are
constantly growing. This is one of the main reasons why we use Cisco, to stay on top of the security risks when dealing with diverse connectivity types and new threats.
environment that didn't change and was within the company's domain,
regardless of the specifics. Before the year 2020, it was common practice to use desktop computers and wired connections to the network. Today
we are in a scheme where most of the devices are wireless and work
environments do not have any extra definition other than "where the
employee sits and has an internet connection", so the great challenge
that has arisen has undoubtedly been the security of ubiquitous
connectivity, since the possibilities of network violations are
constantly growing. This is one of the main reasons why we use Cisco, to stay on top of the security risks when dealing with diverse connectivity types and new threats.
We are using a wide variety of the solutions that Cisco has to offer to connect, secure connections, authenticate users, and deliver communication services regardless of location or device type, ensuring a seamless, first-class user experience, even with limited or low-quality connectivity, allowing the business to keep up and adapt to today's needs.
Since we started with the hybrid work scheme using Cisco products, both hardware equipment and software and SaaS solutions, we have been able to have the freedom and flexibility to keep up with the current business dynamics, being able to get rid of the ties related to security impediments or restrictive connection conditions.
Having Microsoft Office, surely you can have Teams as a tool, or Meet if you use Google services. They all have their pros and cons, but, without a doubt, the best and highest-level user experience is provided by Cisco, whether due to the quality of communication, the variety of tools, the amount of information and documentation, the availability of management, monitoring and analytics portals for each instance and, if required, the best support, which is not easy to value in the budget, but impossible to ignore in the event of a contingency.
- Webex
- Microsoft Teams
- Zoom
- Google Meet
- BlueJeans
Cisco Webex Experience
Cisco Collaboration portfolio includes cloud services, hosted services, on-premise platforms and a really broad scope of collaboration endpoints, wich can be use with any of the mentioned services.
We've been using on-premise platforms and cloud services and, once combine with state-of-the-art collaboration endpoints, being the start point only a desk phone and scaling to a desk videoconference device up to a big room collaboration equipment, it's really no comparison posible to any other product's combo.
If you're using a Cisco product, you know it's safe.
If you have any doubts regarding safety, you can find a lot of documents, being Cisco's docs or 3rd party docs, explaining how your product, platform or service is secured.
If you want, you can audit each component and you'll find out that, if any caveat found, you'll get a solid response from Cisco to fix it.
Any organization would benefit with Cisco Webex Teams features.
We've
been using Webex Assistant to voice-command our room devices and taken
advantage of real-time transcription, besides using post-recording
meeting reports to get in-depth information regarding main contents of
the different calls.
If embedded features aren't enough, you can implement new features or feature improvements easily!been using Webex Assistant to voice-command our room devices and taken
advantage of real-time transcription, besides using post-recording
meeting reports to get in-depth information regarding main contents of
the different calls.
Using Webex App
90 -
Cisco Webex Teams is used across all leves of our organization.
From the commercial department to the technical department, from the administrative office to the logistics area, on-premises or off-premises, all of us are connected with chat, voice, video and content sharing.
It doesn't matter if we're using a phone, a tablet or a PC, or having the client installed or only accesing through web browser, we have all the information and contacts, all the time.
We don't have in-house support for Cisco Webex Teams.
We do have our IT department for first use cases, but we usually don't need any support for daily usage of Webex Teams.
It's really easy to use and very self explained, being the interface itself or maybe the first-use wizard once you upgrade to a version having any significant changes.
- Daily chat communication
- Daily workgroup organization
- Daily videoconference usage
- Whiteboarding - it may not be a new feature, but it's great to have this feature accross all your communications platform.
- Screen sharing with no call - a lot of times you're already in a phone call and you simply start sharing the screen only, with no audio and video. It's really simple and really time-saving.
- Bots: we're thinking about taking more advantage of all the development ecosystem that Webex has to make our own features.
Evaluating Webex App and Competitors
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Vendor Reputation
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
- Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
- Analyst Reports
- Third-party Reviews
We have a long realationship with Cisco, so it was almost as a natural choice going along with Cisco Webex Teams.
The rest is "easy": Cisco keeps adding features, making them easy to use and listening to clients (and the competition) to improve periodically each small corner of the product, to maintain it up to the task it has to fulfill.
The rest is "easy": Cisco keeps adding features, making them easy to use and listening to clients (and the competition) to improve periodically each small corner of the product, to maintain it up to the task it has to fulfill.
Cisco had almost no competition when we chose Webex Teams. Now, Cisco Webex Teams has a couple of competitors, but thinking about security, stability, feature richness, competitors almost can't keep up.
It would take a couple of PoCs, but I'm confident that we would choose Cisco again over any other competitor these days.
It would take a couple of PoCs, but I'm confident that we would choose Cisco again over any other competitor these days.
Webex App Implementation
- Implemented in-house
- User adoption
- Lack of integration with other tools that were being used originally (later this issues were addressed by Cisco)
Webex App Training
- No Training
Webex is a very intuitive tool, and even every day it is becoming more user friendly, so training is not necessary, as long as the type and level of user and use allow one to have the luxury of relying solely on standard Cisco documentation and training.That said, Webex is also a tool that has a lot of potential to develop, so if you want to delve deeper into a particular feature or type of use, a good practice would be to set a target usage model for the platform within the company, and then build training according to the defined usage model, which can then be delivered in a scalable manner within the different user groups.This training can be live with a speaker going over all the aspects that have been defined for using Webex, or in a webinar format, with recordings of the training.Additionally, it is always convenient to create documentation associated with the tool so that it can be left in a repository available to users (of course, this information can include the recordings of the previously mentioned webinars).
Configuring Webex App
It will always depend on the particular use case and model that you want to achieve with Webex, but a good practice is to fully configure and test the platform, including all its integrations, and then make it available for mass use in the company, thus providing a consistent user experience from the start, without immediate changes or additions to the service.
No - we have not done any custom code
We have a very flat Webex setup when it comes to customization, so I can't provide significant input from personal experience on this.
Webex App Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Not Sure
I really haven't found a bug yet, even being in the trial runs for new versions, so I'm not able to help with this one :-\
Using Webex App
| 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 |
- Individually chat with coworkers and clients
- Group Task Force members and subdivide the groups into different projects o categories
- Draw over presentations and share the information accross all team members
Yes - The experience accross all platforms supported by Cisco Webex Teams is seamless.
It doesn't matter if you're using a PC, a tablet or a smartphone: you'll get the same user experience and instant syncronization accross all devices and you can switch between them not only for chat but also for calls, you can make the call using the PC and continue the call on the smartphone, just as an example.
It doesn't matter if you're using a PC, a tablet or a smartphone: you'll get the same user experience and instant syncronization accross all devices and you can switch between them not only for chat but also for calls, you can make the call using the PC and continue the call on the smartphone, just as an example.
Webex App Reliability
Integrating Webex App
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Meet
- Zoom
Webex currently supports integration with all of the aforementioned platforms, and continues to make it simpler as time goes on, but further integration with Zoom (with no extra Zoom licensing required) is still pending. In any case, this is already on the roadmap and should be implemented in the coming months.
- Single Signon
- API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
The current integration of Webex with other platforms is very advanced, so the process has been greatly shortened and facilitated, but, while -today- Webex does not require any extra licensing for most integrations, it is always necessary to validate the requirements of the other platform beforehand so as not to run into unpleasant surprises and degrade the user experience.
Relationship with Cisco
Due to the increase in the use of the platform and certain licensing changes that occurred over time, we were able to agree on the scheme that best suited our company according to the use model that we were putting together for Webex, being able to cover all the business needs without exceeding our pre-established budget for the service.
It is very important to understand how the use of Webex will be managed internally within the company, since it should never be necessary to establish a licensing scheme at the highest level for all users, but rather the "active user" scheme. " is the most suitable for most SMEs
Upgrading Webex App
Yes - The "guide" for this part of the review says the following: Did the new release go smoothly with minimal down time? Were there any unexpected impacts of the new release? No Webex release has any downtime besides the installing of the new versión of the app itself, so the upgrades are truly transparent. Most impact of any upgrade has to do with the adoption of the new features or variations on the UI, but never technical impacts.
- The unlimited recording option it's a great plus
- The speech to text functions and new languages being added almost monthly