When it comes to communicating in the workplace, Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex are the most popular collaboration platforms. Businesses often have teams or clients who use Webex and others who prefer Teams.
Unified communications (UC) solutions enable ALL users to connect and collaborate without issues. Not only does UC offer powerful features for calling and video conferencing, but they have enterprise-grade benefits you just won’t get from other platforms.
Read on for insight into how unified communications connects Teams, Webex, and beyond. We’ll review the features available with each tool and how a unified communication (UC) environment brings everything together.
Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex Integration
Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex are powerful workstream collaboration platforms. Both offer enterprise-level features, including:
- One-to-one chats
- Group chats
- Online meetings
- Video calling
Even with these similar suites of tools and features, most enterprise businesses will go with one or the other. A lot of times, it really comes down to which platform and software your company already uses.
For example, a business using Office 365 is more likely to integrate with Teams, while Cisco users are more apt to choose Webex. Of course, there are always companies that are looking for, or simply prefer, a specific tool or feature, in which case, interplay is possible. The good news is that, while both Webex and Teams do differ in some respects, generally speaking, they play nicely with each other. Here are some illustrations of how:
- Webex call features in Teams — This allows users to connect Teams account holders to Cisco calling features.
- Webex and Office 365 Integration — Users can access apps like Sharepoint or Onedrive via Webex.
- Host Webex meetings in Teams — For users who prefer Teams messaging and collaboration, but like Webex for meetings.
These are just a few of the integration features you can expect when using both Teams and Webex. One way to integrate these collaboration platforms further is to implement unified communications into your business. UC is a way to streamline and simplify, even when you’re using bits and pieces of disparate systems. It ties everything up, creating a frictionless experience for the end user, while still giving them access to all of the tools they need to exchange messages.
What are the Main Components of a Unified Communications Solution?
When it comes to unified communications solutions, what do you need to know? UC integrates a phone system with a wide selection of other enterprise-level communication tools. The end goal is to create a unified platform that improves UX and team productivity all while giving workers more flexibility in when, where, and how they log in to work.
UC is deployable in a few configurations:
- On-premises
- Private cloud
- Public cloud
Because of the rise in work-from-home opportunities for employees, public cloud configurations, also known as cloud-based UC or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), are rising in popularity.
With a UCaaS platform, what can you expect in terms of tools and features?
- File Transfer
- Instant Messaging and Presence (IM&P)
- Audio and Video Calling
- Video Conferencing
- Screen Sharing
Evolve IP is the First to Natively Integrate with Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams
If the point of UC is to foster enterprise-wide collaboration and communication, does that mean a business needs to choose either Webex or Teams? In most cases, a company will use one or the other, but we’ve already talked about how some prefer to cherry pick based on favorite features.
Tools like Teams, Webex, and Zoom are essential tools for doing business — especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prevalence of remote and hybrid work arrangements.
Evolve IP is the first provider whose UCaaS solution natively integrates with both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex, allowing employees to work in either platform and still enjoy streamlined collaboration. Not only does this allow for employees to collaborate across these two workstream platforms, but it also means integration into our powerful suite of UC tools.
The Benefits of Enterprise-Grade Calling Combined with Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams Features
While most meetings these days happen in video-based conferencing, enterprise calling is still a vital feature. For enterprise-level businesses, the calling experience needs to be uninterrupted, easy to use, and consistent. A “good enough” for calling just won’t cut it for today’s enterprise clients.
So, what benefits might you expect from calling features leveraging the combined power of Webex and Teams?
- VoIP and PSTN capabilities
- A simplified calling experience
- Advanced spam call filtering
- Call transfer through different devices
- Integration with other products like Apple Carplay
- Auto-attendant and call queuing
- Contact center features
- Call recording and transcription
- Merge calling and conferencing
- Call waiting
How These Unified Communications Solutions Simplify Collaboration
UC solutions can help your workforce connect and collaborate in new ways. Not only do they help empower remote workers, but they also integrate into existing systems to make everyday work communication that much easier.
The goal of UCaaS is to simplify collaboration. Here are some of the benefits might you expect from a UC solution for your company:
- Unified team messaging to develop a positive culture of sharing
- Advanced desktop sharing features to improve virtual meetings and foster new levels of participation
- Web conferencing tools to connect internal and external audiences, getting information to those who need it
- Integration tools for customer relations management (CRM) software that easily link messages and other communications with tasks in real-time
- Simplified security tools that alleviate the burden of cybersecurity on workers
Better UC Integrations with Evolve IP
Unified communications solutions can forever change the way you communicate in the workplace. Having the ability to leverage advanced collaboration tools means workers can connect and communicate without technological roadblocks.
Whether you use Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex, leveraging a UCaaS platform can add additional value to help you run a streamlined and efficient business. If you’re ready to take the plunge, or still curious about your UCaaS options, Evolve IP is here to help.
We can help your business scale and grow with first-in-class UCaaS tools like DaaS, contact center, and virtual desktop solutions. Research firm, Gartner, recognized our contact center as a service as a top provider for 2021. Our mission is to help your team connect efficiently, no matter where they are in the world. Contact us today for more information on how we are making the future of work better for everyone.
