Currently – in all commercial space – small business owners and CEO’s alike have multiple options when it comes to voice solutions. Admittedly, the selection process can be overwhelming and a little confusing. When it comes to the best, most collaborative solutions, hands down Microsoft Skype for Business and Cisco are the best solutions on the market. On the surface, the features can look similar but when the solutions are truly compared side-by-side, there’re several items that Cisco just can’t do. After you review this list, you’ll see why Microsoft Skype for Business is truly the best solution out there. Here are 8 things Cisco can’t do:
- Unified Client: Skype for Business provides a single unified client and user experience across devices (PC, tablets, mobile and meeting devices like Surface hub)
- Native Integration with Office and Office 365: Skype for Business is natively integrated in Office and Office 365 – Cisco is building complex infrastructures and client integrations reducing user productivity features, hard to maintain.
- Skype and Skype for Business Federation: Skype for business delivers a fully integrated, secured, multi-modal cross-users, Skype consumers and company federation allowing B2B and B2C scenarios – Cisco’s is limited in scenarios or cannot do Skype federation as well as depends on multiple technologies to delivering this.
- Active Directory native support: Through Active Directory, Microsoft provides true single sign-on experience across products including Office 365 or Skype for Business – Cisco WebEx has no synchronization/integration with Active Directory or company directory.
- Lower your Total Cost of Ownership! Skype for Business allows you to deploy reduced and integrated on-premises backend architecture, centralized management with security, compliance and control, and vendor consolidation with PSTN conferencing/calling service flat rate. Cisco requires a complex and costly hardware based solution and relies on carrier to provide Cloud based solution.
- Product Innovation: Microsoft innovates in lots of different spaces that products lines are leveraging – Cisco acquisition and product integration strategy doesn’t allow this.
- Easy line of business application integration: Microsoft development and open protocol platform offers easy LoB Applications integration – Platform capabilities, SDK, etc. – Cisco is not a software company and is not able to provide true developer experience. Cisco is more focusing on selling hardware.
- Simple user experience: Microsoft is all about the Cloud, with a true Hybrid on-prem/online strategy which Skype for business delivers simplifying user and administrator life – Cisco cannot deliver cross infrastructure services to single user authentication and provisioning.
If you’d like to reconsider your existing voice provider, please call the experts at PEI (303-786-7474). As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we’ve successfully implemented thousands of seats. Our clients are more collaborated and save more money than ever before – what are you waiting for?
Matt Dixon, PEI
