Cisco Unified Communications vs Skype for Business comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Unified Communications and Skype for Business based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about 3CX, Kamailio, Digium and others in Unified Communications.
To learn more, read our detailed Unified Communications Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We use Extension Mobility and Jabber a lot with mobile remote access. In addition to video calls with Jabber, this greatly enriched communications between coworkers.""The Click to dial feature was one of the most important features for the customer."

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"The security seems good.""The solution is scalable and is capable of working on every appliance on every operating system.""The deployment is very fast.""We chose Skype for Business after other colleagues suggested that we give it a try. It has served us well.""It's a good product, we like using it.""Desktop sharing is a valuable feature.""People are now able to virtually collaborate with their staff and have a conference call. We don't need a phone line to make that conference call and we are saving on that. People are able to share their presentations. Also, they can chat using the Skype""The Microsoft tech support are very good. They get back to you. I log a support call, and I usually have someone on the phone within a half an hour, so it is pretty good."

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Cons
"An improvement option could be to incorporate the Voicea solution with Communication Manager, allowing it to make a translation between different languages automatically in a conversation.""Some features take a lot of steps to configure, so having areas where a few clicks can configure a feature for a user would be nice."

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"We have had trouble with scalability when trying to host large meetings.""Skype for Business could improve the interface. It could be easier to use. Additionally, it's hard to find the people or add people you want to communicate with.""The tool needs to have a dynamic file updating feature, so people you share a file with could update the file dynamically, all at once, all at the same time.""The solution isn't connected to Microsoft Teams, and I feel like there is better communication on that particular solution. The group capabilities are a bit less than Teams.""The solution should improve the chat and add more flexibility to make a call.""I feel that the whole look and feel of Skype should be improved, including its user-friendliness. It should also improve its scalability.""The solution has been discontinued by Microsoft.""It would be ideal if the solution could make instant messages more permanent. Currently, if you close the conversation, you lose the instant messages that you shared during the meeting. If those could last beyond the meeting, that would be a great addition, due to the fact that frequently, people give each other key details, important information, or email addresses, etc., during the meeting. If you don't write it down during the meeting, after the meeting closes, it's gone forever. That can be quite frustrating."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
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  • "We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
  • "We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
  • "The pricing is really good. It is quite affordable because it came with our Office 365. It is on a per-user license, which is nice. I quite like that they have made it very granular with all of their licensing."
  • "It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
  • "It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."
  • "To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
  • "The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
  • "We purchased an open license."
  • More Skype for Business Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
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    Top Answer:The solution’s video quality is fine.
    Top Answer:The solution has very limited features. The solution should improve the chat and add more flexibility to make a call.
    Ranking
    4th
    Views
    952
    Comparisons
    828
    Reviews
    0
    Average Words per Review
    0
    Rating
    N/A
    4th
    out of 63 in Virtual Meetings
    Views
    2,839
    Comparisons
    1,073
    Reviews
    23
    Average Words per Review
    332
    Rating
    7.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
    Learn More
    Overview
    With Cisco Voice and Unified Communications, you can unify all your voice, video, data, and mobile applications for interactive collaboration.
    Skype for Business offers features including presence, IM, voice and video calls, online meetings, conferencing, and telephony solutions that support enterprise-level collaboration requirements. Skype for Business Record meetings, share your screen, and annotate PowerPoint for real-time collaboration with up to 250 people and use whiteboard, polls, Q&A, and built-in IM during your business meetings to make them more productive. Skype for Business provides new client experience, Skype for Business Server provides several new features to improve manageability of on-premises servers and hybrid solutions. Skype for Business also supports the Lync client experience so that you can choose a phased upgrade approach to the new client experience for users. Skype for Business is also an integral part of Microsoft Office 365, providing PSTN Conferencing, Cloud PBX, PSTN Calling, and Skype Meeting Broadcast capabilities to Office 365 users.
    Sample Customers
    Afni, Allied Irish Banks, Bellevue, Came Group, Children's Hospital Colorado, Erickson Living, IDEALondon, Instituto Zaldivar, John Lewis, Linz AG, London Hydro, Lone Star College System, Lone Star College System, Mondi Group, North West Redwater, Park Nicollet, Pentana Solutions Australia, Pilatus, Pirelli, Portugal Ministry, Presidio Inc., Republic Bank & Trust Company, Saipem, SickKids Foundation, Top Right Group, Vital Images
    EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company13%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Government10%
    University10%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    University8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization87%
    Computer Software Company2%
    Government2%
    Financial Services Firm2%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business57%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise61%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise46%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business4%
    Midsize Enterprise89%
    Large Enterprise8%
    Buyer's Guide
    Unified Communications
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about 3CX, Kamailio, Digium and others in Unified Communications. Updated: March 2024.
    768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Unified Communications is ranked 4th in Unified Communications while Skype for Business is ranked 4th in Virtual Meetings with 59 reviews. Cisco Unified Communications is rated 9.0, while Skype for Business is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Cisco Unified Communications writes "I find the ability to block incoming calls based on the originating number to be the best feature, but the reporting system needs to be more in-depth". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Skype for Business writes "Reliable, useful for remote work, and great but isn't as robust as Microsoft Teams". Cisco Unified Communications is most compared with Fortinet FortiVoice, Cisco Jabber, Digium Asterisk, Siemens OpenScape and Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise Communication Server, whereas Skype for Business is most compared with Webex, Zoom, TeamViewer, GoToMeeting and Kamailio SIP Server.

    We monitor all Unified Communications reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.