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Calling in Webex Teams: A Proven Calling Platform That Brings Cloud Innovation to the Mid-Market and Large Enterprise
Cisco Webex Calling does not support organizations with 'Webex Calling (formerly Spark Call)' service. For organizations configured with Webex Calling (formerly Spark Call), the Cisco Webex Teams application is available. Users of 'Webex Calling (formerly Spark Call)' need to sign-up for the new service. By downloading Cisco Webex Calling, you. Users with Calling in Webex enabled can integrate with the Microsoft Teams app to place and receive PSTN calls just like they would be placing and receiving calls in Webex. As an administrator, you can control which calling application is used and how calls are routed when people dial PSTN numbers or extensions from Webex.
- Webex Calling is a complete enterprise-grade cloud calling and team collaboration solution offered through a flexible subscription model. With centralized administration, security, and reliability you can trust, we keep the Webex Cloud always on and always up to date so you can focus on your business.
- Calling in Webex Teams: A Proven Calling Platform That Brings Cloud Innovation to the Mid-Market and Large Enterprise. Today Cisco announced a new enterprise-class, native cloud solution – Webex Calling. It’s powered by bringing together the best of the proven Cisco BroadCloud platform as well as Cisco Webex. Therefore, this brings Cisco.
- Webex Calling is a complete enterprise-grade cloud calling and team collaboration solution offered through a flexible subscription model. With centralized administration, security, and reliability you can trust, we keep the Webex Cloud always on and always up to date so you can focus on your business.
Today Cisco announced a new enterprise-class, native cloud solution – Webex Calling. It’s powered by bringing together the best of the proven Cisco BroadCloud platform as well as Cisco Webex. Therefore, this brings Cisco’s total business cloud calling users to over 29 million worldwide. By combining a full enterprise PBX feature set with the rich team collaboration capabilities of Webex Teams, Webex Calling delivers the complete, integrated collaboration experience business users need. It will be sold under the Cisco Collaboration Flex Plan by Cisco VAR channel partners. Availability begins in the U.S. on March 31, 2019 and will expand to more than 35 countries across North America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, and Japan by the end of the year.
Benefits of Webex Calling
We are already seeing a great fit in the market from our early partner engagements.
“The release of Webex Calling is timed perfectly with a phone refresh Presidio is doing for an important retail customer. The customer recognized immediately that they could configure, deploy, and manage over 2,500 handsets across 500 locations in nearly a plug-and-play fashion utilizing a lean IT team while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in telecom costs,” said Vinu Thomas, CTO of Presidio. “The flexibility of adding and removing phones, the access to the full suite of Webex’s collaboration offerings, and the ease of automatic updates and patching are just a few of the reasons Webex Calling is a tremendous opportunity for Cisco partners and their customers.”
Superior PBX Alternative
Mid-market and enterprise business leaders have been reluctant to move to the cloud, due to concerns about scalability, feature functionality, reliability, and security. That’s why we only see a current cloud calling market penetration estimate of 8% for businesses with 100+ users, while the cloud penetration for the under 100 user segment is more than 25%, based on market analyst estimates.
In addition, Webex Calling eliminates these former barriers and gives business leaders the freedom to replace their aging PBX infrastructure with a superior cloud PBX alternative. With cloud delivery from a series of geo-redundant data centers in seven countries, operated by experienced Tier 4 operators, Cisco is able to deliver a multi-tenant cloud service that is more reliable, scalable, and secure than any on-premises option. And with a cloud service that counts release cycles in weeks, rather than years, Webex Calling is always up to date, delivering a more intelligent user experience.
Complete Webex Calling Solution
Now Cisco can take users from their smartphone in their car, to the devices they use in their office, home, or meeting room with easy device handovers and rich business calling features at every step. With Webex Teams included, we’re making it simple to keep organizations connected and productive from wherever work gets done.
Here’s what you get with Webex Calling:
- A proven, enterprise-class cloud PBX
- Bundled with Webex Teams, for advanced collaboration
- Optional Cisco multiplatform (MPP) IP phones, headsets, and video devices
- Option to add Webex Meetings
- Simplified packaged pricing
- Investment protection through Cisco Collaboration Flex Plan purchasing
- Sales and service support from a qualified Cisco VAR channel partner
- Global availability expanding throughout 2019 to 35+ countries and 7 languages
Smooth Transition to the Cloud
In most cases, larger businesses need more time to transition over to the cloud. In some industries, like financial services, they may not ever move completely to the cloud. That makes the time and process in this transition zone a key gating factor for these business leaders.
One of the most important advantages we see with Webex Calling is the flexibility it offers for customers looking to transition to the cloud in phases, rather than all at once. Cisco customers now have the freedom to move any site, or group of users to the cloud, while maintaining a common network dial plan and directory access for users across all cloud and on-premises PBX sites.
Powerful Channels
Webex Calling will be sold primarily by Cisco value-added reseller partners (VARs) that are trusted by enterprises worldwide. So now mid-market and enterprise customers can get the performance, reliability, and security of a Cisco cloud calling solution from the Cisco channel partner they prefer, or are currently doing business with.
Webex VAR Partners
![Teams Teams](/uploads/1/1/2/2/112226177/245297656.png)
Early excitement and momentum with our VAR partners is building. Here’s what Joe Berger, Practice Director, Collaboration and End User Computing for World Wide Technology had to say. “As the UCaaS market continues to mature, we’re excited to have Webex Calling in our portfolio. The Cisco BroadCloud powered solution now gives us more options for those customers who are looking to move their collaboration workloads to the cloud . . . backed by the enterprise requirements that many businesses already expect from Cisco. When combined with Webex Meetings and Webex Teams, this truly becomes a next generation collaboration platform.”
We now have 19 U.S.-based partners already signed up to introduce Webex Calling to their business customers. Talk to one of these Cisco partners about Webex Calling:
Watch for the latest on Webex Calling and other Cisco cloud calling and collaboration news here, over the coming months.
For a complete recap of the Cisco Cognitive Collaboration announcement, read the following articles:
5 Ways to Connect Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex in 2021
For many reasons and in many businesses, we regularly see organizations with instances of both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex.
This post addresses how businesses got to this situation and highlights the best ways to connect the two platforms together.
Why Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex?
Common reasons for instances of both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex include:
- Legacy or current Cisco hardware like telepresence, VoIP handsets, and Cisco Spark boards
- Microsoft 365 packages offering free Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams licenses
- Mergers and acquisitions where one company uses Cisco Webex and the other uses Microsoft Teams
- A new CIO or IT Manager started and implemented their preferred
solution - You interact with guests from other organizations that use different messaging platforms
Can Microsoft Teams replace Webex?
Microsoft Teams has tons of great features, like grid videos and custom backgrounds. You can integrate your conversations with Microsoft 365 and access direct routing.
But Microsoft Teams isn’t the right solution for everyone.
If you try to shift everyone to Microsoft Teams, you risk isolating some of your team members who use Webex.
People who don’t want to stop using their preferred app won’t switch easily. This puts your team at risk of shadow IT and other security issues.
It’s always better to give your team the freedom to use the tools they prefer.
If you do need to connect the two together, the next section outline five ways to connect the two platforms together.
1- Webex call features in Microsoft Teams
If all you want to do is connect your Microsoft Teams account holders with Cisco Webex calling features, here’s how:
In April 2020, Cisco announced a new Call Appfor Microsoft Teams. The app launches calls through Webex technology, even when you click the call button in Microsoft Teams.
To access this functionality, follow these steps:
- Verify users have accounts activated in the Webex Control Hub
- Ensure users are registered to the Cisco Webex Calling or Unified Communications Manager
- Make sure users have the Webex app
- Ensure you have Administratorprivileges for Microsoft Teams
- Update phone numbers for users in the Azure Active Directory
With us so far? Great.
Head over to the Microsoft Teams Admin Center and click Teams Apps followed by Manage apps. You can search for the Webex Call function and toggle the app status to allowed.
Remember to update your permission policies to allow third-party apps too.
In the Teams apps menu, click on Setup policies and add the Cisco Webex Call app to your Microsoft setup. Users will now be able to click Webex Call at the bottom of a window when chatting in Microsoft Teams.
Or employees can click on the Webex Call function on the left-hand menu bar and just tap in the number of the person they want to call through Webex.
Pros:
- Simple way to connect Webex calling functionality with Microsoft Teams
- Embedded buttons in Teams make the function easy to use
Cons:
- Only works to connect two VoIP calling strategies. You can’t connect your chat messages or file sharing this way.
- Calling opens a new window, which means there are more tabs for users to keep track of.
- Only works to add Webex Calling to Microsoft Teams. You can’t add Microsoft calling to Webex instead.
2 – Cisco Webex and Microsoft 365 integration
Cisco recently announced integration between its Webex app and the Microsoft 365 suite.
How do I integrate Webex with Office 365?
Users can access files like apps like SharePoint and OneDrive from within the Webex app.
If your end goal is to use the Microsoft 365 suite within the Webex app, this integration will work just fine.
How do I integrate a Webex team with Outlook?
Go to your Cisco Webex admin Settings.
Click on Outlook then Outlook settings. You’ll have the option to Connect to Outlook. Choose Yes and hit the Save button.
Having more than one app integrated with Outlook sometimes causes problems with Webex. Before you integrate Webex and Outlook, you’ll have to unregister other tools. This includes removing Skype for Business connections.
Once your Outlook integration is ready, you can see the status of Webex contacts in Outlook.
Pros:
a. Users no longer have to leave their Webex app if they use Microsoft 365 for productivity tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word.
b. You can benefit from Microsoft Teams governance and data privacy from Microsoft 365 whilst never leaving your Webex app.
c. Share content created in Microsoft apps in Cisco Webex spaces.
Webex Teams Calling App
Cons:
a. This integration is available for multiple Microsoft apps, but not Microsoft Teams.
b. If you’re a Webex for Web user, you can only view these types of files, but not make any changes to them.
The Cisco Webex and Microsoft 365 integration is great for users that are happy to live in Webex – but it doesn’t take into account users that prefer Microsoft Teams for collaboration.
3 – Bot integration for Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex
Chrome remote desktop windows 10. If This Then That (IFTTT) helps apps and devices work together.
There are examples of IFTTT working in homes and businesses alike.
When rules are set for one app or device to do something based on the behavior of another app of device, these are called recipes.
From common scenarios like turning up the heating in your home when the temperature drops below a certain threshold to syncing your Instagram and Dropbox account, recipes come in all shapes and sizes.
When setting recipes for both Microsoft and Cisco, this typically includes what happens on Microsoft Teams when a message is posted in Webex.
For this scenario, a Webex users sends a message and the bot in Microsoft Teams gets a notification.
Pros:
a. Bot integrations come with many pre-built recipes to choose from across a range of apps and devices.
b. Familiar look and feel to consumer IFTTT apps.
c. Options to add your own customized recipes.
Cons:
a. Administration time can be lengthy as scenarios have to be set up one-by-one.
b. When new users are added, administrators must build new recipes.
c. Functionality across platforms is limited.
d. Cross platform experience is not seamless. Notifications are received in a bot rather than native to a chat, space or direct message etc.
4 – Host Webex meetings in Microsoft Teams
For users that prefer Microsoft Teams for messaging and collaboration, but must use Cisco Webex for meetings, there is the Cisco Webex Meeting app.
This is perfect for running Cisco Webex meetings direct from Microsoft Teams.
The meeting app is also available for Slack, Workplace from Facebook, and Google Calendar.
Pros:
a. Schedule and join Cisco Webex meetings without leaving Microsoft Teams.
b. Microsoft Teams users just need to add the Webex Meetings app to their Microsoft Teams app.
c. Simple administration in the Cisco Webex Control Hub.
Cons:
a. The Cisco Webex Meetings app for Microsoft Teams doesn’t support accounts on webex.meetings.com, on meetingsln.webex.com, or on Cisco Webex Meetings Server sites.
b. Limited to Cisco Webex Meeting functionality.
c. Messages, chats, files etc cannot be exchanged via the Webex Meeting app for Microsoft Teams. A meeting must be launched to communicate across platform.
d. Jonathan Dame wrote on SearchUnifedCommunications that customers of both Cisco and Microsoft using the integration have labelled it clumsy, forcing them to consider back to working in silos.
5 – External federation for connecting with guests on different platforms
Do you communicate with people outside your organization?
Do they use apps other than Microsoft Teams?
If the answer is yes to both of these questions, according to research, Cisco Webex is one of the most favored.
When this is the case, it becomes extremely unproductive moving out of Teams, into your external contact’s choice of app, and starting the conversation again.
Or even worse, end up resorting to email like it’s the 90s. (Okay, email has a purpose but you get the point).
That’s why Mio has created universal channels for Microsoft Teams with Webex…
You can stay in Teams and send messages to your contractors, suppliers, or clients who use Webex.
They stay in their platform too and Mio translates the messages across platform.
And it’s not just messages that are supported! GIFs, emojis, channels, DMs, and message edits/deletes are all supported.
If this sounds like something you need, install Mio into either Microsoft Teams or Webex.
Calling In Webex Teams Unified Cm
You choose which platform you use and your external contacts choose theirs.
If you’d like to learn more about enabling cross-platform messaging, you can watch our on-demand webinar with Mio CEO, Tom Hadfield, here.
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