As everything is going online, why won’t the office? There are online platforms that provide video conferencing workstream collaboration platforms for organizations. To take your office online, there are many options available, like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Cisco Webex, etc. Here is the difference between Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams to decide which is right for the company.
Cisco Webex vs Microsoft Teams
The main difference between Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams is that Cisco Webex is a fragment extended of huge Cisco with an inherent hardware focus. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams is part of Office 365, confirming productivity and collaboration. Both companies, despite providing the same facilities, have different user bases and directions of use.
Cisco Webex is an American company founded in1995, which was developed as a collaboration service. It includes various software such as Webex App, Webex Calling, Webex Devices, etc. Which provide web conferencing, unified communication service as a facility. Cisco Systems acts as a parent company to manage all the apps of Cisco Webex.
Microsoft Teams is a collaborative software developed by the Microsoft company as a part of Office 365. It provides services for workspace talk, conference, application integration, business messaging and other office collaboration facilities for virtual offices. It was developed in 2017 during a hackathon and later launched by Microsoft.
Comparison Table Between Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams
| Parameters of Comparison | Cisco Webex | Microsoft Teams |
| Telephony | Offers three options – Webex calling, single-tenant platform, Cisco PSTN. | Offers cloud PBX-only telephony and PSTN services. |
| Security | It provides more administrative control at the user level, but has strict policies, and also does not allow third-party security. | It provides the same security as other Office 365 applications, also third party security options can be added to tighten the security. |
| Hardware | It has Cisco meeting room Hardware available in Cisco Stack. | Offers more flexibility for hardware options. |
| Room system | Have the option to choose between options like turnkey video collaboration or 4K video conferencing. | Have flexible options to suit different room sizes and devices. |
| Integrations | Webex has a long list of Webex team apps. | Tightly integrated with Office 365 |
What is Cisco Webex?
Webex is an American company developed by Subrah Iyar and Min Zhu in 1995. Later acquired by Cisco and made into a subsidiary and have headquarters in San Jose, California. It was developed as a collaborative application, which provides unified communication services, video conferencing as their services.
The company has many software products for specific services, such as Webex Messaging for unified chat services and Webex Meetings for video conferencing. Other software includes Webex App, Webex Suite, Webex devices, Webex Calling, etc.
All the Webex products are managed and controlled by the Cisco systems. All the applications are supported by Webex MediaTone Network and built on the Media tone platform.
AIM Pro is the instant messaging software launched in collaboration with AOL. It is a business version of instant messaging and provides additive features for collaboration with Webex apps.
Cisco also launched Webex Classrooms for virtual classrooms in 2020 to meet the market requirement. Their Webex portfolio is enhanced with AI-powered technology for virtual or hybrid, or in-person meetings in 2021.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft teams is the business collaboration platform developed by Microsoft as a part of Microsoft 365. Their services include workspace chatting services, file storage facilities, conferencing, application integration services, etc.
The Microsoft team was created during the hackathon held by the Microsoft company headquarters. Then it was developed and launched in 2017. It is a desktop application based on GitHub Electron framework, combining Chromium rendering engine and javascript platform Node.js.
Microsoft classroom has been replaced by the Microsoft teams due to the same service but added features. It has a free version, with most of the collaboration features, but with limiting file storage capacity and in-call user number. It also acquired the live streaming service Mixer for video game streams in 2020. It crossed over 270 million users in 2022.
Features of Microsoft teams include chatting services with formal text and emojis. This chat has additional features like users can mark any message as important or do not have to check their chatting history to be persistent. Users can form communities sharing team URLs. Team members can set up channels for specific topics, which allow users to communicate without mail or formal messages. It supports PSTN, which allows users to call on the telephone.
Main Differences Between Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams
- Cisco Webex offers three different options to suit consumer demands, Webex calling is for small or midsize organizations, single-tenant platforms for large consumers and Cisco PSTN for huge companies. While Microsoft offers PBX based telephony and PSTN based telephony services.
- Cisco offers more control to the end-user but has strict policies about third party security. While Microsoft Teams offer the same security as Office 365, with the option to add third-party security.
- The room system of Webex is supported by Cisco stack as meeting room hardware, while Microsoft provides great flexibility to use several hardware systems.
- Also, Webex has several options to choose from, such as turnkey video collaboration or 4K conferences, etc. Microsoft supports a variety of room sizes with dozens of options.
- Cisco Webex is deeply integrated with the Cisco system, while Microsoft is rooted in Office 365 collection.
Conclusion
Virtual offices and classrooms became the need for the current situations. To take businesses online with many options in the market, Cisco Webex and Microsoft teams are the giant players in the market already.
To meet user requirements and needs, both companies have made many advances in their services. As both of them don’t vary in comparison to quality or service. Both of them are good options for a virtual office. For Microsoft users, Microsoft teams will make more sense, while for Cisco users, Cisco Webex will be easy to deal with.
References
- https://wvvw.easychair.org/publications/preprint_download/Fq7T
- https://www.hawaii.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/05/Google-Meet-Microsoft-Teams-Webex-Privacy-Issues-Consumer-Reports.pdf