Managing a growing remote workforce means ensuring that you have the right technology in place.
As distributed employees become more common in many teams, business leaders need to ensure that they have a strategy in place for preserving positive communication and collaboration. After all, just because your team members aren’t located in the same space anymore, doesn’t mean their teamwork should suffer.
Collaboration tools and meeting services ensure that today’s organisations can continue to be productive and efficient in a remote environment. The only problem is, there are so many options to choose from, that it can be difficult to figure out where you should invest.
Today, we’re going to explore the features and benefits of two market leaders: Cisco Webex and 8×8 Meetings. Hopefully, this head-to-head comparison will help you to make the right choice.
8×8 Meetings Features
8×8 Meetings is a state-of-the-art collaboration solution that ensures businesses can maintain productive meetings wherever their employees might be. The Meetings service from 8×8 is built on top of the brand’s incredibly impressive UCaaS environment, ensuring that companies can maintain resiliency and reliability when investing in collaboration.
With 8×8, you can build a complete communication and collaboration stack, complete with dedicated phone numbers for your remote workers, and even local service in locations all around the world. At the same time, the video meetings from 8×8 are easy to use so that anyone can join a conversation in a matter of seconds. Features include:
- Instant messaging (chat)
- Individual phone numbers for users
- Quick and easy set-up
- Local servicers in 47 countries
- International calling in 32 countries
- Easy desktop collaboration and screensharing
- X Series support
- Cloud recordings
- 8×8 Meeting Rooms
- Advanced security and privacy
To give business leaders more peace of mind, 8×8 also goes above and beyond to ensure that the meetings you host online are as secure as possible. You get the lightweight and reliable collaboration tools you need, without having to worry about privacy.
Cisco Webex Features
Just like 8×8, Cisco brings its meeting and collaboration tools to the market as part of a comprehensive UCaaS solution. Cisco has a fantastic heritage in the communication field, so you know that your audio and video meetings are going to be brimming with quality. What’s more, because Cisco is investing in state-of-the-art disruptive technology, there are advanced features to consider too, such as cognitive collaboration.
Cisco Webex provides meeting experiences through a combination of Webex Meetings and Webex Teams. Cisco Webex Teams is the environment similar to Microsoft Teams that allows for quick instant messaging conversations, while Meetings focuses on video calls. Cisco, like 8×8 makes it quick and easy to launch your meeting experience, with plenty of customization options, including the ability to add your own bots and integrations. Features include:
- Excellent video and audio calling
- AI enhancements with cognitive collaboration
- App and Bot integrations
- Cisco Room technology available
- Cisco Webex Calling for Voice
- Cisco Webex Teams for Chat
- File and screen sharing
- Security through enhanced encryption
- Quick and easy access
If you already have an investment in Cisco technology, then the Webex lineup of collaboration and meeting tools are going to be a natural choice for your team. What’s more, because Cisco has data centres strategically placed around the globe, you can ensure that your conversation quality remains strong, no matter what.
8×8 Meetings vs. Cisco Webex: Telephony
Both 8×8 and Cisco give business leaders all the tools that they need to enhance their collaboration and communication stack. With these tools, you’re not just getting basic meeting tools; you also have the option to build out a complete communication environment, with everything from Business Phone to analytics and in-room hardware.
Cisco brings business phone to the market through Webex Calling. Telephony users and conference room users can access subscriptions to make external calls with ease. You can access the services that are available from the regional providers in your area, and desktop and mobile apps are available to make your life easier. If you want an all-in-one environment for communication and collaboration, Cisco has you covered.
On the other hand, 8×8 provides a fantastic global service to all of its Meeting customers. If you want to expand your communication stack, you can do so with the X Series. There’s local service available for users in more than 47 countries, and international calling in over 32 countries too. Additionally, you can access a range of advanced features like number porting, SIP trunking, and quality of service management too. With 8×8, you can also access individual numbers with every license.
8×8 Meetings vs Cisco Webex: Experience
Both Cisco Webex and 8×8 Meetings want to make sure that your collaboration experience is as accessible and straightforward as possible. The 8×8 service comes with everything you need to transform your collaboration experience, including advanced features and leading security tools. With 8×8, you get an easy-to-access platform that blends seamlessly with your existing communication stack.
Available as part of a tried and tested UCaaS environment, 8×8 meetings supports more than 1 million users and 100,000 businesses. The company is constantly adding more functionality and capabilities to its technology stack, to ensure that business leaders can access the features that they need most for productivity and efficiency.
On the other hand, Cisco Webex is also designed to make life easier for business users, with simple room kits and easy-to-access video calls. However, the stack is likely to be most accessible for people who already have experience with the Cisco environment. Additionally, the use of disruptive technology like AI for cognitive collaboration will give businesses more to get used to when they’re embracing Cisco collaboration tools.
Which Option Should You Choose?
So, which service is right for you?
Both 8×8 Meetings and Cisco Webex have a lot of value to offer in the right circumstances. Each of these offerings can come as either standalone products or as part of a full UCaaS offering that combines internal and external communication.
Your choice will likely be based on how much experience you have with each vendor, Cisco will be more appealing to those with existing Cisco technology. It could also appeal to those who want access to more advanced features, like AI.
On the other hand, 8×8 is a great modular solution or people who want to build their communication and collaboration stack in the cloud to suit them.
Which service will you be using? Let us know in the comments below.
