RoundtableUC&C9 Jul 2019 · 8 min read

Cisco Webex Teams vs. Google Hangouts

Cisco Webex Teams vs Google Hangouts helps buyers weigh collaboration, video conferencing, chat, G Suite, SharePoint and OneDrive.

Rebekah Carter

Are you ready for a new era of communication and collaboration?

In today's business environment, it's not just your customers that are demanding better experiences; it's your teams and business leaders too. Everyone expects more from the technology that they invest in.

That means that choosing the right UC strategy is becoming increasingly difficult. How do you know which application or platform is going to tick all the right boxes?

You can start by considering some of the most popular options on the market, like Cisco Webex Teams and Google Hangouts. These two solutions are both designed to improve teamwork, pave the way for better customer experiences, and strengthen business performance. Let's take a look at each in closer detail.

Cisco Webex Teams vs. Google Hangouts: User Experience

When it comes to choosing the ideal app for your team, user experience is one of the most important considerations of all. With so many text, video, and conferencing apps out there, the choice often comes down to finding something that supports the natural workflow of your team.

Google Hangouts is a tool that comes from a brand that everyone is familiar with. The chances are that some people in your staff already use Google Docs and sheets for their work. Picking a Google Hangouts strategy with Chat and Meet is just one way to upgrade their day-to-day activities.

You can create Google Calendar events and instantly join Hangouts video chats from a single link or pick up your chat conversations in Gmail. Google Hangouts takes the headache and complexity out of joining a collaborative session. There are no plugins or dedicated hardware necessary. What's more, you can join Hangouts Chats and Meetings from any device, thanks to specially-designed Android and iOS apps. Google Hangouts even works with tools based on H.323 and SIP standards, making interoperability easy. Features include:

One-click join for meetings
Chat and meetings from Gmail
SIP and H.323 interoperability
Natural part of the Google portfolio
Smartphone apps

Cisco Webex Teams is another collaborative offering that comes from a well-known communications company. With this tool, companies can seamlessly edit, share, and manage content, even pulling information from SharePoint Online and Microsoft OneDrive.

Cisco Webex Teams is designed to bring everyone in your organisation together in an easy-to-use space. You can start meetings with a touch of a button and join from any device. It's even possible to switch devices mid-conversation if you need to pop out of the office. What's more, because Cisco Webex Teams integrates with the apps you use most, your team doesn't have to change its entire working style.

For those interested in combining their on-premises tools with their cloud-based solutions, Webex even offers the Hybrid services bridge and on-premises services to enhance your transition into the cloud and improve ROI. Features include:

One-click join for meetings
Integrations with your favourite tools
Hybrid bridge services
Works on any device
No plugins necessary

Cisco Webex Teams vs. Google Hangouts: Team Experience

How well do your teams work together in the new collaborative environment? There are countless tools and services out there that can help to bring them together in a more cohesive environment. The question is, how do you figure out which tools you should be using?

Google Hangouts is an easy-to-use combination of tools. The first part of the solution is "Google Hangouts Meet" - a video chat app that's built into the Google portfolio. The second part is Google Hangouts Chat - an instant real-time messaging solution that keeps your employees involved in a business-wide conversation.

With Google Hangouts Meet and Chat, employees can share files, using tools like Google Docs and Sheets to simplify the experience, launch video calls from Gmail, and chat in real-time. There are also specialist Hangouts Meet Hardware which connects with any huddle space or meeting room in a single click. The simple Google environment, combined with in-depth integrations with G Suite provides employees with a comprehensive, collaborative space. Features include:

Video conferencing
Instant chat
File storage and sharing
Integration with Google G Suite
Powerful search features
Easy-to-join meeting experiences
Hangouts hardware

Cisco Webex Teams is another tool that strives to make meetings simpler throughout the modern workforce. Rather than letting crucial emails get lost in an inbox, you can start conversations with your team members within the chat portion of Webex Teams or ask your colleagues to join you in a quick video call. File and screen sharing is easy, so you shouldn't have problems bringing context to your conversations either.

Webex Teams comes with a hub that integrates with other applications that your teams might be using, such as Google Drive, Trello, and even Zendesk. This means that companies can build entire workflows based on the apps they know their teams use. There's also the option to add external colleagues into the conversation with nothing but a secure link.

As a leading communications provider, Cisco also offers a range of Webex devices that businesses can use to upgrade their collaborative experiences. For instance, the Webex Board makes it easy to set up virtual whiteboards and save drawings to the cloud. Features include:

Webex hardware integrations
Interoperability with crucial workplace tools
File and screen sharing
Video conferencing
Instant chat
Intelligent search
Conversations with people outside of your business

Cisco Webex Teams vs Google Hangouts: Customer Experience

Neither Cisco Webex Teams nor Google Hangouts are specifically designed for customer service. For instance, there's a good chance that you wouldn't integrate them into your workforce just for contact centre support. However, that doesn't mean that these tools can't make your customer service more effective.

For instance, Hangouts Chat ensures that teams can get their work done and find crucial information in a single, unified space. It's easier to collaborate efficiently, which means that team members can work in the back-end with their employees to find solutions to customer problems faster. In Hangouts Chat, you can share files with the entire team, and everything you share is easy to track with Google's advanced search functions.

With G Suite's enterprise edition, there are dial-in details available too, so you can ask your contractors or customers to join you on a video conference to guide them through an issue. With whiteboarding features, you might even be able to show a solution to a problem through a quick sketch. What's more, with built-in integrations and bots, you can find appointments and information faster than you would on your own. This means that serving customer is a more seamless and efficient experience. Features include:

Virtual whiteboarding
Intelligent Google search
Back-end collaboration
Dial-in details available
Integration with all of G Suite
Built-in bots available

Similarly, Cisco Webex Teams improves the efficiency of what's going on in the back-end, to ensure that your front-end is more successful too. You can start calls instantly with high-quality video meetings delivered at the touch of a button. Additionally, if you're meeting with customers face-to-face, you can connect any Webex Device to the app to start a meeting wireless, share your screen, and more. With whiteboarding and connections for guests available, it's easy to guide customers through complex problems step-by-step.

Webex customers can even join meetings right from their phone using a dial-in number, or Microsoft Skype for Business. The integrations with various other tools from your employees' workflow mean that they can always access the information they need to deliver the right service to your customers too, whether it's OneDrive or SharePoint online. Features include:

Virtual whiteboarding
Easy-to-use search
Excellent back-end collaboration
Dial-in available
Various integrations

Cisco Webex Teams vs. Google Hangouts: Business Experience

Finally, let's take a look at which tool is going to deliver the best results when it comes to reliability and return on investment. Both Cisco Webex Teams and Google have a lot to offer, but how do you know which one is right for your company?

Google Hangouts comes integrated with the entire G Suite, making it an obvious choice for people who already rely on Google solutions for a lot of their work. You can upgrade your conversations with bots and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing you're making the most of Google's security-first ecosystem.

There's integrated support for Vault included with Hangouts too, which means that admins can preserve, search, and manage various data points from their chats. There's also single sign-on available, two-factor authentication, compliance support, and so much more. All that, and the underlying pricing structure is easy to understand too. You get Hangouts as part of a complete G Suite experience. Features include:

Bot integrations
Full integration with G Suite
Two-factor authentication
Single Sign-on
End-to-end security
Vault add-on available

Cisco is also dedicated to providing customers with an always-secure experience for their collaboration and communication tools. Taking a privacy-first approach to your safety in the cloud, Cisco offers end-to-end encryption for all your files, messages, whiteboard drawings, and more. You can also manage your own encryption keys on-premises if you want to.

Administrators will have the option to manage corporate devices according to business requirements, using PIN lock and other tools. Additionally, there's the option to integrate with Data Loss Prevention tools like Cisco Cloudlock, to prevent employees from breaking customer policy. All that, and Cisco offers plenty of integrations with leading tools to make adoption easy. Features include: