Though many companies are encouraging employees to come back into the office in 2024, demand for hybrid work is still growing. In one poll conducted by UC Today, only 3% of employees said they preferred a traditional “in-office” working model and a massive 42% preferred a fully remote setup.
As employees continue to prioritize flexibility in their work models, business leaders need to ensure they can support hybrid work, to boost staff engagement, and retention. For many organizations, this starts with choosing the right digital hub for collaboration and communication.
Both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex offer organizations access to valuable tools for facilitating hybrid work, from meeting room and video conferencing software, to solutions for knowledge and file sharing. But what happens if your diverse workforce doesn’t want to choose one platform other another? How can you combine Cisco Webex and Teams to empower every employee?
“Our customers appreciate the integration of Webex Calling with Microsoft Teams, as it allows organizations to transition to a modern collaboration platform while maximizing their investment in Cisco’s robust voice infrastructure. Users get the familiar interface of Teams for calling, while IT benefits from leveraging existing Cisco hardware and call control, minimizing disruption and maximizing return on investment.”
- Chris Scimone, Collaboration Architect, New Era Technology.
The Benefits of Unifying Webex and MS Teams
Employees, just like customers in the modern world, want freedom of choice. They want to be able to use the communication tools, devices, and solutions they feel most comfortable with, without being restricted to a specific set of resources.
This is something Microsoft and Cisco have both recognized in recent years, prompting the two competing companies to join forces and empower employees to use both tools simultaneously. Unifying Cisco and Microsoft Teams ensures companies can:
- Enhance user experience: Connecting Teams and Cisco in the same environment gives employees the freedom to choose the tools that are best suited to their needs, without restrictions. This enhances user experience, leading to significant productivity boosts.
- Cost efficiency: The ability to use Cisco Webex devices alongside Microsoft Teams, as well as integrated software solutions means companies can avoid ripping and replacing their existing infrastructure and tools, saving on digital transformation costs.
- Improve collaboration: With a unified approach, companies can ensure all employees can easily share knowledge and insights, without having to switch between different platforms to connect with different groups. This leads to stronger, more consistent collaboration.
- Access valuable insights: The integration of MS Teams and Cisco Webex facilitates a transparent and holistic view into business processes. This allows for more cohesive performance monitoring, reporting, empowering strategic decision making.
- Optimize security and compliance: With a unified solution, business leaders can worry less about where their data is being stored and ensure they’re adhering to evolving compliance and security requirements.
How to Combine Webex and Microsoft Teams
In the past, connecting Microsoft Teams and Webex was complex. Now, the two vendors are working more closely together, enabling companies to leverage flexible deployments with the support of the right partners and systems integrators. Here’s how you can bridge the gaps between the platforms.
Step 1: Identify Your Integration Requirements
Both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex offer companies a wide range of solutions for collaboration and communication. They both provide access to collaboration tools, communication options for cloud-based interactions, and opportunities to replace traditional PBX systems.
Before you can integrate Cisco’s technologies with Microsoft Teams, you’ll need to identify which components from each vendor you need to align. For instance, do you want to leverage Cisco’s voice options, as well as hardware for Microsoft Teams Rooms? Will you be using Microsoft Teams for knowledge sharing and AI access, but need Cisco for video conferencing purposes?
Do you have any additional platforms and tools you need to align with your new connected solution, such as Zoom, Office 365, or BlueJeans? If you’re not sure what your employees need from an integrated solution, ask for their insights and feedback.
Step 2: Plan Your Integration Strategy
Once you’ve identified the requirements of your unified Cisco and Microsoft Teams solution, it’s time to start thinking about the approach you’ll take to connect the two ecosystems. Think carefully about your requirements when it comes to:
- Hardware: Do you have existing meeting room and collaboration equipment you want to continue using in the future? For instance, you may have already invested in a Cisco Room Kit Pro for whiteboarding, conferencing, and knowledge sharing in large spaces. What type of new hardware will you need to implement based on how your teams collaborate?
- Networking: Is your network ready for the integration of Cisco and Microsoft Teams? Do you have the right bandwidth to support both solutions? How will you track quality of service data for voice and video traffic?
- Access controls: How will you simplify access to both Microsoft Teams and Cisco technologies for your users, while keeping your organisation secure? What will you need to monitor to avoid potential compliance issues?
Step 3: Find a Vendor to Support You
Finally, once you’ve conducted all the right research into your Cisco and Microsoft Teams integration requirements, seek help from a reputable partner. A company with experience in combining cloud services, enhancing network functionality, and integrating systems will help streamline your configuration and deployment strategy.
The right vendor will help with everything from planning your AV strategy for meeting room development, to ensuring third-party integrations work seamlessly with both Microsoft Teams and Cisco. Some companies can also offer access to managed services, helping with monitoring your devices and software, tracking crucial metrics, and driving intelligent decision making.
Plus, they can help you scale and grow over time, assisting with employee training to boost adoption, and providing access to innovative new tools, such as artificial intelligence systems that can work alongside your unified collaboration environment.
Unifying Webex and Teams for Hybrid Work
As demand for flexible work continues to grow, investing in the right solutions for unified communications and collaboration is crucial. For some businesses, the ideal approach will involve not just choosing a single collaboration platform, but unifying multiple options.
With the right vendor, companies can connect Cisco and Microsoft Teams, empowering employees to access the best features and solutions from both providers. New Era, a leading integrations provider, can help companies manage and support both solutions under a single SLA, paving the way for rapid scalability and growth.
“For our customers who like the flexible licensing and usage approach of Webex Contact Center, The ability to integrate it with a Teams endpoint is huge. Agents can leverage the powerful features of Webex Contact Center, like real-time call analytics and intelligent routing, directly within the familiar Teams interface. This streamlines workflows, improves agent productivity, and ultimately leads to happier customers and increased satisfaction.”
- Andrew Higgins, VP of CX Solutions, Global Digital Transformation, New Era Technology.
