The acceleration to a new age of hybrid and remote working has pushed countless companies to reconsider their technology stack. In this environment, businesses are discovering the importance of having a flexible environment for communication at the heart of their operations. This means investing not just in collaboration tools and video conferencing, but phone solutions too.
Zoom Phone and Webex Calling represent two excellent ways for digitally transforming companies to build on their investment in the cloud. Over the last couple of years, many companies embraced Zoom and Cisco Webex solutions to enable their employees working from home. However, these organisations quickly learned that preparing for business continuity also means investing in a complete phone system for that cloud environment.
Zoom Phone and Webex Calling are easily accessible upgrades available from Cisco and Zoom, offering companies their own communication landscape in the cloud.
Zoom Phone Features
Interest in Zoom has skyrocketed in recent years, particularly as a result of the 2020 pandemic. For years, Zoom has built a reputation as a solution for companies in search of simple, more accessible video communications. Today, the portfolio of Zoom products has evolved to include everything from Meetings and Webinars, to Chat and Enterprise cloud telephony.
Zoom Phone, available as either a standalone product, or a solution bundled with other Zoom offerings (like Meetings and Chat), delivers a comprehensive virtual PBX system. This offering replaces the standard legacy PBX phone system with an intuitive environment that companies can manage from anywhere. The virtual PBX is easy to provision, requires no hardware to maintain, and helps to reduce business costs. Features include:
- Call-recording on demand, with transcriptions
- Zoom mobile app and desktop app
- Music on hold
- Native integrations with tools like Salesforce
- Voicemail with transcription
- Dial by name
- Global call routing
- Call blocking and call hold
- Call delegation
- Call transfer and forwarding
- Call conferencing and Meeting elevation
- Call park
- Quality dashboards
- Auto attendants
- Listen (monitor), whisper, barge, and takeover
- Shared line and shared line groups
- Device management
- Presence
- Call queues
- Single sign-on
- Phone number porting
- Bring your own carrier
- Emergency calling
- Desk phone support
- Call logs
- Contact center integration
Zoom’s virtual PBX supports companies in search of a quick and effective transition to the cloud environment. If you want to take your existing phone number and carrier with you into a cloud environment, Zoom can help. You can migrate your existing numbers into the cloud, access a comprehensive selection of powerful integrations, and provision everything easily from a central environment.
Zoom Phone is also available as part of the Zoom United plan, which comes with access to Zoom Phone, Zoom Meetings, and chat.
Cisco Webex Calling Features
Webex Calling is the virtual phone system solution from Cisco’s Webex brand. For most companies, Cisco is already a well-known brand in the digital landscape. The company has a powerful global presence, with data centers located around the globe. The Webex Calling enterprise-grade team collaboration and cloud calling solution comes with centralized administration, reliability, and security, so you can handle everything easily in the cloud.
Cisco Webex Calling is available as part of the full Cisco Webex ecosystem, with access to enterprise-grade calling, conferencing, team collaboration, and more. You can even enjoy a phased approach to cloud migration, with mixed cloud and on-premises networks. Features include:
- Webex phased cloud migration
- Call recording
- Call Pull, park and pickup
- Multi-line management
- Voicemail with transcription
- Desk phone control with dedicated hardware
- Call transfer and call waiting
- Merge and call conference
- Internal messaging
- Call to meeting elevation
- Integrations with leading tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams
- Dedicated Cisco room technology
- Data encryption and security
- Complete business directory
- Webex Control Hub for remote management
- Intelligent devices with proximity detection
- 99.99% SLA
Cisco’s Webex Calling solution is designed for the future of remote work, with a secure environment built to adapt according to your needs. You can scale your calling features according to your needs, and you can access Webex Meetings for free alongside your phone service. Cisco also has the added benefit of a complete range of hardware devices for teams to choose from.
