Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex Teams
There is no perfect answer to which is better - Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex. Considering the core features, pricing, security aspects, integrations - organizations can come up with an idea of which product is better suited to their employees as well as business needs.
More and more organizations are moving towards creating workstream collaboration platforms. As a result, the 'unique to the platform' feature is becoming increasingly similar to one and the other. When it comes to selecting the right workstream collaboration platform, there are many factors specific to each business to consider as part of the decision process. Both Microsoft Teams and CISCO Webex Teams provide the best features required for the modern day problems.
Team Rooms
Microsoft Teams Rooms offer vast flexibility and variety of hardware options featuring partners like Logitech, Lenovo, HP, Crestron, etc. There are many options that support a variety of room sizes and offer features like companion experience, proximity detection, one-touch join, and support for dual-screen meeting rooms.
Cisco Webex Teams run on the Cisco meeting room hardware kit available. Cisco has RoomOS which gives an overview of new features and capabilities available for Cisco Webex registered rooms and Webex Boards.
App Integration
Integration of the chat-based collaboration tool in any organization is an important part of work. Microsoft Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365, being the collaboration hub for your organization along with the growing list of applications and bots available in its app store. The Cisco value add is especially for those who already have an installed base of Cisco voice and video endpoints in their organization. A list of Webex Teams apps are available in their App Hub. App management is one of the most crucial tasks for the IT and security teams. In terms of the different levels of feasibility and ease of use in-app integration, the competition is slightly tilted towards Microsoft Teams over Cisco Webex Teams.
Security Features
One of the best features of Cisco Webex Teams and Microsoft Teams is that they have massive support of two behemoth companies. In any magnitude of organization, security is never an option. Microsoft Teams was built on Microsoft 365, enterprise-grade cloud, which means it provides the same security feature like any other Microsoft 365 plan.
Cisco Webex Teams has a long list of certifications when it comes to security claims. Tools like eDiscovery, unique device PINs, idle time-out feature, flexible retention policy for contents, etc. Cisco gives more control at the user level compared to Microsoft Teams which gives more options at administrator level.
Pricing
Microsoft Teams is available in two types of offers.
The Standalone Free version is available for any number of users for 6 months. Microsoft Teams is a part of Microsoft 365 plans starting at $2 per user per month.
Cisco Webex comes with 4 separate plans
- Free version
- Starter (Small Teams) - $13.50 per month per host
- Plus (Mid-sized Teams)- $17.95 per month per host
- Business (Large Teams and businesses) - $26.95 per month per host. Minimum of 5 licenses needs to be purchased
Key features
Teams
Cisco Webex
Both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex Teams have one to one chat, group chats, guest access, online meetings, video calls, screen sharing, file storage, calendaring, etc. On some level, Webex is higher when it comes to communication coverage and calling features. On the other hand, security and administrator level are tilted towards Microsoft Teams. Despite appearing similar at the top, both of these have a different overall direction. Microsoft Teams goes to the broader Microsoft 365 surrounding productivity and collaboration, while Webex Teams is a part of the larger Cisco meeting and Conferencing hardware legacy.
