MiCloud Connect vs. RingEX

If your company has relied only on an on-premises system in the past, Mitel is a fantastic alternative. Mitel provides an excellent hosted option for businesses looking for scalability as they expand as well as ease of deployment for use by branch offices and remote employees. However, I would recommend caution if the company plans to utilize Mitel as its only communications platform because its conferencing solutions are not ready for prime time.

Incentivized

When setting up a new user with a phone. I can call in their support line. They followed me through every step of setting up the new phone. Our office has very specific settings, and our support staff will walk you through the completion. Even do test calls, making sure the user is properly set up for voicemails, faxes, or any type of notifications.

Incentivized

• The system up-time has been 100% over 3 years.
• With separate systems and two locations we used to have to fake the system into 4 digit dialing by forwarding all remote extensions to DIDs. Now with Shortel extended to the remote location we have true 4 digit dialing.
• The Shortel desktop application makes managing calls and call routing a breeze for even our most novice users.

Incentivized

• Chat and Messaging - Conversations are easy to search, topics can be pinned or bookmarked, and groups are easy to create and administer.
• Phone - The core functionality works very well allowing voice, txt/sms, and faxing for all users. Administration is generally fairly easy as well.
• Mobile Client - the mobile app offers all of the same functionality as the desktop or web client.
• Video - Video calls make it easy to share screens with other users and includes a lot of tools for planning.

Incentivized

• The Shoretel Mobility app for iPhone does not work very well and is not very intuitive in my experience.
• We have had many intermittent instances of employees reporting that call quality is bad, sounds like the caller is garbled and underwater.
• I deployed Shoretel Sky to eleven branches in four states over a 6 month period and experiences were not very consistent. Had issues with not enough power bricks being sent with the phones, some phones not having the the face sticker showing messages, directories, etc., user guides (quick start guides) not getting shipped with the phones at some branches, and phones being programmed incorrectly. This made it very difficult to plan my trips to train employees and install these at the various locations.

• Customer support is rudimentary. They should improve tier 1 customer support's ability to understand our needs rather than asking customers to reinstall the app
• Revolving door of account managers, which causes loss of continuity in discussing opportunities
• Analytics is not complete. Details about faxing and web meetings is missing.

Incentivized

Although the price is higher than some of the other Hosted systems out there, the value is definitely worth a renewal. Everything is relative: there are some companies out there who need phones, but don't necessarily care how they work, the functionality/features available/durability etc., they just care that they have phones that make and receive calls. There are other companies that are completely reliant on phones and certain functionality that is provided by the system. There are even some companies who are straight up dependent on the phone system and are losing tons of money anytime they are down, ShoreTel is the perfect fit for theSMB client who sees value in a solid,robust, reliable and high functioning phone system

Incentivized

We switched to RingEX for ease of administration, flexibility of integration (fax, web meetings, chat client, mobile app) and competitive price. Although the system has had a few quirks as it's been relying on our network much more heavily and integrating with our next-gen firewall, I can't speak highly enough of what RingEX has done for our business. I love it and can't wait to renew for a longer period of time at an even more competitive rate.

Incentivized

I have not used a wide array of communication software, but this far ShoreTel/MiCloud has been the simplest and easiest to get into. My work employs several temps at certain points throughout the year, and they use this piece of software frequently, and new hires seem to have little to no issue using this software. Additionally, this is our primary telephone communication infrastructure, and I have yet to encounter any issues when signed in and regularly using it handling external calls to our department.

Incentivized

Once you get used to the features of the system, it is extremely easy to find what you need. Everything is all on one place which makes the usability phenomenal. It is very user-friendly, and everything you need is mainly on the RC app. There is a separate window for your Max Agent, and everything is spelled out so you rarely have a question where something is.

The system has gone down on us MULTIPLE times. We asked them to move us to a different cluster. Shoretel declined. Basically we had problems or outages every month of the year from June 2012 to date. Our old phone system was just that: OLD, no bells or whistles. But it was up every day and I never had to think about it much until it was time for an upgrade. That's how I want Shoretel to be. I want it so reliable that I never have to think about it.

It is quite reliable, we have the support of being able to identify failures and escalate it, also monitor the failures that are posted on the web about the status of the failures and evolutions. Its easy start-up and access allow us to have better performance and productivity, which in the long run turns into benefits.

Incentivized

Even though the system uses a lower bandwidth connection we have experienced a higher call quality than our previous system which required a T1 line and back up broadband connection.

Occasional bandwith issues. In addition to this, I have one individual whose calls are blocked. We were not able to determine whether this was a RingEX or a carrier issue.

Incentivized

ShoreTel Sky's support is amazing. The only reason why I didn't give it a 10 is that we still need to contact them for stuff that we should be able to do, for ourselves, within the management portal. I know their portal is being worked on, so hopefully they will get the "little things" included for self-management.

I have called RingEX a few times for assistance in setting up call handling or implementing changes in our call handling structure. The wait time to speak with an agent is usually minimal and the ones I have spoken to are excellent at walking me thru what changes I am trying to make as well as ensuring I understand what is being done so I can handle it myself next time if the need arises.

Incentivized

I attended the first ShoreTel installer class in Austin,TX. It was a week of intensive study with a live lab and having hands on experience made the class worthwhile. I have taken all of the sales courses and remaining technical courses either online or self study to keep costs down. I send my techs to the first installer course in Austin as I feel it gives them a solid foundation and most of teh other courses they have taken have been online.

Incentivized

I really didn't know all the capabilities

Incentivized

The training identified some things M5 (ShoreTel's cloud division) could provide, however it was only using it every day and asking the Shoretel support several questions that I got the hang of it. The training was able to highlight functions but I did not learn how to use the phone from the training.

I feel that the current features that ShoreTel provides are pretty solid, but in future I would love to see it expand into more features to assist inter team communication if possible. Considering that there was not a single issue with ShoreTel in my whole work period of 6months I think it is safe to say that the implementation is pretty standardized.

Incentivized

If someone has an existing system I tell them to keep that running initially and keep RingEX separate initially until the system is configured and tested to one's satisfaction. After testing and configuration is completed, then roll over the main phone numbers to the new RingEX system. I've seen one person who immediately flipped over to RingEX without properly configuring/testing the software and had many issues with missed customer calls until I helped him sort out his configuration.

Incentivized

Costs are lower with Mitel's offering than was the case with SureTel's offering. Switching from SureTel to MiTel was simple and painless. A software update was pushed by IT, and users migrated with relative ease. The vast majority of users did not need any involvement from IT during and after the switch over

Incentivized

We switched from GoTo's platform with pieces of Teams. At that time, the complexity and difficulty of integrating all of the features and connecting them to get a simple platform that was stable and easy to train weren't available elsewhere.

Incentivized

Shoretel has been very scalable for our organization. We first installed Shoretel in 2003 to standardize three sites on one phone system. As our needs have changed, our Shoretel system has adapted with our growing needs and added locations. Initially, we were using analog phones and have been rolling out VoIP as our budgeting has allowed.

Incentivized

We have 75 users and 85 phones on the system and have yet to have any noticeable outages. The system just works all of the time without issues. Our old VOIP system on Voyant would go out all the time for multiple hours. RingEX is much more stable and reliable.

Incentivized

• We've definitely seen a business impact on our company in a positive manner. We've been able to provide the best possible service that suits our needs, while not being gouged by ISP's or Telco providers.
• We can better serve our customer service reps and tech support people by managing our own system, creating our own ring groups and control use.

• Cost savings over traditional phone system with land lines
• Increased productivity due to allowing my team to work from anywhere
• Conference calling features replaced a separate service
• Video meeting features replaced a separate service
• Call handling is easier
• SMS Campaigns are a great tool

Incentivized