Cisco Webex Teams and Microsoft Teams are video conferencing and collaboration platforms aimed at streamlining business communications. Microsoft Teams is known for its collaborative tools and integration with Microsoft Office. It is the successor to Skype for Business, which will be phased out in mid-2021.
Cisco Webex Teams is part of the broader Cisco Webex family, acting as the suite’s go-to collaboration tool. In addition to standard web conferencing features, it also features tools that help with file sharing and team management.
Both solutions are primarily used by mid-size and enterprise-level organizations, likely because both products are designed to manage the communications needs of organizations with hundreds or thousands of employees.
Features
Key features for Cisco Webex Teams include chat (both for teams and company-wide channels), video meetings, an interactive whiteboard, and file sharing. Cisco Webex Teams is particularly designed to integrate with existing calendar systems to facilitate the ease of scheduling meetings with various members of an organization. Cisco Webex Teams is suitable for those already familiar with other Cisco Webex products who want to stick with a familiar interface and system.
Microsoft Teams is designed as a centralized location for communication and collaboration. From a single application, users can chat, make calls, share files, and schedule events. Its integration with Microsoft Office allows users to edit and comment on Office documents in real-time. Contact search tools help find exactly who you need to talk to by name, role, or department.
Limitations
Microsoft Teams has a large feature set, but its usability can suffer as a result. New users may have trouble onboarding with the software, and even experienced users might struggle with the interface. Administrators report that the permissions management system feels clunky and non-intuitive. Microsoft Teams can also be taxing on computer resources, with high CPU, memory, and battery usage. If computer resources and easy onboarding are at a premium for your business, both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex Teams need to be compared to alternatives that are easier to use out the gate and less memory intensive.
One of the biggest limitations of Cisco Webex Teams according to users is its lack of integration with non-Cisco products. Reviewers commonly point out that while they enjoy Cisco Webex Teams for team chat and collaboration, they would still like to be able to use it alongside other web conferencing software. Cisco Webex Teams may not also have the most intuitive and easy-to-use interface compared to other collaboration platforms and may require more hands-on training if being newly adopted.
Pricing
Pricing for Cisco Webex Teams varies by the number of users for business-wide adoption. Cisco Webex Teams has a completely free client with more limited features than its full, paid version. Users of the free Cisco Webex Teams client can still expect unlimited team messaging, screen sharing, and up to 5GB in file sharing, but are limited on the number of participants on each call or video meeting. Free clients also miss out on features from the paid client such as administrative controls, SSO, and live support.
Microsoft Teams has four tiered purchasing options. The free tier includes all of the core features, such as audio/video calls, screen-sharing, real-time collaboration within Office documents, and file-sharing (limited to 10 GB). The business basic tier is $5.00 per user per month, adds meeting recordings, and increases the file-sharing limit to 1 TB plus 10 GB per license. The business standard tier is $12.50 per user per month and adds desktop versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. The final tier, Office 365 E3, is $20.00 per user per month and adds the ability to host online events for up to 10,000 attendees.
