cisco-jabber-vs-microsoft-teams

Cisco Jabber and Microsoft Teams are communication and collaboration platforms aimed at streamlining business communications. Microsoft Teams is known for its collaborative tools, and integration with Microsoft Office. Jabber, by contrast, is regarded as an intuitive solution, with a clear interface and smooth learning curve. 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

Cisco Jabber and Microsoft Teams share many features, such as video calling, conferencing, and screen-sharing, but each has its own strengths that set it apart from the other.

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.

Cisco Jabber is a communications platform first and foremost. Its escalation system helps users quickly and easily turn a chat into a video call, or begin a conference call from a group chat. Presence indicators automatically update with a user’s availability, indicating if someone is available, on a call, in a meeting, or away from the computer. Most users find Cisco Jabber straightforward and intuitive, with very few complaints about usability.

Limitations

Although both Cisco Jabber and Microsoft Teams address core communication needs for businesses, they also have unique limitations to consider.

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, Cisco Jabber might be the better option.

Although Cisco Jabber may offer a smoother user experience, it lacks some of the features included in Microsoft Teams. For instance, real-time collaboration is limited to screen-sharing and video chat; multiple users can’t edit and comment inside files simultaneously, as they can in Microsoft Teams. Cisco Jabber may also display performance and stability issues, with some users reporting freezes and slowdown between calls. Administrators may also find that updating to a new version of Cisco Jabber is a complex, cumbersome task.

Pricing

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.

Cisco Jabber pricing is available via quote from a Cisco partner.