Cisco Unified Communications vs Skype for Business comparison

The compared Cisco and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #1 in UC , with an average rating of 7.0, and holds a 15.8% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #3 in VM , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 13.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Cisco Unified Communications

Read 7 Cisco Unified Communications reviews

537 Views
446 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Skype for Business

Read 62 Skype for Business reviews

2,218 Views
904 Comparison Views

79% willing to recommend

Cisco Unified Communications

Skype for Business

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Unified Communications and Skype for Business based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, 3CX, Kamailio and others in Unified Communications.

To learn more, read our detailed Unified Communications Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Unified Communications

March 2025

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Helped 845,406 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Unified Communications

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Unified Communications (1st), IP Telephony & Unified Communications (1st)

Skype for Business

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Virtual Meetings (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Unified Communications and Skype for Business aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Unified Communications is designed for Unified Communications and holds a mindshare of 15.8%, up 14.0% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 13.4% mindshare, up 8.7% since last year.

Unified Communications

Virtual Meetings

Featured Reviews

Kani Kumar J

Cisco VOIP Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Reliable customer communication and good third-party integrations with minor server update issues

Cisco supports third-party gadgets, including workforce management systems. These can be directly integrated with Cisco, a feature not widely supported by other contact centers. Additionally, redundancy is set up, meaning if one side of the server goes down, the other side will take over to prevent the contact center from completely failing.

Read full review

Magdalena Teodorczuk

Senior at Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartosciowych S.A.

Offers great audio and video quality for virtual meetings

I like the instant messaging feature in the product since I prefer to use the chat functionalities provided by the solution. It is easy to integrate the product with some of the other solutions in the market. I rate the integration capabilities of the product a ten out of ten. The product's user interface is user-friendly. I use the product at a personal level, so I can't speak about the support it provides for the maintenance part. I rate the overall tool a ten out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We use Extension Mobility and Jabber a lot with mobile remote access. In addition to video calls with Jabber, this greatly enriched communications between coworkers."

"Cisco supports third-party gadgets, including workforce management systems."

"The Click to dial feature was one of the most important features for the customer."

"The most valuable feature of Skype for Business is that it has many other tools that you can be integrated with it. It makes the meetings more interactive."

"What is most valuable about Skype for Business is that almost everyone knows about it and almost everyone has it. You will be able to reach a large number of people."

"The simplicity and ease of use are the most valuable features. It's so much easier and quicker than writing an email to someone and waiting for them to read it."

"It's a good and stable product that fits my needs."

"Desktop sharing is a valuable feature."

"The solution’s video quality is fine."

"The most valuable features of Skype for Business include its persistent chat, Edge Server, Reverse Proxy, front-end server, back-end server, and business calling capabilities, among others."

"The most valuable features of the solution are that it is quick and easy to use. It is a good tool for group calls."

More Skype for Business pros

Cons

"Some features take a lot of steps to configure, so having areas where a few clicks can configure a feature for a user would be nice."

"An improvement option could be to incorporate the Voicea solution with Communication Manager, allowing it to make a translation between different languages automatically in a conversation."

"Sometimes, minor temporary issues can arise while updating the servers."

"We have found that there is a lag because it cannot integrate with the internal landline."

"The tool needs to have a dynamic file updating feature, so people you share a file with could update the file dynamically, all at once, all at the same time."

"The solution's functionality needs to be moved to Microsoft Teams. Its technology is outdated."

"Lacks a zoom-in feature for whoever is presenting."

"This service could be improved by adding some missing features. It lacks integration with Teams, which is a feature I would like to see in the next release."

"I venture to say that 30% of the people using this solution at our company have had issues with stability, due to the volatility and crashes."

"The ease of configuration or the lack of decent tooling to pinpoint your problems is probably its biggest issue."

"The challenge we had with Skype for Business was with the signing in when a user signed out and when signing in back in again, there was a bit of a problem. We switched from Skype for Business to Teams, and Teams never had that sign-in problem once we did the switch."

More Skype for Business cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."

"I use the product's open-source version."

"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."

"It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."

"Previously, I did not use another solution."

"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."

"We had a license for every one of our users to use Skype for Business. The license we used was part of an overall Microsoft license package."

"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."

More Skype for Business pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

93%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Unified Communications?

Sometimes, minor temporary issues can arise while updating the servers. These updates can cause bugs that lead to temporary issues. Although they do not have a major impact, these issues still need...

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What is your primary use case for Cisco Unified Communications?

It is basically a contact center solution. In contact centers, it acts as a bridge connecting the customer and the product company and the end customer. For example, if we are running a bank, the c...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Unified Communications?

The pricing varies based on the setup. ECCX has lower pricing for up to 400 users, whereas PCC is more expensive. Pricing increases based on requirements and features.

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What do you like most about Skype for Business?

The solution’s video quality is fine.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skype for Business?

Skype for Business is affordable and has decent pricing. The video quality is a bit lower than Teams or Zoom, but it remains a good solution overall.

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What needs improvement with Skype for Business?

The video quality could be improved, possibly due to internet connection issues. However, there is no significant weakness in Skype for Business.

See all answers

Comparisons

Fortinet FortiVoice vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 22% of the time

Kamailio SIP Server vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Jabber vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 7% of the time

Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise Communication Server vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 6% of the time

Siemens OpenScape vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Unified Communications Competitors

Webex vs Skype for Business

Compared 28% of the time

TeamViewer vs Skype for Business

Compared 15% of the time

Zoom vs Skype for Business

Compared 14% of the time

GoToMeeting vs Skype for Business

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Jabber vs Skype for Business

Compared 4% of the time

More Skype for Business Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Unified Communications

March 2025

Download Cisco Unified Communications product report

Buyer's Guide

Skype for Business

March 2025

Download Skype for Business product report

Also Known As

No data available

Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server

Overview

With Cisco Voice and Unified Communications, you can unify all your voice, video, data, and mobile applications for interactive collaboration.

Cisco

Skype for Business offers features including presence, IM, voice and video calls, online meetings, conferencing, and telephony solutions that support enterprise-level collaboration requirements. Skype for Business Record meetings, share your screen, and annotate PowerPoint for real-time collaboration with up to 250 people and use whiteboard, polls, Q&A, and built-in IM during your business meetings to make them more productive. Skype for Business provides new client experience, Skype for Business Server provides several new features to improve manageability of on-premises servers and hybrid solutions. Skype for Business also supports the Lync client experience so that you can choose a phased upgrade approach to the new client experience for users. Skype for Business is also an integral part of Microsoft Office 365, providing PSTN Conferencing, Cloud PBX, PSTN Calling, and Skype Meeting Broadcast capabilities to Office 365 users.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Afni, Allied Irish Banks, Bellevue, Came Group, Children's Hospital Colorado, Erickson Living, IDEALondon, Instituto Zaldivar, John Lewis, Linz AG, London Hydro, Lone Star College System, Lone Star College System, Mondi Group, North West Redwater, Park Nicollet, Pentana Solutions Australia, Pilatus, Pirelli, Portugal Ministry, Presidio Inc., Republic Bank & Trust Company, Saipem, SickKids Foundation, Top Right Group, Vital Images

EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.

Buyer's Guide

Unified Communications

March 2025

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