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 14.9% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #4 in VM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 12.5% 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

524 Views
387 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Skype for Business

Read 62 Skype for Business reviews

1,301 Views
647 Comparison Views

79% willing to recommend

Cisco Unified Communications

Skype for Business

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

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: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Unified Communications

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 860,592 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 (4th)

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 14.9%, up 13.2% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 12.5% mindshare, up 8.2% 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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"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 calling features are most valuable, especially now as we are working remotely."

"A good option for virtual meetings."

"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 solution is stable and scalable."

"The solution is easy to use and includes the ability to text message, video and voice chat, and transfer files."

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"Desktop sharing is a valuable feature."

"The Microsoft tech support are very good. They get back to you. I log a support call, and I usually have someone on the phone within a half an hour, so it is pretty good."

More Skype for Business pros

Cons

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

"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."

"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."

"The solution should improve the chat and add more flexibility to make a call."

"Microsoft Teams, as I see it now, is more useful than Skype for Business."

"Skype for Business is not stable."

"I am not familiar with all of the features or whether they can hold conferences because we use Zoom for that. But, in my opinion, if they can do something similar to what Zoom is doing, it will be a complete solution."

"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."

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

"The user experience during long sessions could be improved to avoid issues like intermittent disconnections or login failures."

"I believe optimizing the solution for lighter endpoints, particularly for embedded endpoints on mobile devices, would be valuable."

More Skype for Business cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"When it comes to the pricing of the solution, I rate it as a five out of ten. It falls somewhere in the middle between being cheap and expensive."

"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."

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

"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."

"We purchased an open license."

"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."

"A license is required to use the solution."

"The pricing is really good. It is quite affordable because it came with our Office 365. It is on a per-user license, which is nice. I quite like that they have made it very granular with all of their licensing."

More Skype for Business pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Unified Communications solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Non Profit

Educational Organization

72%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What do you like most about Skype for Business?

The solution’s video quality is fine.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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 20% of the time

Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise Communication Server vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 9% of the time

Kamailio SIP Server vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 7% of the time

Siemens OpenScape vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Jabber vs Cisco Unified Communications

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Unified Communications Competitors

Webex vs Skype for Business

Compared 26% 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 3% of the time

More Skype for Business Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Unified Communications

June 2025

Download Cisco Unified Communications product report

Buyer's Guide

Skype for Business

June 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

June 2025

Download Free Report

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, 3CX, Kamailio and others in Unified Communications. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

We monitor all Unified Communications reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.