Avaya or Cisco for IP? 1

[mgelfand]

Hello!
We are in the process of looking at new phone systems. My experience has been with Avaya so I'm biased. I'm very PRO Avaya. I suggest we go with the S8720 IP Enabled System with G650's, install now, prepare to go full IP later this year.

My company wants to also look at Cisco. Has anyone gone with Cisco? Do you like it? Any regrets?

We are a HUGE call center and on some days we take over 6,000 calls. We have all of the usual products, but in a Mitel world now (wallboards, voicemail, call accounting, dual servers, 23 PRI's, ACD system like CenterVu). Our system is not stable and we need to look to the future for a solid solution.

Anyone? Avaya or Cisco? Likes? Dislikes? Regrets? Concerns?

 

[jimbojimbo]

Like you, I am Avaya focused. Cisco just this Spring finally released Call Manager on Linux. I used to say they were 3 yrs. behind but now I feel they are either further behind. Initial comments are that it is equivalent to a "technology preview" which usually means bugs.

I have yet to find someone that will tell me that they have had a sucessful implementation of Call Manager (ie without major issues).

If you do want to seriously look at Cisco, make sure you get 3 references that you can talk to of comparable size and functionality (ie. has call center, wall boards, etc..).

Make sure you sit down with your internal customers and get a clear RFP that states exactly what the end users wants then see which vendor can provide.

If you need an Avaya quote, let me know and I can get you in touch with an AE in our organization.





James Middleton
ACSCI/ACSCD/MCSE
Xeta Technologies
jim.middleton@xeta.com

 

[nohuhu]

mgelfand,

first of all, this issue was discussed many times in this forum, try searching and you'll get lots of results.
second, in short the situation is simple: if you want a major disaster, go with cisco. if you want a successful call center, go with avaya or nortel. even genesys will do. but not cisco.

p.s. having a call center of this size myself, i wouldn't even think about cisco.

 

[big70]

Dwalin is 100% right.
We do Avaya and cisco but never used cisco for a big call center.

Greets Peter

 

[mclellan]

Hello,

once you search through the postings to review this topic, I would also go over to the Cisco Call Manager forum, and ask your question there.

Both platforms have their ups and downs, which means you may need to go so far as to compare feature to feature to see what can/will meet your needs!


Good luck!

 

[HmmG3]

We currently use Avaya, but are switching to Cisco (VP made that choice, not our department). The one nice thing about Cisco is their support group. Very nice and in many ways better then Avaya's. Of course, we never had much of a need to contact Avaya's support. Now days, we are calling Cisco almost every other week!

Cisco is the new kid on the block when it comes to telephony and it shows! They have potential, but are still years behind when it comes to features and reliability.

 

[tbg247]

Go Avaya. Hands down. Check out what other major call center's are using. My call center does 185,000 calls a day. Over 5 million calls a month. We have an S8710 PBX. It is the only way to go when your that big.

 

[Dunstan]

You are in the Avaya choir here, but you are hearing the truth. Many of the most high profile Cisco (Telephony)customers use Avaya for their CRM side applications. The functionality and dependability in this arena is not even close.

 

[kkumpula]

From an AVAYA employee: I sit at a desk at UHT and use a Cisco Phone on a daily basis. It works just fine. However, when I talk to the Admin person, what takes 5 minutes to complete in the AVAYA world, takes at least three times as long. The customer has been trying for about 8mos+ to implement a call center solution that will keep their manny call center managers happy. It has not happened. Yet.
I have high hopes for Cisco, as they may some day become another "gas station on the corner". Competion is always good. In a nut shell, if you are just looking for a phone system, choose either. If you need a call center solution...

**The question may not be the technology, but the competency of the support people.**

 

[nohuhu]

kkumpula,

i can't say ccm is good phone system either. it is too raw and deprived of user features. i mean, now you try to make users understand that you can't do "first phone ring three times, then second one two times, then go to cell phone AND if no one is answering, finally go to voice mail". what do you mean, impossible? our old phone system had it for ages!..
cisco's working? oh yeah. i know a cisco call center, and one not too big (~150 agents), that was down for THREE DAYS and NOBODY, including cisco's tier 4, couldn't say why it went down and how to ensure it won't happen again. after three days of feverish activity and shamanic dances around the servers finally it went up. again, nobody could tell why... as far as i know, it happens to this time. a day or two of complete down time, in an outsorcing call center...
oh yeah, cisco can do.

p.s. don't get me wrong, i don't hold anything against cisco as a company. i second to you, competition is always (or almost always) good for us consumers. but cisco is not ready for an honest competition. i always tell my customers: if you don't want avaya, go for nortel. or alcatel. or even siemens. but don't choose cisco. because it's always better to have working phone system with somewhat limited call center and other functionality, rather than have a "state-of-art pure ip system" that just do not work. period.

 

[LFehr]

We recently migrated for a Mitel solution as well and chose Avaya over Cisco and Nortel. This choice was based mainly on stability and scaleability of the product.
Now that I manage an Avaya solution instead of a Mitel solution, I can see clearly the many benefits of the Avaya solution including the excellent redundancy and failover capabilities, ease of management and very powerful call center features.

We didn't choose Cisco primarily due to the fact that you pretty much have to design your features from the ground up - they don't have all of the typical call center features built in, but of course you can build them yourself if you need them! No thanks - I'll take a system that is already tried and true in the call center industry.