The Cisco UC line of products is extremely broad so a comparison may not be possible without knowing more about what is being proposed or needed to meet the client need. The primary difference is that CIsco is geared to be an inclusive package that uses all Cisco branded equipment whereas 3CX is a platform that allows the integration of other manufacturers' products to achieve many of the same goals.
Cisco is a brand name that can command a premium price and many may go that way simply for the name alone. The strengths of 3CX are:
1. Does not take a rocket scientist to install and maintain
2, Quick recovery in the event of a catastrophic disaster (buy a new box and restore)
3. No licensing for add-ons to base functionality
4. I believe 3CX to have the broader array of CRM intregrations
5. Supports more than one vendor's endpoints and is agnostic about others running SIP, an open platform that allows more flexibility to pick and chose.
6. Because not Cisco, initial CAPEX is lower and presumably ongoing licensing add-ons, etc., also make for a lower OPEX
In other words, what 3CX has touted all along, but the issue is what functionality do you need and what is the competition offering? Cisco can bring in the entire UC suite - telephone, audio conference, web conference, video conference, SMS, whiteboard collaboration, etc. You can too, just not under one brand name umbrella.
Hi RLeao,
It might also be worth noting that Cisco recently acquired Broadsoft in a 1.9 Billion dollar deal.
https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1887125
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/23/c...lion-to-boost-communications-tools-portfolio/
Where the acquisition should be finalized this month it does throw some doubt into the mix as to the future of the Cisco Voice product portfolio.
As this currently offers an un-certain future for Cisco voice it is also good news (for the time being) for Cisco alternatives like 3CX (especially in the SMB sector which is what it has been mentioned Cisco have acquired Broadsoft for) as customers may not wish to have all their UC "eggs" in one basket.
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