Webex Teams enables continuous teamwork with video meetings, group messaging, file sharing, and white boarding. Easily start or join your Webex Meetings directly from Microsoft Teams. See your full meeting list and schedule meetings on your time. For more information, visit http://cs.co/9001EP69L.
If you’re in the situation where you’re using Microsoft Teams meetings at home but have Cisco video conferencing devices in the office, you’re probably looking for a way to make these work together.
In this post, we run through all your options for Microsoft Teams integration with Cisco video conferencing.
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Cisco Webex Meetings for Microsoft Teams
You can use the Cisco Webex Meetings app to schedule, start, or join a Cisco Webex meeting or Webex Personal Room right from within Microsoft Teams.
All you need to do is install the Cisco Webex Meetings app into Microsoft Teams. If you don’t have admin access, you’ll need to ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to add this for you.
Once you have the app, you will get a Webex tab in Microsoft Teams.
Once installed, you can view your upcoming meetings and join straight from the list.
You can also join meeting rooms or start a new meeting with a recent contact - all without leaving Teams.
When a meeting is about to start, you can even get a Webex notification in Teams.
This integration is great for getting the most of virtual meetings when you’re working away from the office.
How to join a Microsoft Teams meeting from a Cisco device
If you’re phasing out legacy Cisco equipment because you now use Teams, the process probably isn’t big bang.
If you’re migrating users and rooms from one platform to another, there will be an overlap period where both are in play.
At this point, it’s important to ensure your new Microsoft 365 software integrates with your existing Cisco equipment.
The below endpoints can't join Teams meetings without native cloud video interop to bridge the connection.
OneMeeting provides just that.
Once installed, here’s how you can join a Microsoft Teams meeting from Cisco devices:
Using the Cisco DX80 with Microsoft Teams
To use Microsoft Teams on Cisco room kit like the DX80, follow these instructions:
- Dial the SIP address provided in the Join with a video conferencing device section of the Teams meeting
- Enter the VTC conference ID when prompted
- Join the Teams meeting
Using the Cisco SX10 with Microsoft Teams
To use Microsoft Teams on Cisco room kit like the SX10, follow these instructions:
- Dial the SIP address provided in the Join with a video conferencing device section of the Teams meeting
- Enter the VTC conference ID when prompted
- Join the Teams meeting
Joining Microsoft Teams meetings from any Cisco device
In fact, for OneMeeting customers, joining a Teams meeting from any Cisco devices is as simple as the two examples above.
- Dial the SIP address provided in the Join with a video conferencing device section of the Teams meeting
- Enter the VTC conference ID when prompted
- Join the Teams meeting
Can Webex Teams communicate with Microsoft Teams?
The Webex portfolio used to be split to include Webex Teams and Webex Meetings. Cisco has now combined the two apps to make a single Webex app for both meetings and messaging.
Webex users who choose to stay in Webex for their messaging will likely be using Webex Teams instead of Webex Meetings.
If you’re a Teams user and you need to communicate with a colleague or external contact in Webex, you have a few options.
Microsoft Teams and Webex message interop
If you have one department that uses Webex and another who uses Microsoft Teams, you can enable message interop between the two platforms.
This means you can send messages from Webex to Microsoft Teams.
All you need to do is install Mio in the background to get this set up.
For example, if your sales team uses Webex because they always used Webex Meetings in the past, they can now chat with your customer service team who use Microsoft Teams.
You can use message interop internally for both direct messaging and working in channels.
Microsoft Teams and Webex external federation
If you need to message from Microsoft Teams to an external contact - like a contractor or partner - you can do this by installing a universal channel.
You’ll need to be a Microsoft admin - or get your Microsoft admin to authorise the app - so you can install the universal channels app in the background.
Once installed, you create a new channel in Microsoft Teams and send a link to your external contact who uses Webex.
Once they join, you’ve created a channel across platform for you both to collaborate in.
Webex Calling in Microsoft Teams
Cisco Webex also provides a calling platform since its acquisition of BroadSoft in 2018.
While adding a calling platform to Cisco’s portfolio, it also means any BroadSoft customers who want to use Microsoft Teams must integrate the two.
If you want to use Webex Calling from Microsoft Teams, you need to download the Webex call app for Microsoft Teams.
Once installed, when your users start an external call from Microsoft Teams, it will use the Webex calling platform.
To start this process:
- Check all users who need this integration are verified in the Webex Control Hub
- Make sure they are registered to Cisco Webex Calling or in your Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM)
- Install the Webex app for each user you need to use Webex Calling
- Update phone numbers for users in the Azure Active Directory (AD)
- If you don’t already, change your permission policies to allow third-party apps
- Then, in the Microsoft Teams Admin Center, click Teams Apps then Manage Apps
- Search for Webex Call and change to Allow
Next time your users log in, they will be using the Webex Calling platform even when they start an external call from Microsoft Teams.
While this sounds great on the surface, it does open up a new window when you dial.
If you’ve moved to Microsoft Teams to have all your communications in one place, this is a little beside the point.
Meetings between Webex and Microsoft Teams
To facilitate meetings between Webex users and Microsoft Teams users, OneMeeting provides a one-touch join experience regardless of the platform you’re using.
When you configure OneMeeting in the background, meeting participants on either Webex or Microsoft Teams can join the same meeting using a unique URL.
When you click the meeting URL, you can join from whichever meeting app you prefer - Webex or Microsoft Teams.
Joining Webex meetings from Microsoft Teams in the office
OneMeeting works for both remote meetings and in-person meetings. You don’t even have to change video devices. OneMeeting allows you to join any meeting from any device.
Picture the scene:
- You’ve rolled out virtual meeting rooms to your users so they could all work from home during the pandemic.
- You already had video conferencing equipment installed in your meeting rooms and boardrooms.
- Because you needed the quickest solution to work from home, your virtual meeting rooms and existing video conferencing system in your office aren’t the same.
- People are starting to use the office again but your video platforms don’t work with each other.
If your scenario is something like this, you’re not alone.
Sandwiched between the millions of Microsoft Teams users are millions of users with other video conferencing services.
In your company, this could be hundreds or thousands. Even if it’s a handful, it’s an issue you shouldn’t have to deal with.
And with OneMeeting, you don’t need to.
Video interoperability
OneMeeting uses Pexip’s video interoperability service to connect your legacy kit in the office with Microsoft Teams at home.
By connecting your video platforms together, you create one-click join experience for your meeting participants.
Pexip apps and APIs creates a bridge between any SIP or H323 video conferencing system and the Microsoft cloud.
Taking Pexip apps one step further, OneMeeting is unique in that it takes the Microsoft Teams Cloud Video Interop (CVI) and makes your experience Microsoft Teams first.
In addition, you benefit from OneMeeting providing:
- A vendor-agnostic approach
- Full customisation of the native Microsoft Teams meeting invitation
- Full customisation and branding of the OneMeeting service from your video conferencing rooms
- Reporting via PowerBI
This means your users get a consistent experience regardless of the meeting room they join from. Less switching between meeting apps means happier users, less administration, and a slicker experience.
OneMeeting enables users to share and collaborate from any in-room video conferencing system, as well as from their desktop or smartphone.
Once installed, you remove the scheduling conflicts, awkward user experiences, and integration issues.
You can view the OneMeeting technical documentation here.
The concept of team communication and collaboration has been in evolution for over a decade. There have been several players, but in reality it’s developed into pretty much a two-horse race—Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx Teams.
How Did We Get Here?
Cisco developed their Spark team platform in 2015. Their approach is to provide a platform that integrates a cloud-based voice and video suite that can serve as a customer’s primary communications solution. They have recently rebranded Spark and called it WebEx Teams. WebEx Teams brings together their Spark and WebEx technologies.
Microsoft introduced Microsoft Teams in 2017. It serves as the next evolution to their Skype for Business collaboration solution (and Microsoft Lync before that) and is intended to be their default unified communications solution. Microsoft Teams heavily leverages Microsoft Office 365 and other Microsoft solutions and provides a much tighter integration than before.
Feature Similarities between WebEx Teams and Microsoft Teams
Before we start to dissect the differences between the two offerings, it’s worth noting that Microsoft and Cisco have many features in common. There may be some nuance between the features as they are presented by the two solutions, but they’ll be similar. Both are cloud-only applications without an on-premises option, and neither can be single tenant hosted solutions.
Some of the more meaningful similarities include:
Differences Between WebEx Teams and Microsoft Teams
Even though the Microsoft and Cisco solutions are similar, there are also several fundamental differences. At the center of their respective approaches is the fact that they each steer the user towards their rest of their proprietary solutions.
Telephony
Microsoft has had the Skype for Business voice and meeting platform. Microsoft Teams includes a next generation voice platform that is even more tightly integrated with Microsoft Office 365. Whereas Skype for Business had both cloud and premises-based solutions, Teams will only offer cloud-based telephony. Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint and a host of other Microsoft tools provide the applications within Teams. The Microsoft Calling Plan provides the PSTN services within Teams should you wish to source these services directly from Microsoft. Cisco WebEx Teams leverages Jabber and Cisco’s Unified Communications Manager and Hosted Collaboration Suite platforms.
Security
Cisco provides end-to-end encryptions of all WebEx Teams data, and customers can control their own encryption keys. Cisco encryption addresses the transport of data, but not the storage of encrypted data on devices. Cisco also has federation between different organizations using WebEx Teams, while Microsoft doesn’t yet have intercompany federation. Microsoft relies on their Intune mobile device management and encryption at rest and in motion for device security.
Productivity
Microsoft has made the integration of Office 365 a primary mission within Microsoft Teams. The rich and tight integration has made collaboration, access, and storage within Teams a powerful tool when coupled with their messaging, voice, and meeting platforms.
Cisco WebEx Teams leverages their meeting apps and a variety of apps and tools from their third-party partners. It’s important to note that Cisco users will still need productivity tools (i.e. Microsoft Office 365, Google, etc.) coupled with WebEx Teams. This is one area where Microsoft Teams is the clear winner. Microsoft Teams allows you to edit office files directly within the application, while in Cisco WebEx Teams you can only view files.
Price
If you already have an Office 365 for Business plan, Microsoft Teams is free. The cheapest plan including Microsoft Teams is $5/user/month (Business Essentials), though of course there are some limitations for add-on licensing with Business Premium.
If you want to add PSTN voice services, then you’ll need an Office 365 Enterprise license (starting at $8/user/month). The PSTN voice services do add to the price and require other licenses.
Cisco offers several different licensing bundles but know that you will be paying for the full features of WebEx Teams with each. You get WebEx Teams with a WebEx Meetings subscription, which start at 13.50/user/month. Calling services add-ons will also add onto this price, similarly to the Microsoft model.
It’s also worth mentioning that both Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx Teams offer free versions of these services with limited—but still pretty impressive—functionality included.
Teams Free Version Feature Comparison Chart
Microsoft Teams FreeOffice 365 Business PlansOffice 365 Enterprise PlansPriceFreeStarts at $5/user/month annual commitmentStarts at $8/user/month annual commitmentGuest Access✓✓✓User limit300300No User limit140+ integrated apps and services✓✓✓File Storage2GB/user and 10 GB of Shared Storage1TB/user1TB – Unlimited storange per user (varies by plan)1:1 and group online audio and video calls✓✓✓Microsoft Teams And Cisco Webex Interoperability
Channel Meetings✓✓✓Screen Sharing✓✓✓Scheduled Meetings✓✓Meeting Recordings✓✓Audio Conferencing and CallingAvailable with Add-onsAvailable in more than 150 countries and 44 languages✓✓vWebEx Teams Free Version Feature Comparison Chart
Microsoft Teams And Cisco Webex
Direction
Microsoft is making Microsoft Teams the focus of their unified communications offering. They’ve made it clear that Skype for Business will eventually be phased out and telephony will be though Teams. At present, you can maintain your Skype for Business environment, but once true feature parity is achieved between Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams, they’ll expect all clients to migrate to Microsoft Teams.
Cisco’s WebEx Teams is really designed as the next generation collaboration solution for those with an existing investment in Cisco voice and video endpoints. WebEx Teams is part of the Cisco portfolio. It’s a well-integrated solution with their existing WebEx Meetings offering and their on-premises voice technologies.
Other Differences
Cisco Webex Vs Microsoft Teams
There are a range of other differences I’ll mention that aren’t significant when it comes to comparing the collaboration features.
Security – Cisco uses third-party telco and cloud services and doesn’t manage those locations directly. Microsoft has their own cloud and controls the physical security on their fibers.
Service Availability – Based on what I could find, Microsoft offers Teams voice calling in approximately 181 countries. Cisco WebEx Teams calling is in roughly 70 countries. Both are clearly multinational solutions. Audio conferencing with WebEx is in 45 countries, and Microsoft conferencing is in over 90 countries.
Federation – Another important note is that neither Cisco WebEx Teams nor Microsoft Teams will federate with one another. It is not currently possible for an organization to integrate a Microsoft Teams environment with a Cisco WebEx Teams environment. The two platforms will not work with one another. You can either run them in parallel (which isn’t practical) or choose one to standardize on.
So…What to Do?
Both Cisco and Microsoft have excellent team collaboration applications. What it boils down to is a fundamental question of your current IT investments. Those organizations that have committed to Cisco voice will most likely want to focus on WebEx Teams. If your organization has focused on Microsoft Tools and Office 365, then Microsoft Teams is a natural fit. The high level of integration, coupled with Teams being free in most cases, makes it beyond compelling.
If you don’t have a focus on either vendor and are looking to migrate from an old phone system, then you’ll want to conduct a needs analysis and compare the results to the features of each vendor’s offerings. Both vendors are represented by excellent partners. Find a Cisco and Microsoft partner that specializes in Voice and Collaboration in your geography and engage them to help with determining what’s best for you.
Tim Krueger, PEI