Arraya Insights | November 19, 2020

1. Microsoft Teams Cisco Jabber Integration
2. Cisco Microsoft Teams Direct Routing
3. Cisco Microsoft Teams Video Integration
4. Cisco Microsoft Teams Phone

Are you a Cisco shop or a Microsoft shop? When it comes to collaboration, many organizations – Arraya included – reside somewhere in the middle. The appeal of a diversified, multi-vendor collaboration footprint isn’t lost on Cisco and Microsoft. Even though they are competitors at heart, the tech giants have a history of making their solutions play nicely together in order to help keep their customers connected and productive. That partnership was on full display earlier this year, although it may have gone overlooked due to coronavirus-necessitated lockdowns.

The integration with MS Teams via the interop connector or WebRTC is on the roadmap and not released yet. However, you can try creating a weblink on the board to teams.microsoft.com. You can get some basic functionality, but not a full integration just yet. The Microsoft Teams integration section has a new scenario: Cloud Video Interop (CVI) and WebRTC. Overview Microsoft Teams. Users demand interoperability with calendaring, ECM, workflow, telephony, meetings, video, devices, and more. Cisco meets this demand with client-based integration with Microsoft Teams. The simple-to-deploy client/plug-in. Message in Cisco Webex Teams group and 1:1 spaces directly from your Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint file. The Cisco Webex Teams add-in allows you to create a group space or join your existing spaces. The Webex Teams add-in also provides an easy way to link a relevant space to a document. 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. Cisco Webex is the leading enterprise solution for video conferencing, webinars, and screen sharing. Web conferencing, online meeting, cloud calling and equipment. Install Cisco Webex Meetings or Cisco Webex Teams on any device of your choice. Get step-by-step instructions for scheduling your own Webex meetings, real-time group messaging,.

Late last year, Cisco and Microsoft pledged to move toward a new era of interoperability between their Webex and Teams solutions. Specifically, that idea would materialize in a couple of different forms. The companies planned to release a Microsoft Cloud Video Interop (CVI) certified solution that would allow Cisco Webex Room and SIP video conferencing devices to join Microsoft Teams meetings. Additionally, they also proposed creating a direct guest join pathway connecting their respective video conferencing devices with their meeting web apps. This pledge of greater interoperability has started coming to fruition with the release of a pair of solutions: the aforementioned CVI offering and another option called WebRTC.

Let’s take a closer look at these offerings and what they could mean for organizations pursuing reopening their facilities.

Microsoft CVI

First up is the Cloud Video Gateway (CVI-enabled) option. Those looking to connect to a Microsoft Teams meeting hosted internally, by their own company could do so using this pathway. It delivers a Cisco Webex-based experience to those making the connection, including multi-screen capabilities, flexible layouts, and wired/wireless bi-directional content sharing. In terms of devices supported, this route is travelable by all Cisco and SIP-capable video devices, registered either on premises or in the cloud. Users can connect via this path through one-button-to-push (OBTP) join which includes calendar service, direct dial-in complete with an interactive voice response (IVR) experience. Lastly, it is worth noting that this service will require additional licensing to make it operable.

WebRTC

Then, there’s the WebRTC application. This allows users to connect to any other type of Microsoft Teams meeting. Connecting via this method delivers a Microsoft Teams-oriented meeting experience, including a single-screen Teams layout with only the ability to be on the receiving end of shares. This pathway is accessible from Cisco Room Kits, Room series, Boards, and Desk Pro devices. These devices can be cloud connected. Once again, this method offers OBTP join with calendar service. Webex Room registration, which is part of Flex licensing, is required. As of right now, WebRTC is one way only as Microsoft Teams doesn’t support any browsers compatible with the tool. User can, however, add the Webex bot to their Teams client, which, in turn, will enable them to access a Webex Meeting.

Next Steps: Put the joint power of Microsoft and Cisco together for you

Hopefully, we’ll all be able to dust off our Cisco Room devices sooner rather than later and start putting these new abilities to work. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about how your organization can benefit from the above advances or from Cisco and Microsoft’s ongoing partnership in general, our collaboration experts can help. Reach out any time to get the conversation started.

Visithttps://www.arrayasolutions.com/contact-us/ to connect with our team now.

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Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex: Building Bridges

To serve business needs, enterprises often end up installing custom software or using multiple tools to fulfil requirements.

Many tools offer freedom to avail distinct features, but accessing those features from different resources can be a daunting task.

That’s where interoperability makes sense.

When two or more applications interoperate, they offer users to have access to all features.

The co-existence of two tools not only provides an extensive list of functionalities but also makes the workplace productivity, and the business process twice as efficient.

Messaging interoperability: Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex

The number of messaging users is rapidly growing.

From around 1.6 billion users in 2014 to 3.8 billion users in 2018, the growth of messaging provides an insight into the need and challenges on interoperability between messaging and collaboration tools.

To meet the distinct demands of the company, more and more enterprises are seeking means to bridge the features of multiple tools in one system.

While many applications can be bridged together, this article mainly addresses the interoperability of Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex.

Here, we will highlight the best medium of connecting these two tools, and making the most of it.

Why Microsoft and Cisco is a great combination

Here’s why Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex make for a perfect interoperability combination:

• With Microsoft Teams, the users can avail Microsoft Licenses, Skype for Business features, and integrate natively with Office 365 features
  
• Given Cisco’s legacy, users get access to hardware like Cisco Webex boards, VoIP handsets, and telepresence solutions
  
• Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex interoperability is the optimum solution for company acquisitions and mergers where one company’s resources are on Microsoft Teams, and the other one uses Cisco Webex.
  
• Where Cisco Webex offers core hardware, Microsoft allows integration with leading third-party tools like Adobe Creative Cloud, Trello, Slack, Outlook, Survey Monkey, Wrike, Jira, Folly, and many more

Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex interoperability options

1 – Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams Office 365 integration

Recently, Cisco announced the compatibility of Webex with Office 365. With such an alliance, the users can easily access OneDrive, SharePoint, and even G-Suite applications within the Webex app.

Pros
1. You no longer require signing off from Webex to access Office 365 productivity tools like MS words, MS Excel, and Powerpoint

2. Since Office 365 assures robust security to your company’s data, Webex integration will allow you to benefit data governance have to keep your files encrypted

3. Content Created in MS tools can be easily transferred to Webex storage space

Cons
1. This combination works fine with different Microsoft Office tools, but the integration of Microsoft Teams is not possible

2. Webex users cannot make changes to Microsoft files

Author Verdict
The MS Office 365 and Webex team’s integration is perfect for users who need to access Office 365 tools within Webex, but it’s not a great pick for those looking for MS team’s collaboration too.

2 – Bot integration

IFTTT (If This Then That) allows the collaboration of applications and devices.

Through IFTTT, a rule or function is established for one device or app based on the action or behavior on another device or app.

One example is syncing an Instagram account with Twitter so the photos display on Twitter rather than a link.

In the business world, a similar process is followed when setting IFTTT for both Cisco and Microsoft. So, when a Webex contact sends a text, the bot in Microsoft Teams also gets a notification.

Pros
1. Users have the freedom to add customized actions

2. Bot integration has several pre-built activities to choose from across an extensive range of devices and applications

3. The familiar feel and design of IFTTT applications in the business world, that you may be used to from a consumer world

Cons
1. Administrative time for adding custom options is lengthy

2. With new users, the administrator is asked to add further actions or recipes

3. Limited features across platforms

Author Verdict
Bot integration can facilitate collaboration across Webex and Teams, but the cross-platform experience is not as seamless since notifications are not received in a native app, instead of in the bot itself.

3 –Cisco Webex Meetings for Microsoft Teams

Microsoft users who wish to host live meetings can integrate with Cisco Webex.

You don’t have to switch to a different tool since the interoperability allows Microsoft users to host Cisco Meetings directly.

Pros
1. Users can host and schedule Cisco meetings without signing out of Microsoft Teams

2. The meeting app is available for Workplace from Facebook and Slack too

Cons
1. During the Webex meeting, from Microsoft Teams, you cannot exchange chats, messages, or files

2. Webex Meetings for Microsoft Teams does not support accounts on meetingsIn.webex.com and webex.meetings.com

Author Verdict
Cisco Webex Host Meetings for Microsoft is an excellent integration, but you’ll have to compromise with limited meeting functionality.

Bridging the gap

Interoperability between Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex is simple.

You don’t need a technical developer, and no longer do you need to shoehorn one app into another. There’s only one tool you need: Mio.

Mio is the only platform to fully sync Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams.

Mio operates through APIs and runs in the background to offer seamless messaging interoperability across channels and messages.

To start connecting your Microsoft and Cisco software, you don’t even need to download a new app, as it’s an entirely native experience.

How to Make Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams Interoperable

You don’t need administrative support or a ton of training to get started. The way Mio allows collaboration across platform is simple.

Microsoft Teams Cisco Jabber Integration

Here’s how a non-techie can do it:

Step 1: Getting Started

Request a demo here (will open in a new tab).

Sign up by entering your email address and name. A Mio account rep will send you a verification link for account authentication for web-based interoperability experience.

Once your account is registered with Mio, you will need to add basic details that’ll help the system learn which programs or applications you want to sync. Once you have shared account details, Mio will scale to fit your business requirements.

Step 2: Channel mapping and User mapping

The next step involves administering your team and adding the channels of your choice. For example, you can sync the ‘Project Management’ channel in Cisco Webex with the ‘PM’ channel of Microsoft Teams.

If you have dozens of linked channels, you can use the search feature to make the process super efficient.

Step 3: Message Routing

Once you’ve linked your channels, Mio can provide interoperability between these specific teams. There’s also an option to sync all channels in one go. You can also enable future sync so any new channels are automatically synced.

Cisco Microsoft Teams Direct Routing

Step 4: People Sync

Mio isn’t restricted to just syncing channels. People Sync allows you to send direct messages between Webex and Microsoft Teams.

Once People Sync is active, Auto Prompt sends automatic prompts to users whenever they receive a message from anyone using Mio so they can start receiving messages from other platforms.

Bridging the gap between Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex in your company

With Mio as a bridging tool, you can easily make your favorite messaging tools interoperable. You no longer need a complicated development or migration strategy if your team’s different applications.

Cisco Microsoft Teams Video Integration

This is a guest post provided by Md Mohsin Ansari, Marketing Manager at Troop Messenger. Troop Messenger is a business messenger that is spreading its wings across all industries by bringing all internal communication to one place. Connect with him on Linkedin.

Cisco Microsoft Teams Phone

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