CUCM Call —Your Phone Services are using Calling in Webex (Unified CM). Teams Call —You're on a Webex call. For more information, see Find Out What Calling. Your administrator can take steps to protect your video calls from tampering by people outside your company. If you see the Secure icon displayed during a video call, your administrator has taken steps to ensure your privacy. When you are in a video call, the video can. You can ask your Webex CSM to enable the new meeting experience in the Webex App ('Webex Teams App'). That will allow the same Meetings Experience as the standalone Webex Meetings App but all built-in the the Webex App ('Webex Teams App'). The new calling features for. The ability to deliver fully call-enabled Microsoft Teams clients in coordination with Cisco services is enabled by the Microsoft Direct Routing capability and corresponding Session Border Controller (SBC). This allows the Microsoft Teams clients to utilize the Cisco UC estate for communications with devices as well as PSTN connectivity.
The simple way to use Microsoft Teams with Cisco Calling
In our post Cisco and Microsoft – Creating better experiences, together we covered how clients with both Cisco and Microsoft Collaboration tools can improve the user experience across Messaging, Calling and Meetings.
In this post, we cover the scenario where Microsoft Teams is used for Messaging, with Cisco being used for Calling functionality via the cloud-based Cisco Webex Calling or the on-premise Cisco Unified Communications Manager with Cisco Jabber.
Cisco calling platforms can provide proven, enterprise-grade voice and video calling features within Microsoft Teams using the following platforms:
- On-premise – Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM)
- Hosted – Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS)
- Cloud – Webex Calling, UCM Cloud, BroadCloud
Why use Cisco Calling with Microsoft Teams?
Using a single, integrated client (Microsoft Teams in this scenario) provides both an improved user experience and the ‘best of both worlds’ with Cisco Calling capabilities. The integration is possible through a client-side approach that allows Microsoft Teams users to leverage the rich, enterprise-grade telephony and video capabilities of a Cisco calling platform.
The client-side integration means no changes are required to Cisco Calling Infrastructure or configuration.
The integration provides a number of advantages for clients that have chosen to use Microsoft Teams for messaging (and possibly meetings) functionality:
- Continue to utilise existing Cisco on-premise investments such as Cisco UCS servers, Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or CallManager), dial plans, Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) voice gateways and telecommunications carrier SIP services
- Client-side deployment
- No compromise on enterprise-grade calling capabilities, including Cisco contact centre support
- No infrastructure changes
- No additional licensing (no Microsoft E5 Cloud PBX phone system license required)
- Work remotely and take advantage of Cisco on-premise calling features (without a VPN) using Cisco Expressway with Mobile Remote Access (MRA)
- Supports calling via on-premise or cloud-based Cisco platforms
Licensing and Administration
No additional licensing is required.
To enable Cisco-based calling functionality within Microsoft Teams for all users, the administrator needs to add the ‘Cisco Webex Calling’ or ‘Cisco Jabber’ app from the Microsoft app store for all users through the app setup policy.
Please note that:
- Users can also add the ‘Cisco Webex Call’ or ‘Cisco Jabber’ app if the admin policy allows it
- The ‘Cisco Webex Call’ or ‘Cisco Jabber’ desktop app must already be installed
- ‘Cisco Webex Call’ or ‘Cisco Jabber’ app can be deployed to groups of users via the App Setup policy
Would you like to improve the user experience of your Microsoft Teams and Cisco users?
Would you like to provide proven, enterprise-grade telephony and contact centre capabilities for your Microsoft Teams users?
Would you like to use Microsoft Teams with your on-premise Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or CallManager) and Cisco Jabber deployments?
Would you like to continue to use your existing telecommunications carrier SIP trunks and Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) voice gateways?
Would you like to use Microsoft Teams with your cloud-based Cisco Webex Calling (WxC) subscription?
Let’s Talk.
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We take a consulting-led and adoption-driven approach, with in-house software development capabilities to maximise the value of your investment.
Interested to learn more? Let’s talk – schedule a call with our team, or call 1300 026 033 (option 1).
Strategic Alliances and Integrations Enable Comprehensive Calling, Meetings, and Messaging Capabilities
In my role as a product manager here at Cisco, I regularly talk to customers about their collaboration environments. One question I get asked is what they can do to bring together collaboration tools from different vendors…
The Webex unified app is providing our customers with comprehensive calling, meetings, and messaging capabilities that integrate with our award-winning video devices and IP phones. The result is seamless and consistent workflows.
But we are also aware that many customers have existing investments in place with collaboration tools from other vendors, and we are committed to making sure that Webex is an open platform, that integrates with 3rd party applications to ensure our mutual customers have a solution that delivers the best possible outcomes.
Earlier this year one of my colleagues talked about how we are enabling organizations with Microsoft Teams and Slack messaging users to start Webex Meetings from these applications.
Now, new Cisco calling integrations allow you to use all your enterprise-grade voice and video calling features in combination with these messaging platforms.
Cisco Calling Integrations
Calling integrations allow you to expose Cisco calling buttons directly in other vendors messaging apps. We’ve built the Cisco calling integrations to provide you with flexible solutions plus we’ve made them very easy to deploy. We started with Microsoft Teams and Slack messaging apps. To deploy a Cisco calling integration you simply select the Cisco client you are using for calling and the calling platform you want to use.
When you have added the Cisco calling integration, you can launch a Webex Teams or Cisco Jabber call directly from your messaging app. When you click the call button, the integrations identify who you’re chatting with, resolves their calling address, and passes this information to your installed Cisco client which starts a Cisco voice or video call. The integrations support all Cisco calling platforms including Cisco Unified Communication Manager (UCM) based on-premises and hosted deployments, and Webex Calling for cloud.
There are no complex back end changes to make as these are client integrations. There are no call routing policies or dial plan changes to make, no additional licenses required, and no new hardware to manage. You can even use the calling integrations with desk phone control, which means your users don’t have to replace their handsets.
Cisco Calling from Slack
Slack has made its messaging platform very open to integrating calling providers like Cisco. Adding the Cisco calling integration to Slack means you use the native Slack call button to start a Cisco call directly from Slack.
This could be using Webex Teams or Cisco Jabber as your softphone or controlling your desk phone. If your Cisco client is controlling your Cisco desk phone clicking the call button in Slack causes your Cisco desk phone to go off-hook and call your colleague.
Slack is popular with developers where users tend to like keyboard commands to take actions like making calls. Talking to Slack users it becomes clear this is a requirement for Slack users so we implement “/jabber” and “/webexteams” slash command allowing you to make calls at the command line.
We are continuing to work in partnership with Slack and plan to implement Slack’s new shortcut controls shortly. This will give you more calling destination selectable directly in Slack.
Cisco Calling from Microsoft Teams
The Cisco calling integration for Microsoft Teams has been available from the Microsoft Teams app store for just over a month now. This month we have extended it with new features and functionality. In addition to supporting Microsoft Teams desktop and web users, this month we added support for mobile and tablet devices. We also added new contact search capabilities, you can now search your Microsoft 365 Outlook contacts and call them using your Cisco calling platform via the integration.
Building Bridges with Webex
Cisco Webex Calling Plans
These two new calling integrations are just examples of the many integrations that the Webex platform supports, enabling people to enhance their communication and collaboration within their everyday workflows. For example, we’ve also worked with Microsoft to integrate Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions into Webex team messaging services to streamline collaboration on documents.
What Next…
If you’re interested in learning more about Cisco calling integration contact your Cisco account team to discuss how to build on your current Cisco UC investments with Webex to enhance the collaboration experience for your users and/or integrate with 3rd party collaboration tools.
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Cisco Webex Cloud Calling