Ten months ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, most of us were sent home to work virtually. It was a shock to many, and as countless articles recall, numerous companies and individuals were unprepared for what was to come. Thankfully, I work for a software company that just happens to manufacture WFH and communication solutions.
I was one of the lucky ones. My friends, on the other hand, were not. Educators, young business professionals, and medical staff reached out, looking for advice on operating some of the popular free solutions their companies were implementing. Their frustration showed, and it was difficult because although I am no expert in tech, I consider myself quite savvy. Unfortunately, I had little experience with external UC solutions other than gloCOM.
Sure I knew what Skype was, Zoom, and who doesn’t know Microsoft? They thought since I knew gloCOM so well, I should be able to help with Microsoft Teams. However, that is when it hit me. Although they are both communication platforms, the two solutions are entirely different!
gloCOM was designed with a clear focus on business purposes. Microsoft Teams was created mainly for collaboration purposes within the organization and community. Which is one of the main reasons it is so popular within the school system.
The MT platform combines chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. One of the main advantages of integration is it seamlessly connects with the Microsoft ecosystem, such as MS Office products and Skype. For example, users of MT can edit their Word or Excel document and PowerPoint presentation together simultaneously. Talk about collaboration!
There is no denying the tremendous benefits to MT. It is a strong collaboration tool that has kept millions of users connected. But, so is gloCOM! gloCOM also combines chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. However, the two solutions are not the same.
First of all, Microsoft Teams is not a PBX-based solution. So the communication opportunities with the outside world are limited. Is it possible to use MS Teams with PBX? Absolutely! The MT platform offers this opportunity. But it will cost you!
You may be thinking, “do people even send faxes anymore?” The answer is yes! As per eFax, there are over 43 million fax machine units still in operation across the world. Faxing continues to remain extremely popular because it is cheap, convenient, secure, and comfortable for many people, businesses and organizations. Not to mention, fax services are mandatory for some business activities. Unfortunately, Microsoft Teams does not provide native support for faxing functions.
Diagnostic logs is a feature that is extremely helpful for administrators, supervisors, and technical support. gloCOM is designed to run natively on PBXware, which provides an informative dashboard. The dashboard has information for users and supervisors about hardware usage, primary services status, information on the system, total calls, answered calls, SIP registrations etc. MT does not provide diagnostic logs as gloCOM does.
When changes are made in the configuration of Microsoft Teams, they do not take effect immediately. In some cases, users can not see the changes for 48 hours after they were made. In more extreme cases, it has taken 72 hours! This type of delay can be very challenging for Administrators. PBXware, on the other hand, does not have an issue with the propagation time. When new updates are made, they are available for users simultaneously.
Based on gloCOM’s PBX native support, customers can make and receive calls without the high expenses. gloCOM offers fax services and diagnostic logs that will be useful for system administrators. Microsoft users can get similar solutions using a certified SBC to connect to the phone line or use a third-party global platform service. But using additional services will significantly increase the costs and raise the risk of failure. The more services you add, the more the solution becomes complicated. Almost all of the functionalities of gloCOM are available from the box. Meaning, customers do not need to purchase them additionally.
To summarize, the communication Microsoft Teams offers is the standard feature for customers to communicate and collaborate independently. Features like presence, scheduling of meetings, encryption, screen sharing, and chat. However, for business purposes, gloCOM has a substantial advantage!
Since there are so many additional add ons required – Microsoft Teams is not a suitable option for organizations that require Contact Center capabilities. Considering they are not delivered from the same platform, it is not a trustworthy UCaaS service. However, Bicom Systems has a Contact Center Edition of PBXware with features specially designed to handle an organization’s large call volumes.
Something to consider is the many functionalities that gloCOM offers. It can integrate with various third-party applications and tools on the market, such as MT. If your organization realizes they require more than what MT can provide, let us know!
To learn more about Bicom Systems and its integration capabilities, please visit our website or contact our sales team at sales@bicomsystems.com.
