Zendesk Talk vs Cisco Contact Center

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Our analysts compared Zendesk Talk vs Cisco Contact Center based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Call Center Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Zendesk Talk Software Tool
Cisco Contact Center Software Tool

Product Basics

Zendesk Talk is a VoIP contact center calling system that integrates with Zendesk Support Suite. It operates within the same interface that connects customers with agents across multiple communication methods. Call centers can incorporate the technology into an existing platform or rely on it solely for voice calls. Workers can connect via smartphone, mobile app or softphone in a preferred web browser or business desk phone. All capabilities reduce the call abandonment rates and allow employees to answer more calls in less time.

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Cisco offers a vast portfolio of products, including calling, contact center, team collaboration, meetings and devices. It delivers call treatment, omnichannel contact management, contact routing and network-to-desktop CTI over an IP infrastructure. Its flexible cloud architecture offers integration and customization along with user experience management.

It gets praise for its varied features and intelligent analytics geared towards improving productivity and customer satisfaction. However, users report that some tools are complex to use. For information about pricing, contact the sales team.

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$19/Agent, Monthly
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$100/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
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Large 
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Small 
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • One Workspace for All Channels: Give agents the context to handle calls using familiar tools. Embed a call console into the product and deliver voice support from the workspace so agents can manage all other channels. 
  • More Choices: Get started with more than 90 pre-built telephony integrations such as Zoom Phone by Faye, ChannelReply, shortcuts, Scratchpad and more that plug directly into Zendesk. 
  • Personalization: Engage with customers through a 1:1 conversation and build a personal relationship with them. Take advantage of spontaneity and sincerity possible only during a live talk. 
  • Efficiency: Build long-term relations with clients through brief chats that are always more substantial than an email exchange. Conclude conversations in a shorter time and offer customers help during emergencies. Access to all the real-time statistics and data concerning conversations. Conclude the analytical data and boost effectiveness. 
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  • Boost Productivity: Automate everyday tasks to free your team to focus on your customers. Provide 24/7 support, resolve issues on the first contact, reduce wait times and personalize interactions with AI-powered tools.
  • Enhance Customer Experiences: Gain valuable customer insights through cloud data analytics and connect them with experts to improve first contact resolution. Offer proactive and personalized experiences with omnichannel support, predictive routing, CRM integration, outbound campaigns, expert collaboration and 360-degree customer journey analytics.
  • Empower Your Team: Enable your team to connect with customers anytime, anywhere. Quickly route callers to the most suitable agent or provide instant answers through virtual agents. Engage experts for complex interactions, building customer trust and providing context.
  • Optimize Workflows: Streamline team efficiency for consistent, high-quality customer service. Align your workforce management with business objectives. Ensure quality and compliance with robust quality management and call recording tools.
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  • Integrated Voice Software: Choose the most appropriate call center software and integrate it with Zendesk to deliver a world-class customer experience.  
  • Group Conversations: Access more than just 1:1 conversations to connect clients to experienced agents who can dispel even the most complex issues. 
  • Text Messages: Don’t miss a single chance to connect with customers on SMS. Access all incoming messages easily and react to them accordingly. 
  • Warm Transfer: Allow clients to connect with specific agents without describing the issue from the beginning. Take a few minutes to catch up with the case while the call gets redirected. 
  • Callback From Queue: Save time by booking a customer’s place in a queue during long waits and give them a call back when you’re ready for them.  
  • Interactive Voice Response: Conduct initial segmentation of clients with built-in IVR and direct them to specialized agents from relevant departments. Solve a variety of issues via phone, including complaints, information, tech support and more. 
  • Call Management Features: Forward calls from desk phones to home landlines, personal smartphones or other numbers for greater employee flexibility. Some additional features include call queues, round-robin call routing, caller ID, conferencing calling, set business hours, call barge/whisper and more. 
  • Voicemail: Allow customers to leave voicemails. Get directed to a representative’s voice mailbox instead of waiting in long call queues. Record personalized greetings to direct calls to other phone numbers or let customers know when an employee is out of the office. 
  • Business Text Messaging: Communicate via SMS using the same phone number or any other business messaging platform. Send automated texts when clients request support and create an account. Message to up to 250 customers per phone in one go. 
  • Call Recording: Take advantage of call recording capabilities along with other robust features, such as allowing clients to opt-in or out of being recorded or pause/resume recordings at any time during a call. 
  • Dashboards and Reporting: Get insights into some of the most critical real-time and historical call center metrics, including an average number of inbound and outbound calls and call abandonment rate over a set period. Measure omnichannel support engagement and determine when customers are most likely to contact through the customizable real-time dashboard and historical reports. 
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  • Cloud Contact Center
    • Unified Open Platform: Enhance workflow efficiency and business processes, and integrate with business tools with its open platform architecture, agent desktop, management and reporting.
    • Routing and Queue Management: Distribute calls intelligently across teams, agents and remote agents in multiple sites. Create routing strategies to leverage skill assignments at the agent or team level. Match agent skill set and availability with customer needs, priorities and values.
    • Call Distribution: Prioritize call distribution depending on agent capabilities, Designate the way calls are distributed to salespeople and reroute them to another available agent if the prior one is elusive. Put the non-responsive worker to an unavailable state to avoid sending them calls and toggle their status back to an active state once they’re back.
    • Flow Builder: Build custom contact flows over system-generated events, including transfer, hang-up and agent answer, while handling customers with precise routing and workflows. Create, edit or validate flows before publication through an automatic drag-and-drop UI interface. Configure Call Associated Data (CAD) variables, courtesy callbacks and transfer activity based on Estimated Wait Time (EWT) and Place In Queue (PIQ) while customers hear music. Enable custom flow requests, including Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF), playing prompts, touchtone menus, digit collection, screen pops, triggers for feedback and music in the queue with Webex Experience Management.
    • Wrap-Up Codes: Create deposition codes to track the reason for an agent’s inactivity and call’s end.
    • Callback Options: Offer customers the option to leave their contact numbers and receive a callback from agents rather than waiting in a long queue.
    • Disaster Recovery: Redirect traffic during unexpected emergencies such as transport facility outages, natural disasters and power disruptions. Be productive anytime and anywhere only with the availability of a computer, internet connectivity and phone.
    • Single Sign-On: With a one-time login, you can access all Webex applications. Integrate all call center solutions with your Webex Control Hub identity.
    • Webex Control Hub: Offer a blended administration experience for all collaboration services such as messaging, calling and contact center. Enable a simplified and seamless onboarding experience to users for multiple collaboration services through a unified interface along with security, control entitlements and compliance
    • Management Portal: Set up simple, flexible call flows and routing strategies, direct multi-skilled sales representatives to queues and administer a Default Outdial Automatic Number Identification (ANI). Monitor team performances in real time via call monitoring and dashboards, analyze customer trends by accessing historical reporting and analytics and log out team members who are inactive through the agent state dashboard.
    • Supervisory Features: Access calls and listen to conversations from a dial-in connection or corporate network without the agent or caller's knowledge. Barge in or coach during the call at any time and train the agent privately during a live discussion.
    • Email Channel Capabilities: Pull emails from multiple accounts, set up a template with signatures and greetings, route messages by the subject line keyword analysis and edit emails with rich-text capabilities. Access add-on capabilities such as attachment support with configurable limits, wrap-up codes, audible indicators for new emails, conversation history and grouping. Access email reporting in the analyzer and multi-session support for contacts.
    • Text/Social Media Capabilities: Access various features, including secure interactions, wrap-up code for chats, blind/consult transferring and conferencing, submission of customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys, reporting on text/social interactions in Analyzer and customer satisfaction history on social channels.
    • Virtual Agent (Chat and Voice): Offer a 24/7 intuitive, self-service experience across multiple channels with a bot for less complex and simple inquiries to customers. Reduce calls to agents, leading to better customer experiences and improved productivity. Improve call containment with fewer calls escalating to agents, automate more business transactions using self-service and relieve agents from mundane and repetitive tasks.
    • CRM Integrations: CRM Integrations: Improve workflows with pre-built connectors for integration with several leading CRM systems, including Zendsk, Salesforce and MS Dynamics.
    • Flexible Cloud Migration: Take the first steps to the cloud with the "cloud-first-not-cloud-only” approach. With advanced hybrid cloud and flexible consumption services, you can achieve cloud innovation without disturbing existing on-premise models.
  • On-Premise Contact Center
    • Finesse Desktop: Improve agent performances through customizable supervisor and agent desktop layouts, personalized heading and logo, blended agents with outbound and inbound capability, screen-pop-ups with complete information about customers, phonebook, E 164 support, multi-session web chat, live data reporting, agent state and call history and drag and drop gadgets
    • Customer Surveys: Conduct surveys to understand the client’s needs and serve them better. View self-assessments and compare with other team members and boost productivity.
    • Home Agents: Use Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) phone devices to transfer, accept, disconnect and conference calls while Cisco Unified CCX handles interactions.
    • Workflows: Allow simple and easy configuration of complex screen-up actions via REST APIs and Finesse HTTP. Set up actions and workflows for digital and voice channels using an intuitive, logic-based interface that offers better service and reduces handle times.
    • Cloud Connect: Enable customers to connect an on-premises solution to the product’s highly redundant and secure Webex Contact Center and deliver new services and consistent reporting.
    • Next-Generation Reporting: Get live and historical data and dashboards along with flexible presentation options through the Unified Intelligence Center. View historical and live or custom reports depending on the information that needs tracking via existing studies.
    • Open System: Take advantage of hardware platforms to enable various benefits at a modest hardware cost. Access features, including Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)-compliant databases and Java interfaces for CTI applications and integrate them with existing solutions while preserving investments and offering a platform with modern applications.
    • Smart Licensing: Manage licenses across the business with a more agile method and let customers pool licenses across various sites. Redeploy when required and increase usage during burst requirements.
  • Cloud Applications
    • Predictive Analysis: Make informed decisions regarding improving customer and agent experience for positive business outcomes.
    • Financial Analysis: Access a one-page, boardroom-ready financial analysis to get budget and buy-in approval for customer experience initiatives.
    • Journey Path Analysis: Solve the attributes impacting financial metrics and customer experience to get better results.
    • Theme Analysis: Get 95% accuracy while analyzing the theme and sentiment of customers’ unstructured data through AI and machine learning.
    • Dashboards: Create a personalized dashboard and access real-time performances of agents through KPIs, comparisons and analysis.
    • Actionable Insights: Track customer experience and improve performances by turning mounds of data into real-time measurable actions through customer journey maps.
    • Closing The Loop: Improve customer experiences by listening to all customer responses and handling them in real time
    • Question Builder: Add, delete and modify questions easily. Create surveys to analyze customer experience across all channels and touchpoints.
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Product Ranking

#64

among all
Call Center Software

#76

among all
Call Center Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

79
94
79
93
82
98
60
94
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Voice Intelligence and Analytics
Phone System
Platform Capabilities
Platform Capabilities
Call Routing System
Mobile Capabilities
Collaboration
Voicemail and Messaging

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Zendesk Talk
Cisco Contact Center
+ Add Product + Add Product
Calling Capabilities Call Routing System Collaboration Dialers Mobile Capabilities Phone System Voice Intelligence And Analytics Voicemail And Messaging Workforce Management 79 82 60 63 70 93 95 75 65 93 98 94 88 97 93 90 94 88 0 25 50 75 100
74%
9%
17%
87%
9%
4%
82%
0%
18%
94%
6%
0%
14%
29%
57%
86%
14%
0%
25%
63%
12%
88%
0%
12%
60%
0%
40%
100%
0%
0%
88%
0%
12%
88%
6%
6%
86%
0%
14%
88%
0%
12%
67%
0%
33%
86%
14%
0%
33%
0%
67%
83%
0%
17%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

78%
0%
22%
100%
0%
0%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 2704 reviews
Great User Sentiment 261 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Zendesk Talk has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 2704 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

83%
of users recommend this product

Cisco Contact Center has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 261 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

n/a
4.1 (10)
4.4 (2687)
4.5 (5)
n/a
4.4 (116)
4.1 (17)
3.9 (130)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Seamless CRM Integration: Many users appreciate that Zendesk Talk is directly integrated with Zendesk's CRM platform, allowing agents to access customer information and interaction history without switching between applications.
Intuitive Call Handling: Users frequently praise the platform's straightforward interface for managing calls, including features like call transfers, holds, and voicemail, which streamline agent workflows.
Robust Reporting and Analytics: Zendesk Talk provides comprehensive call analytics, enabling businesses to track key metrics such as call volume, duration, and agent performance, which helps identify areas for improvement and optimize operations.
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Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Give customers a smoother, more efficient experience. Send calls to the right agent, monitor events and record conversations so customers get help faster and come back for more.
Better Teamwork: Make it easier for your team to work together. Allow them to share information and talk in real time, and help each other solve customer problems.
Business Growth: Expand your teams, connect with other tools you might use and set up the software in different ways to match your growing needs.
Smart Decision-Making: Use real-time data reporting tools to track what's happening in your call center, spot trends in customer questions and improve overall performance.
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Limited Customization: Users express frustration over the inflexibility of Zendesk Talk's features, particularly when it comes to call routing and IVR systems. They desire more control over how calls are handled and directed.
Reporting Functionality: Many users find the reporting features in Zendesk Talk to be insufficient for their needs. They desire more comprehensive and detailed reports to gain deeper insights into call center performance.
Reliability Issues: Some users report experiencing dropped calls and other connectivity problems, which can be disruptive to call center operations and negatively impact customer satisfaction.
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Added Initial Costs: While call center software can save you money in the long haul, it can be a bit pricey to get started, especially for smaller businesses. There are the upfront costs of buying the software and then maintenance, like paying subscription fees every month. Companies need to take a good look at their budget and make sure the benefits outweigh those costs.
Connectivity Issues: Cloud-based call center software relies on a steady internet connection for agents who work from home. If the internet goes down, so does communication with customers. Companies should have backup plans in case the internet goes out so they can keep helping customers.
Limited Adaptability: Call center software comes with many features and ways to customize it, but sometimes, it might not do exactly what a business needs. This can lead to figuring out workarounds or having to buy extra software to fill in the gaps, which can make things more complicated and expensive.
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Is Zendesk Talk all that it's cracked up to be? User reviews from the past year suggest that it's a solid choice for businesses seeking a reliable call center solution, but it's not without its drawbacks. Many users praise Zendesk Talk for its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other Zendesk products, making it a breeze to manage customer interactions across various channels. For instance, one user highlighted how the integration with Zendesk Support allowed their agents to quickly access customer information during calls, leading to faster resolution times. However, some users have expressed concerns about occasional call quality issues and limitations in advanced reporting features. While Zendesk Talk offers basic call analytics, some users find it lacking compared to competitors like Talkdesk or Five9, which provide more in-depth insights into call center performance. Ultimately, Zendesk Talk is best suited for small to medium-sized businesses that value ease of use and integration with other Zendesk products. Larger enterprises with more complex call center requirements might find other solutions more suitable.

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