Amazon Chime vs Cisco Unified Communications

March 18, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
8
Amazon Chime
Amazon Chime is a secure, real-time, unified communications service that transforms meetings by making them more efficient and easier to conduct. The service delivers high-quality audio and video through an application that is easy to use and stays in sync across all of your devices. With Amazon Chime, meetings start on time, and a visual roster makes them easy to manage.
12
Cisco Unified Communications
With Cisco Unified Communications, your company can connect co-workers, partners, vendors, and customers with the information and expertise they need, access and share video on the desktop, on the road, and on-demand, as easily as making a phone call, facilitate better team interactions, dynamically bringing together individuals, virtual workgroups, and teams, make mobile devices extensions of the corporate network so mobile workers can be productive anywhere

Amazon Chime and Cisco Unified Communications both claim to make business communication seamless, which is a bit like saying both tea and coffee help you wake up—technically true, but the experience varies wildly. They let you call, message and video chat, integrate with your calendars to remind you about meetings you'd rather avoid and work across multiple devices, meaning you can be equally unproductive whether you're at your desk or hiding in a coffee shop. Security is a big deal for both, ensuring that even your dullest conference calls remain confidential—though whether anyone would actually want to steal them is another question entirely.

Amazon Chime, launched in 2017, is the bright-eyed, cloud-based newcomer from the bustling digital megapolis of AWS, designed for the modern, flexible, work-from-anywhere crowd who think “on-premises” is a phrase from a history book. You pay for what you use, which is great if you’re frugal but terrible if you tend to forget to turn things off. It's sleek, lightweight and decidedly unburdened by the need to support massive legacy systems, making it ideal for businesses that like their communication tools fast, efficient and slightly smug about being in the cloud.

Cisco Unified Communications, on the other hand, has been around since 1997, a time when people still considered fax machines the height of technological sophistication. It comes from Cisco, the Silicon Valley giant responsible for ensuring the internet doesn't collapse under the weight of cat videos. It offers on-premises and hybrid setups, requiring actual physical hardware, which may be charmingly retro or deeply inconvenient, depending on your point of view. It's built for big enterprises that need robust infrastructure, endless compliance features and the kind of reliability that suggests someone, somewhere, still remembers what a PBX is.

See also: Top 10 Unified Communications software
Author: Adam Levine
Adam is an expert in project management, collaboration and productivity technologies, team management, and motivation. With an extensive background working at prestigious companies such as Microsoft and Accenture, Adam's in-depth knowledge and experience in the field make him a sought-after professional. Currently, he has ventured into entrepreneurship, owning a thriving consulting and training agency where he imparts invaluable insights and practical strategies to individuals and organizations, empowering them to achieve their goals and maximize their potential. You can contact Adam via email [email protected]