Intrinsically, a Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) ecosystem should promise a seamless experience for every user. But for many organizations, their UC&C interface can be a patchwork quilt rather than a single pane of glass.
While major UC platforms like Microsoft Teams, Cisco, and Avaya have transformed the way businesses operate, they can create a fragmented environment where various platforms are used to meet different needs.
The aim is to create a ‘best of breed’ experience for users – but it can result in major challenges for IT teams.
Each communication platform addresses a company’s specific needs, enabling seamless collaboration across an entire organization, regardless of location.
But why do nearly 40% of enterprises now operate multiple telephony and collaboration systems?
Mergers and Acquisitions: When one company buys another, it often inherits the acquired company's existing UC&C systems, leading to multiple platforms within the new, larger organization.
"Best-of-Breed" Approach: Instead of relying on a single-vendor solution, organizations may choose specific, best-in-class tools for different tasks, such as Avaya for contact center operations, and Cisco systems for one area and Microsoft for another.
Hybrid and Remote Work: The need to support a diverse, distributed workforce with various devices and locations encourages the use of multiple platforms to accommodate different user preferences and needs.
Diverse Technology Needs: Different departments or functions may have unique communication requirements. For example, a contact center may use a specialized platform for SMS and live chat, while another department might use a different platform for internal messaging and video conferencing.
On-Premises vs. Cloud: Many organizations have a mix of older on-premises systems and newer cloud-based services, creating a heterogeneous environment where multiple platforms must be managed simultaneously.
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is actively transitioning from the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital communication platforms like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to modernize its infrastructure.
This shift is driven by the need for more cost-effective, flexible, and feature-rich services, leading to the widespread adoption of digital platforms for everything from voice calls to banking and commerce.
The Middle East and Africa region is undergoing rapid digital infrastructure expansion. Saudi Arabia and the UAE has invested more than $2.3 billion in 5G-enabled communication systems for government and enterprise use.
In Africa, over 40% of mobile users engaged in digital messaging for financial and healthcare communications.
In the Cisco reseller space specifically, the APAC region holds around 30% of Cisco’s UC reseller revenue.
Avaya is investing in cloud and AI-first innovation with the release of their Avaya Infinity Platform.
Microsoft Teams is integrating more voice/telephony offerings and operator/connect services, especially in markets where direct PSTN routing or local telecom regulation make Teams Phone adoption attractive.
In unified communications, no single vendor dominates every use case and this is a primary reason why multi-vendor environments are so common. Each platform brings its own strengths, tailored to different business needs, technical requirements, and user preferences.
Cisco excels in enterprise-grade reliability and robust networking integration, Avaya has a long-standing reputation in voice and contact center solutions, and Microsoft Teams has become the go-to collaboration hub for hybrid and remote workforces.
Understanding what each vendor does best helps organizations make informed choices and build a “best-of-breed” ecosystem, that maximizes both employee experience and customer engagement.
Cisco is synonymous with enterprise-grade reliability and security. Its UC&C solutions are deeply integrated with network infrastructure, providing consistent voice, video, and meeting experiences across locations.
Cisco’s hardware which includes meeting room endpoints, voice and media gateways, routers, switches and IP phones - is designed for durability and interoperability. This makes it a strong choice for organizations that prioritize stability and high-quality conferencing.
In APAC and MEA, Cisco is particularly popular in sectors like banking, telecom, and government, where compliance, uptime, and network performance are non-negotiable.
Avaya has a long-standing legacy in voice communications and contact center solutions, and this has earned it a reputation for delivering strong customer experiences.
Avaya’s platforms excel in high-volume voice environments, vertical integrations, and custom workflows, so this is a go-to for organizations in finance, healthcare, and government.
While Avaya’s platform adoption is not as prevalent as Cisco and Microsoft Teams in the APAC and MEA regions, its flexibility in on-premises PBX and hybrid and cloud deployments allows organizations to retain existing infrastructure while gradually adopting modern UCaaS features.
Teams has become the backbone of collaboration for hybrid and remote workforces. The platform integrates tightly with the broader Microsoft 365 ecosystem, offering chat features, video, document collaboration, and telephony in a single interface.
Its ease of adoption and familiar user experience drives high engagement across employees, particularly in knowledge-worker environments. Teams is being increasingly deployed globally including APAC and MEA for its flexibility, global reach, and rapid deployment.
While each communication platform excels in its own domain, the reality for organizations is that the ‘best-of-breed’ approach comes with trade-offs, as it can significantly fragment the IT landscape.
Users benefit from tools tailored to their roles, boosting engagement and productivity, but it forces IT teams to navigate multiple admin consoles, monitoring systems, and reporting standards.
The more diverse the environment, the more complex it becomes to maintain consistent service quality, quickly resolve issues, and ensure that every interaction, whether with colleagues or customers, meets expectations.
In other words, what’s best for users can often be most challenging for IT.
For example. An issue that occurs in a Teams call routed through an Avaya contact center, or a Cisco SBC can be difficult to trace.
Is it a network glitch, a platform-specific problem, or a configuration issue? Without unified visibility, troubleshooting and performance management becomes time-consuming, SLAs can slip, and user satisfaction suffers.
This challenge can be magnified in regions like APAC and MEA, where organizations often operate across multiple time zones, differing regulatory environments, and disparate local telecom infrastructures.
IT teams are challenged with not only detecting and diagnosing issues quickly but also proactively identifying anomalies that could impact employees or customers.
In a best-of-breed ecosystem, the lack of continuing visibility and end-to-end oversight is the hidden cost of providing the best tools for each user group.
IR Collaborate, built on the powerful Prognosis platform, transforms the challenge of managing multi-vendor UC&C environments into a strategic advantage through unified observability. How?
Reduced Complexity Through Unified Monitoring – IT teams gain a single pane of glass to monitor all voice, video, and collaboration traffic in real time across Cisco, Avaya, Microsoft Teams, and more, eliminating the overhead of maintaining multiple monitoring tools.
Faster Problem Resolution – Proactive alerting gets to the root of potential problems like network bottlenecks, platform-specific latency, misconfigured session border controllers, before they impact users, dramatically reducing mean time to resolution.
Enhanced Customer Experience – IR Collaborate ensures seamless collaboration experiences for distributed workforces and customer-facing operations, regardless of which vendor powers the interaction. Consistent service quality translates directly to improved satisfaction and productivity.
Better Outcomes – Track service quality consistently across all platforms and geographies, making SLA compliance achievable and enabling data-driven optimization.
Increased Efficiency and Agility – Maintain the flexibility of best-of-breed UC&C while gaining the operational efficiency of single-vendor environments.
IR Collaborate turns multi-vendor complexity into clarity, helping businesses deliver exceptional communication experiences while maintaining the agility to adapt as technology and business needs evolve.
Find out how IR Collaborate can give you end-to-end visibility, diagnostics, and forecasting in a multi-vendor UC environment.