Answers to frequently asked questions
This page will be used to maintain a list of frequently asked questions and answers especially during the initial product rollout.
Is this a Cisco product we’re using?
This is a Sinch product brought to you in partnership with Cisco, the leading global provider in video meeting and messaging solutions. Together we bring you a fully integrated collaboration experience, seamlessly delivering calling, messaging and meetings capabilities, all within a single app.
Can I resell the Sinch Calling with Webex product since this is through Cisco?
Yes, with a caveat. As a partner that owns the contract with your end customer, you must sign up to become a Cisco partner. The sign-up link is here:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/partners/become-a-partner.html
On this page, create a Cisco account if you don't already have one. The sign up should be relatively easy and does not require deal registrations when buying through us. Once you are signed up, you should be able to be found in the Cisco Partner Locator:
https://locatr.cloudapps.cisco.com/WWChannels/LOCATR/openBasicSearch.do
This will let us know you have completed your partner registration and can resell the Sinch Calling with Webex product.
Additionally, you will need to pass through references to a couple documents for Cisco products in your end customer sales agreements. The first is the Cicso End User License Agreement found at www.cisco.com/go/eula. Your customers must review and accept this agreement. The second is the Cisco Privacy Data Sheets for Webex Meetings and Webex App. These can be found at https://trustportal.cisco.com/c/r/ctp/trust-portal.html#/customer_transparency and also must be passed on to the customer.
Can I still contact you for support?
Yes, absolutely! Please continue to contact Sinch for any questions related to Sinch Calling with Webex. The help button in the Webex app will take you directly to a Cisco support site with lots of helpful articles, but you should always open a support ticket with Sinch rather than Cisco first if you can’t find what you’re looking for.
Do I have to upgrade? When does this need to be completed?
No, the upgrade to Sinch Calling with Webex is not required. However, at the end of September 2023, Voyant Connect and nCommand services are no longer supported. Your are options are to use the nCommand Plus client or moving to Sinch Calling with Webex.
What option will be best for me?
We have two options to meet your needs. If your needs are for a softphone client with basic messaging capabilities, including the ability to use SMS/MMS with your customers, nCommand Plus will be your best option. If you need more collaboration capabilities such as managing multiple chat groups and enhanced file sharing, viewing and setting presence status, desktop sharing and full multiparty audio and video conferencing, Sinch Calling with Webex will be your best option. Sinch Calling with Webex will also be your best option if you are using Call Center and need to see the presence status of agents. Note that Sinch Calling with Webex does not support SMS/MMS at this time.
How will this be offered?
As a partner, you will have three new seats types to sell or upgrade to: Sinch Calling with Webex Basic, -Standard and -Premium. You will be able to change the name of the product in Partner Setup just like you do other products, but, you MUST maintain Cisco Webex naming conventions. This means your product name must be of the form Product Name with Webex. Begin to think now about how you might name your product offering!
What seat packages will I be able to offer?
With the Sinch Calling for Webex (note, you can change it to your product name), we are introducing three new seat packages that include Cisco Webex as the mobile, tablet and desktop soft client. This is not an integration solution to a customer that already has Cisco Webex. Instead, we are enabling you to sell the whole solution!
And this is not just a soft client. This is a full collaboration suite including chat, audio/video conferencing, application and desktop sharing and much more.
The three new seat packages are the following:
The Webex Basic package provides users with calling, up to 100 participants in meetings, a Personal Meeting Room, up to 2GB of message storage, full audio/video/desktop sharing and much more. With meeting durations limited to <40 minutes, this package is ideal for general users that need to do more ad-hoc meetings and sharing sessions.
The Webex Standard package provides users with calling, up to 100 participants in meetings, a Personal Meeting Room, up to 5GB of message storage, full audio/video/desktop sharing, call-in numbers for meetings, meeting scheduling, integration to Microsoft and Google calendaring and much more. With meeting durations up to 24 hours, this package is ideally suited for managers or anyone needing to frequently schedule and host meetings. Note that Webex Basic users that join a meeting scheduled and hosted by Webex Standard or Premium users inherit the meeting duration of the Webex package hosting the meeting.
And with the Webex Premium offering, you get all the features of Webex Standard plus a top notch collaboration package supporting 1000 users in a single meeting, moderator controls, cloud recordings, transcription and many of the sophisticated features you expect in a product designed to host large scale webinars. This package is ideally suited for anyone that needs to present to small-to-large audiences like a pro.
And included with any of the Webex packages, you get all the standard features of our current Premium seat, supporting your choice of Poly or Yealink phones, or go pure client-only. This means you can still be in Hunt Groups, Call Centers or any other services we offer and use Webex as your soft client.
For a Webex seat, will I be able to add a desk phone?
Absolutely! The Cisco Webex solution is tightly integrated to our offering and functions as a powerful desktop, mobile and tablet client. You will still use Atlas and the Customer Administration Portal just as you do today to manage all your customer's services including managing desk phones and all of their calling features. Nothing in that regard changes, making this a smooth upgrade for your existing base. The desk phone will even appear in the Cisco Webex client on the calling screen, allowing you to initiate a desk phone call right from the Cisco Webex client.
Where can I get training and help information?
Cisco has no shortage of training materials and customer-facing documentation. Customer-facing guides are hosted by Cisco here:
Feel free to get familiar with these articles as these will be the guides we reference. Cisco updates these articles to keep the content current.
Additionally, Cisco has an amazing amount of articles that also detail configurations for more complex things like running the Cisco Webex client in Virtual Desktop (VDI) setups:
and many other deployment scenarios.
Where can I get the Cisco Webex clients?
The Cisco Webex clients can be downloaded at the following link:
https://www.webex.com/webexfromserviceproviders-downloads.html
There are clients for Windows, MAC, iOS and Android.
If you do download the Cisco Webex clients and try to sign up for a free account, do not use the same email address for your free account that you plan to use for your production service. If the email address your customers intend to use is already in use when you try to provision the service, complications will arise requiring manual intervention.