CDW Managed Collaboration Services Reviews

They are a managed service provider who helps manage our corporate infrastructure.

We are using Cisco solution in our environment.

CDW has been available to make updates and changes for our solution based on our needs.

They handle our phone systems and manage our corporate infrastructure. It is very important to us that they can do different things.

Unified communications is really just our phone system. They have brought a lot of expertise and helped us to put our phone solution in place, then maintain it. That is specifically centered around our hardphone and softphone solutions. So, they have the expertise that has allowed us to do something in-house, which is something that we don't have. Since we don't have expertise in phone systems, and it is critical that we have phones for particular parts of our business, CDW is able to provide a level of expertise that we don't have in-house.

They definitely have the ability and flexibility, as a partner, to handle cross-platform technologies to meet our needs.

Overall, we have to be kept aware. However, when it comes to hands-on, the solution is completely handled by CDW. They have struck the right balance in this regard.

For the last four years, we have only been using the Cloud Collaboration Center (CCC) for our hosted VoIP system. Prior to that, we were using that as well as some managed services for routers and networking. They did manage some of our devices. We had some switches on-prem, but they don't do that anymore. We now have an in-house network team who manages the network devices. Then, in tandem with CDWG, we do some administration of the VoIP phone system with a Call Manager on our side. They host the call manager and all the servers for Call Manager in their data centers. Also, we have a VoIP router on two of our locations where we have phones.

I am using the hosted VoIP system in the cloud. That is what they do. Part of that is the four VoIP routers with their two data centers and one at each of my two locations. For on-prem, we use hosted VoIP calling, i.e. CCC. We don't use any messaging or WebEx with them. All we use are the desk phones and voicemail system right now. We have our desk phones, so we are not even in the cloud using a messaging system. We use Teams totally separate from CDW. All calling is through the CDW CCC hosted VoIP solution, and that is what we use.

Without phones, we would be in trouble.

We do not have any VoIP admins onsite or within our organization. That is why we decided to outsource it to CDW. That makes our job easier because we don't have a VoIP admin. I am glad that they are there to take care of that for us, as long as we pay them.

I look to CDW for guidance regarding our overall IT support needs. Being new in my role, they've been helping me to understand how the network works, how our phone systems work. They are involved in a lot of different aspects of supporting our systems. Also, if I want anything new, I go to them first.

We use CDW for our Cisco phones and we're currently using them for a network overhaul of our firewall system. We're piloting the Meraki system with them. We're also using them to do a few printer projects around PaperCut, and for our Soundtrap platform.

We are a lot more efficient in troubleshooting when things go wrong because we have a better workflow. We know where to reach out and whom to ask for help. We are less likely to get caught up on problems because we can just reach out to them and they support us. We're way more efficient now that we better understand the services and the portal. I have everyone set up and I've added more people to our customer service calls. We're super-efficient because of them.

CDW has saved us a lot of time, and that's what we appreciate most about them. I was just on a call with someone this morning and they said, "What can I do to take some stuff off your plate? How can we help you?" They always ask us that, and that is the best.

When it comes to UCaaS and CCaaS, CDW has brought forth tons of different possibilities. That has been really helpful because I sometimes don't even know what is possible. I need to know what's going on and I can ask a lot of questions. It's very clear that they know what they're talking about. I don't feel like they're either lying to me or trying to sell me something. If I ask how something works, they'll explain it to me in a way that I feel that I can trust them. Their experience is definitely a plus in both.

We wanted to outsource our phone system and not have to manage it in-house. That's why we turned to CDW. We're using the service solely for our Cisco phone system. It's hosted and managed by CDW and they have an interface portal that we use to do some internal management. We can do some basic user changes and updates, but we can also put in a request to CDW for any management changes.

CDW Managed Collaboration provides us with reliability and it has really simplified scalability for us. For example, we're constantly adding, moving, and closing locations. Their service has really simplified that process for us, making it very easy for us to add phone service to a new location or to move it. That has probably been the biggest win.

In addition, we have been able to support the expansion of the scope of our phone system—it has grown about threefold—with the same number of people. We spend less time on the day-to-day care and feeding of the system. CDW has definitely saved us both time and the need to have more in-depth technical support staff available in-house. We don't have to have a deep technical bench to support the system. It has mitigated the need to increase our internal staff, even though the scope has grown.

What we were looking to achieve with CDW was to have a hosted, SIP-based phone system that we didn't have to completely manage internally. CDW provides those services and that's why we chose them. CDW manages our complete phone system. All the servers and services that make up the VoIP phone system are based in CDW's Chicago location.

The fact that CDW's Managed Collaboration gives us a partner that can manage a hybrid environment with multiple vendor platforms is very important to us because it takes all of that out of our own management responsibilities. We don't have to keep track of and keep all of those systems running. That's what CDW does for us.

CDW also allows me to continue functioning in other roles. I wear multiple hats here and I didn't have to take on another complete role of managing a phone system. It saves me the time I would have had to spend if I had had to add that as another hat. 

Also, to manage a phone system like this would require a staff of six or seven people, so it saves us the time and money required by all of those staff members.

From my experience, CDW's experience is extensive when it comes to UCaaS and CCaaS solutions. They've been providing these types of services and systems for a number of years. Anytime we have run into issues, if they have not had experienced people at the lower levels of their structure, they have been able to quickly go up the structure and find somebody who was able to analyze and resolve whatever the problem was.

And this phone system gives our people more options regarding how to manage calls. They're not necessarily strictly tied to their desks when taking and making calls. They have a mobile option as well, and can take and make their calls anywhere.