Competitors to Cisco Contact Center Express

Great - thank you.  The problem with all of the online providers I have spoken to is none will setup a mock environment for my internal groups to test.  Cisco would at least let us setup a demo at their facilities.

Although Cisco and Avaya have a larger market share, they do not have the best call center solutions from a technical evaluation point.  

There are too many variables for a full answer, but the most cost effective solutions are those engineered to run on the telephony platform already in place.  For example, if you have a Mitel system, then running the Mitel / PrairieFyre solution makes sense.  If you need to purchase a new enterprise system plus a call center, then more cost effective options exist (such as ShoreTel).  If you want a hosted solution, then options such as inContact or five9 will cost less.

We have a Cisco environment.  What I am not clear on is... if you have CCCX but some of your Call Center people work sometimes from home or the beach or whatever...would the solution still hold up for those people specifying to take calls with their cell phones?  Or would you have to connect them somehow to the CUCM cluster?

Yes, the Cisco call center will support remote agents in a variety of methods, but the best is if they are VPN connected to your core network (and thus the CUCM).  To take calls on a cell phone or a home phone you still need to have access to the call center app.

The Cisco site has info that might help such as this:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns430/ns855/guide_c07-591153.pdf

As a Cisco shop, you are best served by using the CCX (at least it is more cost effective than the Call Center Enterprise product).