At WebexOne, Cisco announced a wave of Webex innovation to help organizations collaborate seamlessly and transform their employee and customer experiences. Taking place today and tomorrow, WebexOne is Cisco’s premier digital collaboration conference that brings together thought leaders, customers and partners to discuss the future of work.
Webex has a rich history of helping employees innovate and remain productive wherever they are. Since the pandemic, Webex has not only continued to help businesses thrive, it has also been an integral platform for governments to continue to lead remotely, doctors to meet with patients safely, and educators to teach students at a distance.
The announcement of the latest innovations come as companies across the world are preparing for ‘hybrid’ future of work – where employees move between office-based and remote working with greater frequency – in a post pandemic world. Cisco has set out a clear vision of how technology can help customers realize that future today and create a more inclusive world for all. The innovations announced today include:
The All New Webex
The all new Webex available today, provides a single secure place for connecting and getting things done: call, meet and message in one app. More than 50 innovations announced fall into three areas: seamless collaboration, including meetings, messaging and calling, smart hybrid work experiences, and intelligent customer experiences, all built on the rock-solid security and privacy synonymous with Cisco.
New in meetings.
Among the many features being added to Webex, here are some of our favorites:
In the app today
– Noise cancellation and speech enhancement: No more loud typing or rustling papers. Webex automatically detects and suppresses common noises, so you can concentrate.
– Transcriptions and closed captioning: Remove the need for extensive note-taking. Transcripts are searchable, so team members who miss a meeting can quickly catch up.
– Highlights and action items: Webex Assistant will create these on verbal command.
– Enhanced video layouts: You can change your video layout with a simple slider control.
– Webex Huddle: Quickly call specific team members into a spontaneous meeting with a single click. No scheduling required.
Coming soon
– Real-time translation: As of February, localized, real-time transcription of the active speaker will be available in 10 languages. Each meeting attendee can choose the language they want, from the following list: English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, and Japanese.
– Immersive sharing: Share your presentation, video or application as a dynamic background with video overlayed. This is an industry first, coming in CY 2021.
– In-meeting gestures: Like the presentation? Simply give a “thumbs up” with your hand and. Our AI translates motion into a thumbs up on the screen for all to see. This is an industry first, coming in CY 2021.
– Save and share meeting artifacts: Meeting artifacts and recordings are instantly saved within the Webex app. View recordings in the Webex task bar or within the content section of 1:1 and group spaces.
– Really big meetings: Webex Events session with up to 25,000 fully participating attendees will soon be available. Even more—up to 100,000— people can attend using the new Webex Events native live streaming coming later this month.
For more information please see this press release, blog: Welcome to the All New Webex by Cisco’s Javed Khan, and supporting video: The All New Webex.
New Webex Devices
A range of new devices, which together with the rest of Cisco’s intelligent portfolio, will provide seamless, smart experiences whether you’re at home or office. These include:
Webex Desk Camera: packed with intelligent features like facial recognition and occupancy metrics, the Webex Desk Camera is perfect for both the home or office. You can now mute and unmute your microphone with a simple gesture – an industry first that no other USB camera can do.
Preview – Webex Desk Hub: with many organizations rethinking and reconfiguring their office space, getting back to the office may mean more hotdesking for employees. With the new Webex Desk Hub, it’s super simple to make any available desk your personal space. This new category of device is powerful enough to provide amazing quality video meetings and phone calls but also allows you to connect all the things you’ve come to rely on for productivity and collaboration such as your own camera, headset, display, laptop and mobile In addition, Webex Desk Hub lets you reserve a desk using your laptop, badge or cell phone to authenticate your identity. This is not a basic device for hotdesking as you know it; the Webex Desk Hub is truly built for a new way of working.
Preview – Webex Desk: just like it’s “big sister” the Webex Desk Pro, the Webex Desk allows you to engage your audience by using slides or videos as your backdrop while you present—a feature we call “immersive presenter”. It transforms your experience by enabling you to connect to meetings, co-create and stay productive whether you’re at home or in the office. It is competitively priced for an all-in-one device with intelligent features users want like noise cancellation, virtual backgrounds and facial recognition. Use it as your primary display and connect to any meetings service. With a high-quality camera, microphone and speakers, it is super simple to set up, with no IT or technical knowledge required. You can be up and running in minutes. For more information on these devices, see this press release.
Webex App Hub and Ecoystem
The App Hub will make it easy for users to find and use integrations within a Webex messaging space, and soon they will be able to experience the same thing in a Webex meeting. Users will be able to easily add and collaborate with third-party applications while in a Webex meeting, then save the work to follow up afterwards. It also is great for IT managers who are looking to make native integrations company-wide. Available today, the new Webex App Hub includes prebuilt integrations with Box, Dropbox, Salesforce, ServiceNow, MIRO, Mural, Workplace for Facebook. For more information see this press release
New in Contact Center: Drive Intelligent Customer Experiences
The new Webex Contact Center delivers powerful new benefits for businesses, customers, and agents. Now businesses of all sizes (even with the smallest of contact centers) can have the robustness of a cloud contact center with thousands of agents on day one. For more information see this press release.
Jeetu Patel, SVP and GM, Security & Applications, Cisco, said: “Cisco’s purpose is to power an Inclusive Future, and collaboration technology plays a critical role in leveling the playing field so everyone is able to participate in the global economy regardless of geography, language and personality type. This is why we are driven to deliver a Webex experience that is 10x better than in-person—and at the same time make in-person interactions 10x better too. Webex enables a shift towards hybrid working, opening the global economy and giving everyone a seat at the table—no matter where the table is. Our team is passionate about delivering this vision which fuels every device we build, every line of code we write, and every feature we create.”
