The IT Nerd

Announced today at WebexOne, the all new Webex is not just a powerful suite of apps, it is also a platform that helps everyone to have a seamless experience as they move between Webex and their other favorite apps. Their platform starts with a powerful programmability and extensibility layer via their open APIs and SDKs.  This lets anyone get the capabilities they need with Webex– across calling, messaging, meetings, devices, intelligence and analytics. 

To ensure everyone can benefit from this platform, today they’ve announced the new Webex App Hub. Available today, the App Hub is where we make it easy for users to find and use integrations within a Webex messaging space, and soon you’ll 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. Of course, the App Hub also is great for IT managers who are looking to make native integrations company-wide.

Today Cisco announced the following upcoming integrations, and many more will soon follow:

Box: Get the most of your Webex meetings with content stored in Box. Currently, Box and Webex are integrated such that you can easily share and manage Box content when you’re in Webex. They are now taking this integration to the next level so that from within Box, you get embedded access to Webex enabling you to start or schedule a Webex meeting, and share content with a Webex Space – either with an existing Space or a newly created Space – all without leaving Box. All Webex content sharing events are captured in the Box activity feed.

Dropbox: For Dropbox users, the powerful integration coming between Dropbox and Webex will help drive more effective meetings. Click and select a file in Dropbox to share during a Webex meeting. Leverage Dropbox  in Webex to easily capture notes, agendas, and follow-up tasks to share with the team or move from chat to a meeting without leaving the Dropbox UI. Meeting artifacts like presentations and recordings are accessible in Dropbox before, during and after meetings.

Miro: Harness the power of visual thinking and team collaboration by using Miro within Webex. This integration allows you to embed any Miro board directly inside of your Webex project space for everything from ideation and workshopping to product planning and design without ever leaving your meeting.

MURAL: Offering an enhanced layer of engagement to video meetings from within Webex, MURAL helps distributed teams share, think, and solve problems together through visual collaboration. The integrated solution will give every team member a voice and makes remote planning, Agile ceremonies, design sprints, brainstorming sessions, and client collaboration more productive and fun.

Salesforce:  Bringing Webex and Salesforce together can make sales activities and motions 10x better and help drive quotes to cash. Within Salesforce, your Webex meetings, messages and calls will be associated with Leads and Opportunities.  These custom Webex objects will be delivered through the Salesforce AppExchange.​

ServiceNow: Webex integration with ServiceNow incident management means Webex actions related to Meetings, Calling and Messaging become “in agent” workflows, eliminating manual repetitive tasks and context switching.

Workplace from Facebook: Workplace and Cisco are coming together to improve employee communications for all organizations, particularly those with frontline employees and distributed teams split between working in-office and from home. Now, joint customers can broadcast Webex video live to Workplace and users will also be able to interact (like, comment, react, ask questions, use polls, etc.) during Webex broadcasts, for real-time engagement. Upcoming product experiences will include being able to use Workplace with Webex hardware, and Workplace live engagement features being brought into the Webex experience. Additionally, we have announced a combined offer: Webex customers who are new to Workplace will receive six months’ access to Workplace Advanced at no cost. Workplace customers who are new to Webex will receive special discounts off Webex software and hardware devices (all offers subject to limitations).

Today at WebexOne, Cisco expanded its line-up of collaboration devices designed to empower the remote worker and enable a safe return to the office. The three new devices joining our intelligent Webex device portfolio are Webex Desk Camera, Webex Desk Hub and Webex Desk.

It’s clear that the future of work will involve a combination of remote and on-site interactions, known as hybrid-work. As the hybrid workplace takes shape, it’s important that you have seamless, smart experiences whether you’re at home or in the office—or somewhere in between. Together with the rest of Cisco’s intelligent portfolio, the new devices announced today provide such experiences.

Details:

• Webex Desk Camera. Packed with the intelligent features you already know from our video portfolio – like facial recognition and occupancy metrics – the Webex Desk Camera is perfect for both the home or the office. And in an industry first that no other USB camera can do, you can now mute and unmute your microphone with a simple gesture—without ever touching your computer. Powered by the Webex platform like the rest of their desk portfolio, IT can manage the Desk Camera at scale so you’ll never miss an update and never be without support. This means that even in an ever-evolving workplace, IT can meet the needs of the workforce – wherever they are.
   
• Preview: Webex Desk Hub. With many organizations rethinking and reconfiguring their office space,  getting back to the office may mean less desk space and 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 pair, charge, and connect all the things you’ve come to rely on for productivity and collaboration such as your own camera, headset, display, laptop and mobile. It is wrapped with intelligence to provide a consistent experience that enables you to get stuff done. 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.
  
  Of course, it’s not only easy to use but also to manage. The Webex Desk Hub gathers real-time environmental data, occupancy, and desk usage to help manage the new office space. Or use it to deploy digital signage with reminders to help enable a safe return. 
   
• 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.
  

Today 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. It’s clear that the future of work will involve a combination of remote and on-site interactions, known as hybrid-work. Cisco has a clear vision of how technology can help customers realize that future today and create a more inclusive world for all.

More than 50 innovations announced today fall into three areas: seamless collaboration, smart hybrid work experiences, and intelligent customer experiences, all built on the rock-solid security and privacy synonymous with Cisco.

The All New Webex 
The Webex team is laser focused on making sure users have what they need to do exceptional work. The all new Webex available today, provides a single secure place for connecting and getting things done: call, meet and message in one app. New features are being added across all modes, and the app includes our unique, real-time presence capability, so you always know who is available.

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 interrupting your train of thought. 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 your verbal command.
• Enhanced video layouts: Who do you want to see? 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—a single click and you’re in a quick team huddle to get stuff done.

Coming soon

• In-meeting gestures:  Like the presentation? Simply give a “thumbs up” with your hand and our AI translates your motion into a thumbs up on the screen for all to see. This is an industry first, coming in CY 2021.
• Immersive sharing:  Share your presentation, video or application as a dynamic background with your video overlayed, for a more immersive experience. Coming in CY 2021.
• Real-time translation: As of February, you will be able to participate in your native language and get localized, real-time transcription of the active speaker, available in 10+ languages. Each meeting attendee can choose the language they want without impacting other users. Languages include: English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, and Japanese.
• Save and share meeting artifacts: Meeting artifacts and recordings are instantly saved within your Webex app. View recordings in your Webex task bar or within the content section of 1:1 and group spaces.
• Really big meetings: Need to host a Webex Events session with up to 25,000 fully participating attendees? You’ll soon be able to do that.  You’ll be able to host even more—up to 100,000—using the new Webex Events native live streaming coming later this month.
• Meeting templates: Give everyone a chance to speak with round table templates and more. Put time limits on your meetings with quick syncs. 

New in messaging. 
Webex has added some great new features to help you focus on what matters most.

• No more looking for key projects and people: With their industry leading AI, Webex is the only messaging app that learns which projects, spaces and people are most important to you and elevates them to the top of your list. Available Q1 CY 2021.
• No more missed messages: You can manually highlight important messages and tasks with new Webex message pinning and mark as “unread”. Available Q1 CY 2021.
• No more missed meetings: In February, Webex will automatically share recordings to 1:1 and group spaces specified by you.

New in calling.

• Webex calling interactive voice response and video on hold:  Video menus simplify call routing while video on hold engages users in new ways. 
• Easily escalate a phone call to a Webex meeting:  Escalate a 1:1 telephone call into a Webex video meeting and get the full Webex experience with AI features, transcriptions, notes and action items, and recordings.
• New ways to buy: Customers can now take advantage of new calling plans with PSTN delivered directly from Cisco. This will be available in the US in mid-December, Canada in the first quarter of 2021 and many more countries globally throughout the year.

New in analytics:
Daily interactions are the fabric of effective collaboration. Last year, we introduced People Insights profiles. Now, Webex is expanding People Insights with a new suite of features. Powered by the Webex Graph, these new features deliver highly personalized insights and actionable recommendations to individuals and teams.

• For individuals, People Insights can highlight trends that go beyond your Outlook calendar including when your days typically start and stop, time spent on video calls and more.
• For teams, you can visualize, in aggregate, team interaction patterns within Webex to ensure your team is building and maintaining the right communication patterns and relationships to be effective. The tool can also inform strategy to ensure more inclusion across a team.

The All New Webex Contact Center
The new Webex Contact Center delivers powerful new benefits for businesses, customers, and agents to drive intelligent customer experiences:

• 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.
• A next-generation microservices architecture enables rapid feature innovation while open APIs allow for easy customization.
• Customers benefit from a digital-first experience and can now connect their way – whether chat, email, voice and now text and social.
• New AI-powered voice and chat bots can answer the easy questions and route the tricky ones to contact center agents, with all the related background served up so customers won’t have to repeat themselves.
• Agents will no longer be blindsided by customer sentiment now that Webex Experience Management is integrated with Webex Contact Center.
   

Additional Resources:

• Blog: Welcome to the All New Webex by Cisco’s Javed Khan
• Blog: What’s New for December by Webex Team