Cisco Announces Wave of Webex Innovation to Drive 10x Better Than In-Person Experiences and Much More

Rhea-AI Summary

On December 8, 2020, Cisco unveiled significant updates to Webex, enhancing collaboration with over 50 new features. Key innovations include real-time transcription, enhanced video layouts, and AI-powered insights tailored for teams and individuals. The announcement coincides with Cisco's intent to acquire IMImobile and Slido, aiming to embed omnichannel engagement into customer experiences. Cisco emphasizes a vision for a hybrid work environment, asserting that the new features will help organizations achieve a seamless blend of remote and onsite interactions.

Positive

• Introduction of over 50 new Webex features enhancing collaboration.
• Real-time transcription and closed captioning available in 10+ languages by February 2021.
• Expansion of People Insights for personalized insights and recommendations.
• Launch of new Webex Contact Center to benefit businesses and improve customer experience.

Negative

• None.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

News Summary: 

• All new Webex for meetings, messaging and calling announced with a ton of new functionality.
• Expanded People Insights with new features that deliver highly personalized insights and actionable recommendations to individuals and teams.
• New Webex Contact Center that delivers powerful new benefits for agents, customers and businesses of all sizes.
• Also announced today: three brand new devices for workers and the new Webex App Hub with integrations to simplify workflows.
• Comes on the heels of Cisco announcing an agreement to acquire IMImobile and intent to acquire Slido.

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.

"We are driven to deliver a Webex experience that is 10x better than in-person." - Jeetu Patel, Cisco.

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.

"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," said Jeetu Patel, SVP and GM, Security & Applications, Cisco. "Webex enables a shift towards hybrid working and less reliance on geography-based hiring, 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."

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.
We've added some great new features to help you focus on what matters most.

• No more looking for key projects and people: With our 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, we're 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
• Video: the All New Webex

About Cisco 
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover more on The Network and follow us on Twitter.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.

 

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SOURCE Cisco Systems, Inc.

FAQ

What are the new features announced by Cisco for Webex on December 8, 2020?

Cisco announced over 50 new features for Webex, including real-time transcription, enhanced video layouts, and AI-powered insights.

How does Cisco's Webex plan to support hybrid work models?

Cisco aims to facilitate hybrid work through innovations that integrate remote and onsite interaction capabilities.

What is the significance of the new Webex Contact Center introduced by Cisco?

The new Webex Contact Center provides robust cloud contact center solutions for businesses of all sizes, enhancing customer experiences.

Will Webex support real-time transcription in different languages?

Yes, starting February 2021, Webex will support real-time transcription in over 10 languages.

What acquisitions did Cisco announce alongside the Webex updates?

Cisco announced plans to acquire IMImobile and Slido to enhance customer engagement capabilities.