As the world transits to a hybrid work environment, there is an increasing need for organizations to require solutions that are flexible, supportive, and inclusive. In the month of June, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) unveiled an all-new Webex Suite with key differentiating features to serve as the foundation for inclusive hybrid work and events, delivering unmatched levels of flexibility and personalization for everyone.
“At the core of what we do at Cisco, is our drive to deliver innovations in technology that can create pathways to economic prosperity for all, continue to connect the unconnected, and bring the ecosystem around our business along with us to a future that is inclusive, where no one is left behind,” said Karrie Ilagan, Managing Director of Cisco Philippines. “We are bringing innovations to our portfolio with that in mind, and with Webex Suite, everyone has a seat at the table, everyone’s voice can be heard, and it’s a platform where discussions are made equitable.”
With 98 percent of future meetings expected to include at least one remote participant, this mixed mode of working (blending remote and in-person interactions) is fueling long-lasting implications on work culture, event engagement, and technology. This setup is already at work in the Philippines where Webex powers collaboration and communication in the public sector. The Department of Health has already logged over 2 million minutes in meetings and consultations as of last year, and the Senate of the Philippines conducts 7-hour sessions over Webex on a daily basis. In the private sector, institutions like the International Center for Beginning Beginners opted to conduct online classes over Webex to ensure the security and safety of their preschool students.
This kind of transition requires investing more broadly—beyond the traditional conference room—to fundamentally reimagine the new requirements of hybrid events and a hybrid workforce. The way organizations worked pre-pandemic and during the pandemic will be starkly different in this next wave of work—where good enough is simply not enough.
“In the last six months, we have added 800 new features and devices to Webex all geared towards creating the most flexible and inclusive user experience for businesses who are looking to be more inclusive in their hybrid work approach and for people who continue to work from anywhere,” said Hariharan S, Managing Director, Software, Cloud and Collaboration, Cisco APJC. “The all-new Webex Suite ensures everyone in a hybrid workforce has equal opportunity and voice."
New Webex advancements include:
Increased Value: The all-new Webex Suite is the industry’s first suite for hybrid work to combine meetings, calling, messaging, polling and events in one offering for up to 40 percent less than a-la-carte. The new Webex identity and logo unveiled earlier this month were reinvented to reflect the powerful purpose and value Webex brings to the market, its customers and people’s lives.
End-to-End Events: A complete events execution and management platform necessary in the next era of hybrid events. Full capabilities of the industry’s first end-to-end event experience at scale will become available upon completion of Cisco’s Socio acquisition.
Audience Interaction Tools: Polling, quizzes, Q&A and more powered by Slido, is the industry’s first audience engagement solution to be integrated across all collaboration experiences. Polling is available now in Meetings and will be coming soon to Events.
Speech Intelligence: Building upon Webex’s market-leading noise removal and speech enhancement capabilities, users will have the new ability of speech optimization for remote and shared workspaces through My Voice Only to eliminate background noise, including speech from people in the background, and solely focus on the main speaker’s speech. My Voice Only will be available worldwide in August 2021.
Camera Intelligence: People Focus, announced earlier this year, is coming to Webex in 2021. People Focus uses machine learning and AI technology to individually re-frame meeting participants who are spread across a meeting room allowing remote participants to feel more connected and everyone in the meeting to benefit from seeing body language, facial expressions and more.
Next-level Devices: The Webex Desk provides a powerful all-in-one collaboration device designed for the desk at work or home. Immersive collaboration experiences are also available with modern touch interactions via RoomOS that connects workflows with less context switching”‹, as well as Webex Assistant Skills platform that opens up of universe of voice-powered extensions to seamlessly and easily integrate more controls, content and applications for Webex Devices.