2020 WebexOne Thoughts
Let’s Talk Collaboration
Cisco’s WebexOne premier digital collaboration conference is now behind us! This was an inaugural event that brought together the Cisco Collaboration Summit, BroadSoft Connections, and Cisco Contact Center Summit into a single event. Speakers included Cisco’s Chairman and CEO, Chuck Robbins, SVP/GM, Security and Applications, Jeetu Patel, EVP, Chief People Officer, Francine Katsoudas, SVP/GM, Cisco Collaboration, Javed Khan, and many others. This event also had luminaries Amal Clooney (yes, George’s wife) and Rupal Charles, as well as end-users of Cisco products and analysts from the technology industry.
The topics, of course, covered many new Cisco product announcements but also covered topics like the future of Remote Working and Diversity in the workplace with the goal to inspire workplace transformation to power an inclusive future for all.
As for the innovations coming from the Cisco team, I think it is best to echo their driving message, which is to use the Webex platform to build collaboration experiences that power 10x better than in-person interactions. Very ambitious, but they really articulated their vision on achieving this. The all-new Webex is an all-in-one secure app for calling, messaging, and meeting, with built-in intelligence to transform this experience. New features like Gestures, Roundtable & Quick Sync Meeting templates, to Real-time translations for 10 languages (supporting workplace diversity like never before, with even more languages coming).
They also discussed additions to their Webex desktop device portfolio:
And there was more! The new Webex Contact Center was announced, which enables intelligent customer experiences built on a next-generation cloud platform. New features include Intelligent AI-powered ‘super agents’, contextual, complete customer experience management through engagement history, a fully customizable platform, and many new Open API’s.
These days, you must also think about security, privacy, management, and insights with all architectures. Cisco covered this too. Comprehensive encryption, secure identity, and data loss prevention are all part of the always improving collaboration platform. People insights powered by Webex Graph will provide insights for individuals and managers to really provide transparency. Finally, there is the new Webex Control Hub to manage everything.
Final Thoughts on WebexOne
As a former Chief Technology Officer, I certainly understand the challenges that organizations are facing. The rapid requirement to support a remote workforce was unprecedented. During the conference, industry analysts discussed that typical workforces could shift rapidly over the next few years, and remote workers are here to stay. Predictions show that within the next 5 years, 66% of employees will be working remotely. I mention this purposefully, as costs decline for commercial office space, many organizations will invest more in solutions that make the remote worker more productive. Hence the new devices announced. Productivity is always a key metric, but as I mentioned, security and privacy management are absolutely part of the foundation of this platform.
If you’re interested in learning more about enterprise collaboration options and how it can help your enterprise scale, contact Greyson. We’re happy to talk and share additional resources with you.
