The last time we heard from Cisco's Collaboration Business Unit, GM and SVP Rowan Trollope was showing off a number of enhancements to the company's room based portfolio at Enterprise Connect 2014. The updates to the MX line and even the SX10 Quick Set were designed for fast deployments in conference rooms. If you recall, Trollope talked at length about building systems that were easier to deploy and easier for workers to use, following up on the promise he had made at Cisco's Collaboration Summit in 2013.
Enterprise Connect is now in the rear view mirror and it's now nearing the end May, which means people with a life are planning for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. For those of us in tech though, it's time for Cisco Live--the company's user conference and a time to look at what's new in the world of Cisco.
On Monday, Cisco opened up Live by unveiling a number of new endpoints designed to extend the "ease of use" for Cisco collaboration to the desktop and mobile endpoints. The Cisco Live announcements complement the products from Enterprise Connect nicely and now give Cisco an updated portfolio that ranges from the user's hand all the way to the biggest of conference rooms.
The DX80 and DX70 are the long-awaited upgrades to the EX line, formerly known as Callway. The DX80 is a 23" touchscreen that also includes a wireless keyboard, a nice improvement over the touchpad on the EX line today. The device is built on Android 4.1 and has access to the Google Play Store for third-party applications. The DX70 is a 14" version and is ideal for shared spaces, as it has multi-user log in capabilities.
Cisco claims that both devices can be unboxed and installed in under five minutes, following up on Trollope's "we will be easier to use" promise; and both support Cisco Proximity connection for mobile support. These are both expected to start shipping in June, so customers who play with these at Cisco Live can order them almost immediately.
Cisco also announced a new desk phone series, the 8800. This is a much sleeker version of the traditional Cisco phones, with a five inch, high-resolution display. The new phone includes support for Cisco Proximity and charging ports for mobile devices via cables. Again, ease of use and a better desktop experience are core components of how Cisco designed the device.
Cisco also announced improvements to the virtual meeting room experience with some enhancements to WebEx. One of the enhancements, which may seem minor, is to move the "Join WebEx Meeting" link up in the e-mail or invite, to the top of the message. Anyone that's used WebEx knows the hassle of having to scroll through a long message to find the link. This can be frustrating to users, particularly when mobile--just joining the meeting is cumbersome.
Cisco has also added the ability to join the WebEx from a SIP URI. This gives workers the ability to use virtually any endpoint, not just browser based ones, to hop on to a WebEx. For example, I have an EX60 on my desktop and the only way I can use this for WebEx today is to join a TelePresence meeting and then have someone else, who has WebEx capabilities, bridge the WebEx on--so that extra screen goes wasted on my desktop much of the time. Also, Cisco added a "Join before Host" preference. This prevents users from getting the message "the user has not joined" and then having to keep trying to rejoin the meeting.
Prior to Enterprise Connect, Cisco had not had a major upgrade to its video portfolio since it acquired Tandberg. Over the past few months, the company has announced new products to support any kind of video--mobile, desktop, personal and room based.
The thing I liked about these announcements is that these weren't just newer, faster versions of the old. Instead, Cisco focused on making the experience easier for users. This not only includes setting up the devices, but also using them on a day-to-day basis by removing many of the little annoyances.
For example, if you're a heavy WebEx user, you may have noticed that about a month ago, Cisco removed the prompt of "press 1 to join the call" and it just connects you when you dial in. This enhancement certainly isn't going to change the world, but it shows a commitment to the little details that can make the experience annoying if not done right.
Making products easy to use is actually a hard thing to do but a necessary one. I've always said that if the user has to be the integration point for technology, users won't adopt it. It's good to see Cisco upgrade its portfolio, but it's better to see the focus on user experience.
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