Cisco recently hosted Cisco Live in Amsterdam, and as usual, the company made a lot of major announcements, many of which were covered in this post by Zeus Karavala. However, also as usual, there were many more announcements than those highlighted in Cisco blogs and press releases.
I documented 34 announcements made last fall at Webex One, considerably more than the ones featured on the Webex blog. Many companies do this intentionally to ensure specific highlighted announcements get noticed. So, I’ve been looking under rocks for the additional announcements that the company didn’t broadcast. I’ve come up with three that deserve your attention.
Apple released the Vision Pro headset earlier this month on Feb 2. Apple stated that the Vision Pro headset could be used with third-party videconferencing apps including Zoom, Cisco Webex, and Microsoft Teams. However, coverage was mostly limited to Teams and Zoom. I couldn’t find any reviews of the Webex integration. For example, TechCrunch wrote, "Zoom's app is particularly robust, taking advantage of the Vision Pro’s AR capabilities to blend in with users’ physical environments while surfacing as a floating window.”
Cisco held its Vision Pro app until the following week in order to launch it at Cisco Live. The Vision Pro user gets the full Webex experience, including AI background noise removal, real-time translations, closed captions, Slido polling and Q&A, and more. Upcoming meetings are visible and just a pinch gesture away. Users can seamlessly move meetings between Apple Vision Pro and other Apple device, or to any Webex client.
The Webex integration is comprehensive, spatial, and native. Webex goes beyond the grid view and allows the wearer to place participants, making full use of its spatial capabilities. Cisco believes this to be a unique offering. You can see a demonstration in this video.
Cisco also announced an integration with Apple 4K TV systems. This means any Apple 4K TV system, plus an iPhone or iPad (to provide a camera and mic) brings a Webex meeting space to a living room near you. The Vision Pro (personal and spatial) and Apple TV 4K (home) join the Webex Apple lineup that already includes Apple CarPlay, iPad, iPhone, and Mac.
Cisco also announced that its Webex GO mobile service is expanding into France. The service is currently available in the US and UK. This is the version of Webex Go that uses the Webex MVNO. It allows administrators to manage calling licenses across hard phones, softphones, appliances, and cell phones.
In the US, Webex Go provides native Webex calling on cell phones in two ways: through AT&T and through Webex cellular services. In the US, cell phones are commonly locked to a specific carrier, which makes the AT&T service is a simpler, more attractive play. AT&T sells and supports the device, but the native number comes from Webex.
However, in Europe, locked phones are uncommon, and there Webex Go MVNO shines. Yes, Cisco Webex is a virtual mobile provider. The advantage is that Cisco Webex, and its partners, can provide calling, meetings, contact center, messaging, hardware, and cellular services as a single (global) provider. That’s one bill and one Control Hub management portal for all users and all services.
Cisco Contact Center has a new partnership with digital identity platform JourneyID. Journey becomes a member of the Solutions Plus program. Curiously, Journey Co-Founder Brett Shockley started the Solutions Plus program some twenty years ago when he was VP and GM of the Cisco Contact Center business.
Journey will assist Cisco across all three of its contact center pillars: never wait, never repeat, and [be a] personal concierge. Webex Contact Center customers can now utilize Journey's technology to streamline the customer experience and bolster security by harnessing the capabilities of smartphones during contact center interactions. This integration allows customers to employ biometrics, securely exchange information, conduct digital payments, and engage in interactions with maximum privacy. Journey also offers zero-knowledge services which protect customer data as well as agents. Journey can accelerate compliance with industry or governmental regulations.
Admission into this program makes Journey’s products and services available through Cisco. It’s a big deal for both companies as Cisco only admits 1-2 partners into its Top-Tier programs each year. It’s a big win for Journey and confirmation regarding Cisco’s commitment to the contact center market. Journey was named Best of Enterprise Connect in 2020.
Cisco has kept its foot on the throttle regarding Webex for the past several years. The headlines are about AI and the power of the suite, but the portfolio’s incremental improvements are a story in itself. The Cisco-Microsoft partnership caused some confusion about Cisco’s commitment to Webex, but Cisco and Microsoft have a long history of fierce coopetition.
Dave Michels is a contributing editor and analyst at TalkingPointz.
