This week we share updates around a Cisco and Facebook partnership, an audio/video (A/V) conferencing solution, analytics support for video meetings, COVID-19 vaccine assistance offerings, and collaborative workspace platform enhancements.
Cisco, Facebook Partner on Employee Engagement
Cisco and Facebook have partnered to allow joint customers the ability to live stream Webex video meetings to Workplace and interact with each other during the sessions, as
announced last week among a slew of other app integrations Cisco debuted at its
WebexOne event. In one click, a Webex user can start a session and broadcast through Workplace to all employees, specific employees, or people outside the company, said Cédric Lendais, product manager, Facebook, in a prepared statement. Participants can join the session from their in-room or desktop Webex devices .
By enabling end-to-end video engagement across the Webex and Workplace platforms as well as the Webex devices, the companies aim to provide their joint customers a way to “securely reach their entire work community from HQ to frontline,” Jeetu Patel, Cisco SVP of Security and Applications, said in a prepared statement.
Existing Webex customers new to Workplace can obtain a trial offer of Workplace Advanced. Workplace customers new to Webex software and devices are eligible for a free six-month trial of Webex Enterprise and qualify for discounts on Webex Desk Pros, Cisco said.
QSC Adds Microsoft Teams Rooms Solutions Accessories
A/V provider
QSC this week revealed Microsoft Teams Rooms solutions and added Teams-certified accessories to its Q-SYS Ecosystem, a networked audio, video, and control platform. QSC’s Teams Room solutions include compute, audio, video, and room control in a single package, QSC said. Along with the new Teams Room solutions, QSC offers software for integrating full room and Teams Room call control onto a single unit, to create a unified user experience, QSC said. Additionally, in the upcoming release of Q-SYS Designer Software v9.0, QSC said it will allow for direct integration and collective control of third-party devices.
Vyopta Supports Google Meet
UCC monitoring and analytics provider
Vyopta this week expanded support for Google Meet in its Collaboration Performance Management (CPM) platform with the addition of analytics. CPM Analytics support for Google Meet follows the
October announcement of CPM Monitoring for Google Meet. Updates enable organizations to perform call and meeting analysis, analyze user adoption and device use, automate service-level reporting, and add customer-defined tags to users and devices, Vyopta said. It also supports compliance reporting requirements for telehealth and distance learning, Vyopta added.
“Besides Google Meet, the CPM platform supports monitoring and analytics for Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Cisco Webex, BlueJeans, and other video meeting services,” Jonathan Sass, VP of Product for Vyopta, said.
Avaya, Genesys, Nuance Eye COVID-19 Vaccine Rapid Response
With COVID-19 vaccinations starting to take place, industry vendors have begun touting products that can help in the effort. Toward that end, this week came vaccine administration-related announcements from Avaya, Genesys, and Nuance.
- HIPAA-compliant Avaya OneCloud CPaaS — supports the ability for healthcare providers and government agencies to customize and deploy automated processes associated with communications required during a vaccine rollout, Avaya said.
- Genesys COVID-19 Vaccine Rapid Response — Enables companies participating in the execution of Operation Warp Speed to provide real-time information for vaccine availability and distribution and support scheduling across different channels, Genesys said. Rapid Response, available in the U.S. for now, is free for the first 90 days once launched, the company said.
- Nuance vaccine solutions — combine the Nuance conversation AI technology with healthcare and domain expertise to predict questions and craft responses to them, for use across different communications channels, Nuance said. By offloading response to common questions to AI, companies involved in vaccine response can free up agent resources for handling more complex inquiries, the company added.
Bluescape Enhances User Experience, Cloud Architecture
Visual collaboration provider
Bluescape last week updated its platform to include integrations for Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, and Zoom, and announced enhancements for its cloud infrastructure. The latest integrations enable distributed teams using Teams, Webex, or Zoom to conduct meetings, run brainstorming session, and do presentations on Bluescape’s interactive collaboration platform so remote workers can have a more “interactive and connected experience,” Bluescape said. New capabilities include video upload and synchronized playback functionalities. Meanwhile, Bluescape now allows customers and partners to deploy the platform in the Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure clouds, Bluescape said.
