Cisco’s 2018 Collaboration Summit, taking place at the moment in Phoenix, Arizona, has provided the platform for Cisco to announce some breaking news. In a press release Cisco have revealed that Cisco Spark will be rebranded as Cisco Webex Teams.
Introducing Webex Teams
Many within the industry maybe surprised that Cisco have again looked to remould Spark after it was only fashioned in 2015, having been formerly called Project Squared. However it appears that within Cisco and their partner community concerns had been raised about success of Spark establishing itself as a renowned player within the market. It appears that with this new name Cisco are aiming to build on the already well-established Webex brand.
Cisco Spark versus Webex Teams?
Brand awareness within the UC&C market is a critical factor and partners having been communicating reservations to Cisco about the general awareness of what the Cisco Spark platform was and how it sat within their product portfolio.
Danny Steventon, who is a Director of Pre-sales at MeetingZone explained.
“I go out to customers and nine times out of ten, I ask have you heard of Spark? And the answer is ‘no, I haven’t what’s Spark? Whereas when you ask have you heard of Webex, they will absolutely know it.”
Webex will now form a single cloud platform which will encompass the entire Cisco Collaboration Suite: Cisco Webex Calling, Webex Meetings and Webex Teams, formerly Cisco Spark. The three pillars aim to encompass the entire eco-systems of services that Cisco make available to their customers for communication and collaboration.
Cisco are wasting no time following the announcement made today as rebranding kits will be made available to partners before the end of this month. A new Webex Meeting experience will also be incorporated into Webex Teams and will be rolled out within the next six weeks. New features will become available with connected device use and part and full recording enabled to any users within the meetings on Webex Teams.
Spark devices and hardware will now be compatible with Webex Teams. So customers who leveraged investments in Spark products will be able to continue to use these within the new platform.
Cisco maintain that the newly reformed eco-system will ensure benefits for customers and partners enabling a more globally recognised brand such as Webex to gain more traction within an already crowded marketplace. The similarity to Microsoft Teams will not go unnoticed but perhaps a more straight forward name will more easily illuminate the role of Webex Teams within Cisco’s product set.
Sparks are Flying
Mixed opinion around the UC Today news desk today, what’s your view? Was Spark ahead of its time? Is the Webex brand past its sell-by date or should it live on forever? Comment Below
