May was a busy month for the folks at Cisco Collaboration. Yesterday, the company announced a comprehensive set of new features and updates to its popular Webex collaboration platform. Here’s everything you missed. Starting this month, Webex Teams admins can access product controls that allow them to choose how often apps are updated for end-users. Admins can update the app monthly or quarterly, which means they won’t get the fatigue associated with receiving several updates per week.
You can defer the deployment of updates by up to four weeks using the monthly update option, or by two weeks for quarterly updates, Cisco wrote in a recent blog post. Fresh innovations are here for Windows and Mac users. Users can re-use old spaces if they’re trying to create another one. “If there is an active space with the group of people that you have staged, you’ll see a list of spaces you’re already in with those people,” according to Cisco Systems Product Manager, Mary Burns.
When you type a space’s name, a list of available spaces with similar names shows, serving to reduce the clutter connected with duplicate spaces. New ‘for Windows and Mac users, the ‘seen by’ features for ‘read receipts.’ Windows users can see more meeting participants at the same time, today, up to nine. Microsft Teams recently unveiled a similar feature. New to the Webex Calling platform, Windows and Mac users fewer clicks to join a meeting, and Webex Teams platform now have a single contact number, and all incoming calls ring on each line decided by the user.
High Definition (HD) video for Windows and Mac users allow them to disable or disable HD video. Go to ‘Settings’ (for Windows users), ‘Preferences’ (for Mac users), and select ‘Video.’ There, you can enable or disable the setting. Webex users no longer need to have a contact’s phone number to reach them, they just have to use the app, too.’
There’s a new way to access Webex apps, users can quickly-launch the ‘Webex App Hub’ from ‘Webex Teams’ to access apps like Salesforce, Trello along with RSS bots. Cisco updated its Jira Server Bot for Webex Teams, which presently supports two-way functionality. This makes it simpler for teams to build, watch, and release software. Set up tasks, real-time notifications for bugs detected. Reference recent updates and activities you’re assigned in Webex Teams. Windows and Mac users can use desk phones to control Webex Teams calls and use the ‘Health Checker’ feature to watch connectivity status. On Macs, head to Help > Health Checker. There’s also a new reaction button for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android users, and old emojis have taken on new forms.
Taking a look at Cisco’s clear aim at beefing up its mobile proposition, new to the Webex calling platform, users can move active calls from one device to another. “Take a call on your mobile app, and when you get to the office,” pull the active call to your desktop, Burns wrote in a recent blog post. Voicemail in Webex Teams for iPhone, iPad, and Android device users can receive voicemails. If you use the calling feature in Webex Teams (Webex Calling) on your iPhone, iPad, or Android, you’ll notice a ‘message waiting’ indicator stating you have a voicemail. Users can record personal greetings, delete messages, etc. The feature is already supported on desktop, but novel to the Webex mobile app.
iPhone, iPad, and Android users can merge conversations during a phone call when they receive an incoming call within Webex Teams. And Webex users can merge these two calls to get everyone up-to-speed. The ability to launch a conference call on all iPhone, iPad, and, Android devices is today, a reality. This supports up to six meeting participants, a feature already available on desktop.
Mobile call statistics can produce a lot of insight into employee and customer behaviors. The result, to optimize user and customer experience based on data collected. Cisco said its adding call statistics for iPhone, iPad, and Android users so they can check elements such as resolution rate and latency. iPhone and iPad device owners can enter full-screen share mode, and iPhone, iPad, as well as Android users, can switch to and from Bluetooth devices during calls. Direct callback from your call history is supported for iPhone, iPad, and Android users. A single tap of the call icon beside a contact’s name calls them back. You can also call a contact back via ‘Call History’ which (automatically) calls them back at the number they called you from.
With such a focus on mobile experience enhancement, two of the biggest collaboration companies join the race to bolster us into a new area of mobile capabilities in a new kind of workplace. Microsoft recently said it would do the same, hoping to boost its UCaaS, 5G, remote working, and remote business management capabilities over faster mobile networks. The fact that Microsoft and Cisco are putting a heavier emphasis on mobility lately is no coincidence.
It is an impact of the novel Coronavirus and the demand it created for advanced technologies to power a growing number of mobile workers. There’s also the element of these technologies pushing digital transformation into overdrive at an optimal time in our existence. We’re on the cusp of a major paradigm shift, one so gigantic, we’ve not seen the likes of it before. Work as we once knew it – is no more. The future of work is here, it’s online, and now it is up to companies as well as everyone who can take advantage of a work-from-home or remote-working way of life to make it what they want it. A life of balance doesn’t sound bad to me.
A Cisco spokesperson told me since the start of the novel Coronavirus, the Webex collaboration’s seen a seven-fold increase in adoption. She also said, Webex had close to 240,000 online sign-ups in 24 hours, “That number’s growing at a rapid pace,” she added. Cisco Webex drew a record of 324 million users in March. Since the start of March, Webex hosted 14 billion meeting minutes, with volume up 24 times the norm, I’m told. Today, Webex hosts 4.5 million meetings each day. Reminding me of Cisco’s colossal reach on the world, she told me, 80 percent of all internet traffic happens via Cisco technology.
Stay tuned for next week’s Cisco live coverage, we’re set to bring you the latest news and product launches from this year’s two-day digital event held June 2-4.
