Cisco earned some serious bragging rights at Enterprise Connect 2017, when they got the award for “Best of Enterprise Connect”, a celebration of exhibitors with products or services that are best suited to advance the world of enterprise communication and collaboration. This year, UC Today watched the panel of four judges agree that Cisco’s Spark Board 55, announced during late January, was the event’s “best in show” solution from among 6 finalists.
The Spark Board 55 creation is just one of the latest developments in the growing Cisco Spark portfolio, and it earned recognition from the judges for its ability to combine digital whiteboarding, wireless presentation, and video conferencing, while offering connectivity to Cisco Spark for a seamless workflow.
The Other Entries
Judges examined all of the entries for Best of Enterprise Connect and shortlisted a group of six finalists to move into the final round. Alongside Cisco, the finalists were:
- Vonage with the Nexmo Voice API, integrated through the Vonage carrier-grade network to enable the development of high-quality voice applications within the cloud
- Polycom with the EagleEye Director 2 – a smart in-room camera that features picture-in-picture room displays and active speaker technology, plus analytics services
- Plantronics with the “Plantronics Manager Pro v3.9“, an analytics suite with historical, contextual, and operational data provision for voice interactions and headset usage
- Genband with “UC client“, which focuses on the integration of various applications
- BroadSoft with “BroadSoft Business“, an integrated portfolio of enterprise-ready cloud PBX, UC, contact centre, and team collaboration services
After some in-depth briefings, the judges all ranked their favourites, ensuring that voting remained independent so that one judge couldn’t influence the choice of the others. Cisco’s Spark Board pulled out in front thanks to its innovative approach to real-time collaboration.
This year, the judges included:
- President of Founder of Nemertes Research: Robin Gareiss
- Principal analyst and founder of ZK Research: Zeus Kerravala
- Principal consultant for UniComm Consulting, Marty Parker
- Principal of Stein Technology Group, Dave Stein
Spark Board Innovation
Spark Board is a hugely innovative new solution for businesses, which is why it caught the attention of the judges this year. Though many of the entries for the award were very compelling, Spark Board simply stood out by changing the way that people communicate. On top of that, it was considered to be an intuitive and affordable product that could easily find its way into enterprise environments. Additionally, the fact that it can link to multiple devices means that people can come together no matter their location.
Cisco’s SVP for Cloud Collaboration, Jens Meggers, commented that Cisco was thrilled to win the award at Enterprise Connect, and noted that Spark Board has already received a significant amount of feedback from the public.
