The Webex Platform: Enabling the full potential of hybrid work

As organizations accommodate the needs of hybrid workers, IT leaders are pressured to balance both enterprise-grade management and the changing needs of end users. Users now expect a high-quality collaboration experience accessible from anywhere and any device. Meanwhile, IT is striving to secure networks and ensure the protection of documents and other corporate assets. The Webex platform uniquely offers a seamless end-user collaboration experience based on enterprise-grade security, privacy, and compliance standards. The Webex approach ensures that your organization is ready for hybrid work today — and can readily adopt innovation in the future. Let’s explore the architectural pillars that make Webex the best choice for collaboration, including security, cross-organizational collaboration, extensibility, AI capabilities, scalability, and manageability.

Enterprise-grade security, privacy, and compliance

Webex offers a 360-degree approach to security, ensuring the safety and integrity of your organization’s content, applications, and user accounts — regardless of where your employees are located or on which device they’re connected.

• Zero-trust security for Webex protects your communications with end-to-end encryption built on modern, standards-based cryptography for clients & Webex devices. Strong identity verification gives you confidence that the people who are in your meetings are supposed to be there.
• Flexible key management includes on-premises key management, and bring your own key (BYOK) capabilities (coming in early 2022), so you can control encryption of your data without anyone, including Webex, receiving access.
• Cisco Security bundle makes it easy to purchase state-of-the art security capabilities including CloudLock, Talos, Duo, AMP, Umbrella DNS, and SecureX.

Webex works with dozens of partners to offer comprehensive data loss prevention (DLP) solutions across the entire collaboration space so you can be sure sensitive information is not shared. You can apply policies to meetings, recordings, and transcriptions. We offer:

• Redaction and deletion APIs to support organizational policies.
• Real-time data loss prevention for documents to ensure that documents uploaded to a Webex space are scanned, and if they violate policy, the document is blocked from sharing with other users.
• Integrated compliance tools for Webex Calling including integrated legal hold, eDiscovery and DLP support for voicemail and call records, starting in 2022.

Seamless collaboration across organizations

Employees often need to collaborate with people outside their organization, and prefer to do so without having to configure complex guest accounts and data sharing options. At the same time, IT departments need to manage data assets, and ensure that shared documents are scanned for viruses and comply with data loss prevention policies. Webex’s comprehensive single user identity model enables collaboration outside of your organization in a way that protects data and accounts, while also enabling an intuitive user experience.

• Our single-identity model enables users to collaborate in Webex spaces that have been shared with them — from internal co-workers or outside participants — without having to logout and switch accounts.
• Visible sharing indicators warn users that they are sharing with an external user or a Webex space with outside participants.
• FedRAMP-authorized sharing enables Webex for Government users to communicate securely even with people outside their organization who are not using government-approved services.

Extensive ecosystem of third-party apps and integrations

Employees want to create departmental workflows, often relying on third-party apps and services. The Webex platform makes it easy for employees to discover and connect with third-party applications to support their line-of-business workflows. The Webex platform is a tremendous opportunity for developers. With a robust set of APIs and SDKs, developers can leverage the Webex open platform to increase discoverability and adoption within Webex’s customer base. IT administrators can manage third-party apps and services on a secure collaboration platform.

• Embedded Webex integrations enable calling, meetings, and messaging directly within other apps, for example within Salesforce, Zendesk or ServiceNow
• Embedded Apps Framework enables apps from ISVs such as Smartsheet, Hacker Rank, Miro, Mural, Workboard, Thrive Reset, and many more directly inside the Webex app. We are excited to announce that over 60 partner apps are coming to Webex.
• Webex Assistant Skills APIs enable developers to add voice-driven applications that extend Webex Assistant and offer new capabilities across Webex apps and devices.

Powerful AI-enabled collaboration capabilities

Organizations that are powered by Webex continually access a stream of innovation, including the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI). Webex’s approach to AI increases user engagement and productivity with powerful tools like meeting highlights and transcriptions. Webex audio intelligence features remove distracting background noise and optimize voices, so meetings are more engaging and inclusive. And Webex collaboration insights helps users gain a deeper understanding of their work habits and create better connections with their colleagues and teams, improving performance and relationships. New AI features include:

• Optimize for all voices, available in early 2022, which equalizes all voices regardless of where speakers are sitting in the room, allowing remote workers the ability to hear and understand everyone, not just the person closest to the microphone.
• Webex Assistant for Devices now offers smarter features and support for German and Japanese languages, in addition to English, French and Spanish.

Globally available and locally compliant service deployment

Webex delivers high-quality rich media content via our global, low-latency network — and uses intelligent routing to optimize connections across public internet and carriers.

• Direct Webex backbone peering enables organizations to further assure quality of experience by peering directly with the Webex network.
• Global data centers simplify local regulatory compliance and enable IT admins to choose the territory to store content. We are constantly expanding our cloud and will be launching new data centers in Montreal and Toronto, Canada in early 2022 and Mumbai, India later in the year.
• Government and defense authorized: Webex for Government is now FedRAMP authorized, and Webex for Defense is now a DISA-authorized, IL-5 solution.
• Flexible PSTN options are available via Webex Calling including global service providers and bring your own PSTN provider. Webex Calling plans are available directly from Cisco in North America and the UK, with more European countries available later this year.

Centrally managed with real-time monitoring

Webex empowers administrators with Control Hub, an intuitive way to view, diagnose, monitor, and troubleshoot across your entire organization’s collaboration workspace. Webex leverages big-data intelligence across billions of minutes of calls and meetings each day to automatically detect and optimize around any issues.

• Real-time monitoring with interactive charts and data analytics enables you to monitor quality of service.
• Comprehensive meeting diagnostics displays quality information for every participant in real-time, including large meetings and Webex Events.

Webex is the best choice for enterprise-grade collaboration

With the Webex platform, both users and IT win with a hybrid collaboration experience that is highly adaptable, reliable and secure — easy to use and easy to manage. We invite you to fully unlock the potential of collaboration within your organization.

Learn more by watching sessions that were part of the Platform track at WebexOne 2021

Learn more What’s new in Webex: October 2021 Elevating work and customer experiences in a hybrid world Collaboration in the Age of AI: How Cisco is Pioneering the Use of AI and Emerging Technology Within Collaboration