This week at Cisco Live Amsterdam 2026, I joined customers, partners, and colleagues from across Europe to discuss the future of enterprise communications. I highlighted the progress we’ve made with Cisco Calling, from accelerating AI investments in the cloud to continued innovation on-premises with UCM, along with the steps we’ve taken to meet Europe’s requirements for compliance, data residency, sovereignty, and security. Together, these conversations underscored how customers are evaluating collaboration platforms through a new lens, one defined by intelligence, trust, and regional alignment.
Connected Intelligence: AI Built to Amplify Human Impact
At the event, I was excited to share our latest purpose-built AI innovations. These investments are guided by a clear objective: simplify connections between employees and customers, increase efficiency through AI, and amplify human impact by enabling AI to work with AI. We call this Connected Intelligence.
Translator Agent
Connected Intelligence comes to life through capabilities like the Translator Agent for Webex Calling. Translator Agent delivers real-time, speech-to-speech translation for both sides of a call while preserving the tone and emotion of each speaker.
By removing language barriers, Translator Agent enables existing, trained employees to communicate clearly and immediately with customers and colleagues around the world, reducing the need to hire additional staff to support multiple languages. We’re seeing strong demand for this capability across our Cisco Calling customer base, spanning industries such as retail, finance, healthcare, hospitality, government, and more. Translator Agent for Webex Calling will be generally available in the first half of calendar 2026.
Ask AI Assistant
The Webex app is used by millions of employees worldwide for voice, video, and messaging. Aligned with our Connected Intelligence vision, we’re evolving it into an AI-powered source of knowledge that brings context into every conversation and makes each call more efficient.
Before a call, employees can simply Ask AI Assistant for relevant context to make the conversation more productive. AI Assistant searches across prior calls, meetings, and messages, and through integrations with Amazon Q Index and Glean, it can also surface insights from enterprise applications such as Salesforce, Jira, and more. By unifying communication and knowledge in one place, the Webex app evolves beyond a communication tool into a central hub for information. Ask AI Assistant will be generally available in the first half of calendar 2026.
AI Innovations That Transform Every Interaction
Translator Agent and Ask AI Assistant complement the broader set of AI innovations we’ve announced for Webex Calling. Together, these capabilities span the entire caller journey, helping make every interaction more efficient and effective.
AI Receptionist serves as a virtual front desk that is always available to answer calls, respond to customer questions, and complete tasks such as scheduling appointments or transferring calls. Caller Intent helps employees prepare before a conversation begins by providing a concise, one-sentence summary of the caller’s purpose, informed by prior interactions or the context of a transferred call. Suggested Responses draw from a knowledge base to surface relevant answers in real time, enabling employees to respond quickly and confidently.
Taken together, these AI innovations help employees work more efficiently while delivering interactions that are more productive and more satisfying for customers.
Flexible Deployment Models for European Businesses
Cisco Calling supports more than 50 million users worldwide. Our customers span a wide range of organizations, from the world’s largest retailer with 1.2+ million users, to government and military agencies with the most stringent security requirements, to healthcare providers serving local communities around the globe.
We recognize that our European customers have diverse needs across features, security, data residency, sovereignty, and business continuity. Over the past two decades, we’ve built a market-leading portfolio of calling solutions designed to meet the requirements of organizations of any size, industry, or deployment model.
Cisco UCM: The Standard for Secure, Proven Communications
Cisco UCM remains the strongest choice for organizations that demand the highest levels of security and operational control, including support for air-gapped deployments. It supports more than 30 million users globally across mission-critical sectors such as finance, retail, healthcare, and government.
Cisco recognizes the essential role UCM plays in business-critical communications and is firmly committed to its long-term evolution. Since UCM 14, we have delivered more than 125 platform enhancements, earned over 10 government and security certifications, and released more than 300 security updates. UCM 15 SU 1 through 3 are already available, SU 4 will launch this month, and SU 5 is planned for the second half of calendar 2026. Backed by a committed roadmap that includes UCM 16 and beyond, organizations can rely on UCM as a calling platform built to support their needs today and well into the future.
Webex Calling: Enterprise-grade Cloud Calling
Webex Calling serves more than 18 million users worldwide, delivering access to our latest cloud innovations with a 99.999% SLA and built-in survivability options. It is designed to provide the reliability and resilience customers expect from a modern enterprise calling platform.
Webex Calling is available in more than 195 markets globally, supported by 23 data centers. Over the past several years, we have made targeted investments to strengthen our offering for European customers, including four data centers in the EU. These regional deployments enable data residency and sovereign controls, helping customers meet local regulatory and operational requirements with confidence.
In addition to our European presence, Webex Calling offers data residency regions across North America, Asia, and the Middle East. We have also recently launched a fully regulated offering in India, delivered through two in-country data centers.
Built on Cisco’s more than 25 years of enterprise telephony experience, Webex Calling delivers a modern cloud calling solution that represents the next evolution beyond premises-based communications. We’ve designed Webex Calling to support a seamless migration from Cisco UCM, including options such as Dedicated Instance that allow customers to move to the cloud at their own pace.
Webex Calling Hybrid: Bridging Premises and Cloud with Confidence
Earlier this year, we introduced an industry-first innovation designed to bridge the gap between premises and cloud deployments. Webex Calling Hybrid allows customers to continue leveraging their Cisco UCM infrastructure while gaining access to the latest Webex Calling cloud capabilities, including AI Receptionist, Customer Assist, Cloud PSTN, and Cisco Calling Plans.
This approach is ideal for organizations that require the stability and continuity of on-premises deployments, while selectively adopting cloud services where they deliver the most value. Webex Calling Hybrid supports a long-term communications strategy that enables businesses to adopt cloud and AI capabilities at their own pace, without compromising requirements for security, compliance, or operational control.
Cloud PSTN for Webex Calling Hybrid is now generally available. In Q2 CY2026, we’ll launch Customer Assist, Cisco Calling Plans, and real-time analytics for UCM (beta), with continued innovation rolling out throughout the rest of the year.
We’ve also expanded our hybrid strategy to service providers, combining the scale and reliability of Webex for BroadWorks with cloud and AI innovation to deliver advanced Webex capabilities through a hybrid architecture. With continued innovation planned through 2026, including Customer Assist entering controlled availability in February 2026, Webex for BroadWorks service providers can rapidly introduce differentiated, AI-powered services at scale.
Cisco Devices for Any Workstyle and Deployment
Cisco offers a complete range of devices for any work-style and environment with the Desk Phone 9800 Series. Built for modern office environments, the 9800 Series includes six phone models powered by the newly released PhoneOS software, which simplifies the user experience and complements Cisco RoomOS video devices to deliver a seamless experience from desk spaces to meeting rooms.
We are now expanding this portfolio to introduce the Cisco Phone 9821. This is a wireless device designed for frontline and mobile workers. It runs on PhoneOS and features WiFi 6E connectivity, swappable batteries, advanced safety capabilities such as man‑down detection, and one‑touch access to emergency services. AI‑driven noise removal and AI notes, actions, and summaries further enhance productivity.
The Desk Phone 9800 Series simplifies purchasing, deployment, management, and training. With support for CUCM, Webex Calling, BroadWorks, and third‑party cloud platforms, it provides a cost‑effective, scalable solution that bridges hybrid work, calling, and meetings.
Looking Ahead: Confidence in the Future of Cisco Calling
The conversations at Cisco Live Amsterdam reinforced a clear message from our customers: the future of enterprise communications must balance innovation with trust, flexibility with control, and global scale with regional accountability. Organizations are no longer choosing between cloud and premises, or between AI and security. They expect solutions that bring these dimensions together seamlessly.
With Cisco Calling, we are delivering on that expectation. From Connected Intelligence, to flexible deployment models spanning cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments, our focus remains the same: helping organizations modernize communications on their terms, without compromising reliability, security, compliance, or sovereignty. As collaboration strategies continue to evolve, we remain committed to giving customers the confidence to move forward—backed by proven platforms, a clear roadmap, and long-term investment in the future of enterprise calling.
It was a privilege to join customers, partners, and colleagues at Cisco Live Amsterdam. If you’re interested in exploring our latest Webex Calling features, visit gobeta.webex.com for hands-on access, or reach out to your Cisco sales team to learn more.
Learn more
About The Author
