Today we are announcing Connections, the latest in our collaboration Insights offering. Collaboration Insights by Webex provides detailed, personal insights to empower individuals, giving them more control of their work, their personal well-being, and enabling more meaningful connections. Inclusive collaboration is at the heart of the four insights groupings: Meetings, Work-life Balance, Focus Time, and now, Connections. I’m excited about the amazing innovation our team is bringing to market. But I’m even more excited about taking another step forward in supporting employee well-being through inclusive collaboration.
It also shows growth and movement within your network, alerting you of important changes, so you can stay in touch. Your data and insights are never shared with anyone else, even your company or manager. Connections insights make getting to know the people you are collaborating with easier and discovering opportunities to reach out. For instance, What’s New shows me when a top collaborator is In The News. I can access the specific article directly from my dashboard. Choosing whether to take action – like reaching out to say ‘hey, I read your article…’ – is up to me. 
The profiles only display publicly available information, similar to search engine results when searching a person’s name. Keeping in touch with close connections is important when building relationships. Connection strength shows trends for my top collaborators. If a month has passed since the last interaction with an important connection, an Insight box may indicate the connection is getting weaker and suggest reaching out. For instance, as an employee, if I see that my manager and I haven’t had a 1:1 in a month, that’s an insight I can act on.
More focus on employee well-being
Let’s face it. Employee well-being has long been an issue but only recently has gotten more attention due to workplace demands during the pandemic. Stress and burnout remain major issues. In fact, the American Psychological Association’s ‘Stress in American Survey 2021’ found Work at the top of the list of ‘sources of significant stress’, with 66% of those employed citing work as a top stressor, a continuing upward trend. In a growing talent crisis, known as the Great Resignation, people are leaving the workforce in record numbers. People are rethinking their personal and professional priorities at the same time companies are planning their return-to-office strategies. While many businesses put a ton of focus on supporting employees during the shift to virtual work, what happens as we move into the new era of hybrid work? We have an opportunity to re-imagine the workplace – wherever it may be – and create more dynamic, fulfilling environments that can flex and evolve as the world does. Enabling people to connect and collaborate in more profoundly human ways is essential. Research indicates that job control, social connections, and social support help cultivate well-being. In fact, job control is one of the most important predictors of job satisfaction and motivation. So why not give people more control in their work? Meaningful connections have proven to help strengthen social bonds, which can help reduce stress. Let’s make it easier to build relationships and create environments with stronger social support.That’s what we’re working to do at Webex
Successful collaboration hinges on the quality of relationships. But building relationships takes time. We are making it easier to get to know the people you work with – whether they are inside or outside your company. Connections, our latest Insights feature, provides a dynamic view of your work network, based on familiarity and connection strength. In other words, who I spend the most time with. Connections are based on all collaboration activity across meetings, messaging, and calls – and grouped by frequency of interactions – Close connections (most frequently), Familiar connections (frequently), and Distant connections (intermittently). It also shows growth and movement within your network, alerting you of important changes, so you can stay in touch. Your data and insights are never shared with anyone else, even your company or manager. Connections insights make getting to know the people you are collaborating with easier and discovering opportunities to reach out. For instance, What’s New shows me when a top collaborator is In The News. I can access the specific article directly from my dashboard. Choosing whether to take action – like reaching out to say ‘hey, I read your article…’ – is up to me. The profiles only display publicly available information, similar to search engine results when searching a person’s name. Keeping in touch with close connections is important when building relationships. Connection strength shows trends for my top collaborators. If a month has passed since the last interaction with an important connection, an Insight box may indicate the connection is getting weaker and suggest reaching out. For instance, as an employee, if I see that my manager and I haven’t had a 1:1 in a month, that’s an insight I can act on.
To learn about more of our latest innovations, check out What’s New in Webex.
Learn more Elevating work and customer experiences in a hybrid world Webex’s latest milestones and innovations hit the sweet spot for hybrid work How Webex innovations are powering more inclusive collaboration experiencesAbout The Author
Javed Khan Senior Vice President and General Manager Cisco
Javed Khan is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Collaboration.
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