Welcome to what’s new in Webex! In this edition we are highlighting what is new for the month of June, as well as a preview of new capabilities coming later this year.
Hybrid work is here to stay, and the best hybrid work solutions enable a better way of work that is flexible, inclusive, supportive, secure and managed. Webex is focused an enabling the best experiences for hybrid work.
The highlights of this month’s release include the introduction of the new Webex Suite designed for hybrid work and the new Webex Event experience.
We are excited to unveil the all-new Webex Suite which brings together calling, meeting, messaging, polling/Q&A by Slido and Events to enable best-of-breed hybrid work experiences. The Webex Suite is designed to enable great hybrid work experiences across your entire organization with one comprehensive feature set for users and IT.
We’ve also revamped Webex Events with enhanced webcast and webinar modes that create even more engaging and interactive event experiences for your audiences at scale.
These are just some of the powerful capabilities that will be available in June. Continue reading below for more details.
CONTROL HUB, SECURITY AND EDGE SERVICES
MEETINGS
Slido Polling and Q&A
To create a more engaging meeting experience, Slido polling and Q&A capability is now natively integrated into Webex. You can take advantage of 6 diverse polling options and live Q&A to create more engaging meeting experiences. No additional charge or configuration updates – it’s just part of Webex Meetings and the Webex Suite!
Custom Layouts: Stage-Only View
Webex custom layouts already give users lots of flexibility to focus on what they want to see with drag and drop capabilities. Now as a host or co-host, you can curate your audience’s view. Limit participants’ view to stage only, so everyone sees what’s on stage and limit visual distractions from other participants or panelists.
Webex Meeting Host Controls to turning off for select participants
Prevent unwanted participant video from becoming a distraction in your meeting. Hosts and co-hosts will have more moderation control to mute or turn-off individual participant’s video. The remote participant can unmute themselves, but this option allows hosts to quickly remove visual disruptions at any time.
MESSAGING
Message pinning
The most requested messaging feature from users is now available – message pinning! It allows important information to be quickly and easily found in your 1:1 and group spaces. Any user can pin a message, link or content in a space and select pinned messages to be displayed in the new pinned message header.
Space Linking
Now when you compose a message you will be able to link a space in the same way you link a user – by using @mention. You will now get a list of users in your space as well as a list of spaces you are part of. When you post a space link your contact will see they hyperlinked space name for easy access.
CALLING
Calling on Chromebooks (Webex App)
Chromebooks are popular with students and businesses that use Google productivity tools. Unified CM calling and Webex Calling are now available on ARM and x86 Chromebooks. Users can utilize the Webex App on Chromebook and their Android phone at the same time.
Enhancements to call recording with Webex Calling
Webex is now making convenience call recordings available to all Webex Calling and UCM Cloud users with Dubber Go. The integrated Dubber Go subscription will enable free access to call recordings, including: Unlimited call recordings that will be available for 30 days to replay and download.
Get calling plans from Webex.com
Webex offers call plans which include phone numbers for every user, advanced calling features, and unlimited local and domestic calling with international calling (subject to per minute usage charges). You can make and receive calls with your business number. Pick the right plan for you and get started in minutes.
EVENTS
Introducing the all new Webex Events
The new Webex Events service deliver a best-in-class virtual event experience that is video-centric, intelligent, and simple to use. Hosts choose between webinar mode for an interactive and highly engaging event and webcast mode for events with limited attendee interactions.
Hosts, panelist and attendees get enhanced experiences such as modern scheduling, Webex Assistant, in-meeting reactions, gestures and more at scale. Webinar mode supports up to 10K attendees and the new webcast mode allows you to scale large events to 100K people.
WEBEX DEVICES
Webex Assistant for devices now supports French and Spanish
Webex Assistant for Devices offers zero-touch, voice activated meeting and device controls serve the most common meeting room needs of the workplace. Now you can configure Webex Assistant for devices to engage in English, French or Spanish.
Access Webex spaces with devices configured in personal mode
You can collaborate and interact with people in a Webex space from a Webex desk device. By pairing it with Webex app, you can start a call or share whiteboards with everyone in a space. This capability is identical to the existing experience on shared devices like the Webex Room Series and the Webex Board.
Cloud pairing capabilities with Webex Edge for Devices
We’re adding more options for app paring to on-premises registered Webex Devices. Webex Edge for Device services can now configure the same pairing options as full cloud systems. This makes it easier for app users to discover and connect to recently used or nearby Webex device or manual search by room name.
All new Webex PTZ 4K Camera
Meet the newest Webex 4K camera. The new AI-powered 4K UHD pan-tilt-zoom camera provides optimized focus on the speaker to provide a perfect view from any angle and up to 240x zoom capabilities. This creates a natural meeting experience for remote participants, just as if they were in the same room.
Webex Wireless and MPP Phone firmware updates
Big updates are happening for Cisco IP Phones with Multiplatform Firmware. The new 11.3 release includes key enhancements for all 68xx, 78xx and 88xx desk phones. These include easier migration to the cloud for faster on-premises downloads and the ability to prevent accidental upgrades, support for Arabic and Hebrew languages, Media Path Optimization via Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) with Webex Calling, and spam calls visual indication.
INTEGRATIONS
Prezi – Connect Prezi Video to your Webex Meetings to deliver more dynamic, interactive, and engaging virtual presentations.
CONTACT CENTER
Collaborative contact center with Webex App integration
Webex Contact Center agents can engage their entire team of experts directly from their agent desktop with the new Webex app integration.
CONTROL HUB, SECURITY AND EDGE SERVICES
Troubleshooting: New event & large meeting support
IT admins can quickly search and locate specific event participants and panelists who are experiencing severe quality issues in real-time.
Troubleshooting: Reports for new event & large meeting
New historical data reports expanded to large events with access to all past events in one single report.
Trouble shooting: Additional latency and packet loss metrics
Additional latency and packet loss metrics for audio, video and content sharing to help IT admins troubleshoot for abnormal network behavior in the participant detail view.
COMING SOON
Devices
Webex is bringing new feature innovation to your collaboration experiences for hybrid work, which also includes Room OS 10 on Webex Devices. A new, familiar user interface will align with Webex App controls. And this new operating system will also support easy task switching, multitasking and custom layouts– all with touch-based interactions.
Meetings
Background voice removal – optimize for my voice
Have loud co-workers at home or in the office that create distractions for your meetings? Webex audio just got a lot smarter. Select optimize for my voice and Webex audio intelligence will focus on just your speech, removing background noise and any background talkers.
We hope you are as excited as we are about all this month’s innovations. We will continue to innovate and add new features. Stay tuned for more products updates in July.
Resources
Learn more about the Webex Suite
Ready to make the switch to the new Webex app?
Learn more
Learn more about Webex, join one of our upcoming training sessions
About The Author
