Cisco Live returned to Las Vegas this year and Webex Partners hit the ground running, connecting to new customers and old, wowing eventgoers with awesome demos, and taking in the latest Cisco innovations and solutions from executives and thought leaders.
Chuck Robbins, Cisco’s Chair and Chief Executive Officer, fired up the crowd on Tuesday with a question that is on everybody’s mind: “Are we ready for AI?” Of course, Cisco is ready, he said, with “the infrastructure AI needs and the breadth of data that AI craves.”
AI-powered Collaboration
Collaboration was the subject of another insightful keynote by Jeetu Patel, EVP and General Manager, Security and Collaboration. Cisco is helping customers “fundamentally reimagine the employee experience,” he said. Cisco’s portfolio of AI-driven solutions is bringing people back into the office with solutions that “takes distance away” between people communicating from different offices – or different parts of the world.
Cisco’s impressive lineup of devices allow people to collaborate from anywhere, and no one will feel left out. “Wherever you can imagine a space, we have a device for you,” Jeetu said.
A Better Customer and IT Experience
Cisco is transforming the customer experience with AI-powered Webex Contact Center solutions that are making it possible for customers to never wait on hold again. Cisco’s single platform means that a customer can start a service interaction on the website and move seamlessly to an in-person conversation while staying in context the whole time.
Jeetu was excited to tell eventgoers about the integration between the Webex Control Hub and ThousandEyes, letting IT administrators easily diagnose and resolve quality issues with a user’s video meetings, calls and events. Want to see if an executive has quality issues? Just query ThousandEyes and an AI assistant will give you the details, including graphics.
Hanging out with Webex Integration Partners
Webex Partners are helping organizations redefine what’s possible with transformative technologies that seamlessly integrate with Webex software and devices. To get a taste for some of their latest innovations, we talked to a couple of our top partners working the floor at the event.
Lucid Software Brings Virtual Whiteboarding to Cisco Devices
We chatted first with team members from Lucid, who were enthusiastically demo-ing their popular visual collaboration products in the World of Solutions. These include Lucidspark, a virtual whiteboard that integrates with Webex so you can capture everyone’s ideas and work seamlessly from any location.
The Lucid team was excited to announce a new integration built specifically for Lucidspark on Cisco devices. “It brings the online whiteboarding experience to the physical space,” Kathleen Stone with Lucid said. “You can use these devices without signing in and just tap a button and start whiteboarding right away.” She added that the integration was designed specifically for the desktop and large touchscreen device environments, creating a more streamlined experience so users won’t get overwhelmed.
Recently Lucid has added several cool AI features to both products. These innovations can help teams kickstart brainstorming sessions by generating new ideas and then summarize the highlights of a working session. Lucid’s Kathleen Stone told us that humans are needed to be part of the creative process. “AI is amazing at getting started but you always need that human element to tweak things in the end,” she told us.
Envoy Charts the Future of Workplace Security
The Collaboration Village booth sponsored by Webex partner Envoy attracted a steady stream of event goers – and for good reason. The company offers an all-in-one workplace solution that powers modern workplaces. Envoy’s workplace platform integrates seamlessly with Webex, Cisco ISE, and Cisco Meraki – as well as with Webex Partner Kisi, a leader in web-based access control. Their products include Envoy Visitor, a visitor registration solution that helps businesses securely welcome guests with a beautifully simple front desk solution. Its Envoy Workplace solution brings together everything companies need to manage and optimize their workplace, from desk and room booking to delivery management, to unified occupancy analytics.
Visitors stopping by the Collaboration Village were able to catch a timely presentation by George Mogannam, Envoy’s Chief Revenue Officer, who shared his insights into how to future-proof workplace security and modernize security and safety practices. “We are really excited to be at Cisco Live this year to talk to customers and Webex professionals interested in learning about the latest advances in workplace security and how our fully integrated solutions can manage every aspect of all your facilities.”
Webex Contact Center Ecosystem Continues to Grow
This year’s Cisco Collaboration Village showcased partners from our growing Webex Contact Center ecosystem community. With over 30 Webex Contact Center integrations now available on the Webex App Hub, customers can seamlessly integrate Webex Contact Center with their existing business applications. Customer service teams can use these integrations to streamline operations and enhance the customer experience, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction and optimized costs in the contact center. Check out Webex Contact Center apps on the Webex App Hub.”
Inside the Webex Integration Partner Booth
The Webex Integrations booth was busy with conversations and demos. Customers were able to see and hear how Webex and its partners are improving the efficiency and experience of applications their employees are using every day.
Customers met face-to-face with subject matter experts to talk about experiences using Webex Integrations on Webex App Hub. Customers and partners shared their ideas on how they could improve the customer and employee experience and were excited to see how the Webex team has enabled this with a suite of powerful support assets on the Webex Developer site.
Over in the World of Solution’s Collaboration Village, more than 20 Webex partners engaged directly with customers to showcase how their solutions can address customer business needs and challenges.
Partner Application Additions to Webex App Hub
Since Enterprise Connect, partners continue to contribute new integrations and application experiences to Webex App Hub. These include:
Bubble 365 a fully embedded CRM integration for more than 200 CRM systems.
Clerk Chat instantly enables SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp on your existing Webex phone numbers.
Consilium UniVCX™ enables customers to connect with WxCC agents via audio or video calls through browser-based applications or mobile apps.
Directory Import for ISI Analytics integrates Webex data into ISI Analytics for tailored insights aligned with your business structure, enhancing decision-making and security.
IP2Whois is a chatbot that replies to Whois information for a provided domain name.
KeepWOL is a team effectiveness platform that enhances team collaboration, communication, and human connectivity.
L Squared App elevates business communication with digital signage.
OnceHub helps businesses big and small to fast-track sales and streamline service delivery.
Recursive Labs Realtime Cobrowse lets your agents cobrowse on your website to help with tasks like onboarding, account creation, site navigation, and more.
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