Keeping all of your employees in sync, in real time, can be challenging, especially as more teams work remotely and on-the-go. Although these flexible working arrangements have numerous operational benefits (for example, lower overhead costs and better worker retention in some cases), they also have the potential to make people feel like they’re out of the loop. A few of the top possible sticking points can be:

• Subpar email or chat communications: Email is a linchpin of collaboration, but it has its limitations. Messages can be misinterpreted, overlooked, inadvertently deleted, or otherwise difficult to locate, all of which result in gaps that harm productivity. The same issues can also apply to channels like chat/instant messaging.
• Time zone differences: With employees spread out across the country or globe, coordinating meetings can be difficult. When a suitable overlapping time comes by, it’s important to make the most of it by having focused online meetings that don’t get derailed by poor audio/video quality on conference calls or complex requirements for dial-in numbers and lengthy PINs.
• Technology problems: Some collaboration software can be difficult to use if someone isn’t seated in front of a PC and capable of downloading a full desktop application. Platforms should be versatile enough to work seamlessly across devices and deliver sufficient performance whether someone is using a wired, Wi-Fi, or cellular internet connection.

These issues and others can frustrate employees and possibly lower their morale, too. But there’s a straightforward solution: collaboration platforms that support screen sharing alongside other functions such as video conferencing.

Screen sharing is the perfect way to share documents, applications, or an entire desktop/mobile screen from any compatible device. Let’s look at four of its most important features and how they personalize online meetings and keep them on track. 

1. Share a document for real-time markup and viewing

Many collaborative calls and conversations revolve around reviewing a specific asset, such as a schedule formatted in a spreadsheet, a slide deck containing a presentation, or a text file containing a proposal. Going through the details of these assets is much easier with screen sharing. 

It’s simple to share a document or app when holding a meeting within Webex Meetings. That way, everyone in the virtual room can see it in real time, as it’s being updated/used, without having to switch between multiple applications. 

This type of screen sharing adds more context to the interaction while saving everyone time that would otherwise be wasted on opening the asset elsewhere. Presenter controls can also easily be passed between users so that different contributors can share their screens or start brainstorming on a digital white board.

2. Share your entire screen

Sometimes, sharing just one document or application view isn’t enough to provide the context needed for productive real-time collaboration. This is where a full screen share is helpful, as it lets you show off even the most in-depth workflow, step by step and in high-definition video.

In Webex Meetings, you can share everything that’s open on your screen with other participants in the online meeting. For example, let’s say you wanted to show how to upload a finished piece of written copy into a content management system. Through the screen share, you could show:

• How to convert the document from Google Docs to the Word Document format.
• Which site to visit to upload the converted document.
• Where to navigate within that site to find the proper interface for uploading it.
• How to perform specific actions such as tagging other users, leaving comments, etc.

3. Share a multimedia viewer 

Sharing a recorded video or an animated short can be complicated. The typical size of such assets, along with the restrictions of business email inboxes, makes it impractical to email them, while sharing them via a link to a service like Google Drive can still run into potential problems with playback errors or people not having immediate access.

An easy workaround is to instead show off these videos or animations during a screen share. Using Webex, it’s possible to let everyone see a multimedia viewer and watch a video or animation at 30 frames per second.

This option is just one of the many possible views within Webex Meetings. Screen sharing presenters can switch between multimedia players, application sets, documents, and entire screens with ease to keep the meeting on track.

4. Share from a mobile device

Screen sharing isn’t just for laptop and desktop PCs or web browsers. Webex Meetings supports native screen shares from iOS and Android devices, so nothing gets lost when employees join while on the go. On an iPhone or iPad, it’s also possible to share 3D models during an online meeting. 

These capabilities will only become more important as phones and tablets evolve with faster CPUs and GPUs, more RAM, and better displays, all of which make them even more practical replacements for desktop devices in many contexts.

Get started with real-time screen sharing for your growing business

Ready to learn more about how screen sharing can reshape your company’s online meetings? Start with Webex Meetings free offer today using this link.

We’re excited, and you should be too.

At Webex, it’s our mission to help our customers be successful. It’s what gets us up every morning. Over the past year, we’ve listened to you, we’ve learned from you, and we continue to improve because of you. In other words, we wouldn’t be where we are today, if it weren’t for you.

From delivering the cool new features that make your daily lives more productive (and more fun), to breaking new ground with AI and machine-learning in our cognitive collaboration capabilities, our loyal Webex community has been our North Star.

We’ve been humbled by your positive feedback, like this:

 “The BIG GREEN BUTTON! and video everywhere. We’ve made meetings simple and the usage is really taking off, which is very important for a global company separated by distance. We are building a tighter family.” 

–Brian Kachel, CTO, Premier Research

“Cisco WebEx the most efficient video conferencing software with a shared screen. I love this amazing tool. Cisco Webex has really changed my life. Thanks to it, I can video conference very safely and fast.”

—User from small business, accounting

“We wanted a true end-to-end integrated experience with world-class quality video and audio experience, and to save some money while we were at it. So when we looked at the market and we looked at who has that world-class reputation….we chose Cisco Webex.”

—Erik Johnson, VP, Colleague Technology Services, Citizens Bank

And we’ve been motivated by industry leading reports, time and time again, bubbling to the top of just about every single category:

• Cisco was named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Meetings Solutions, 12 years in a row.
• Cisco achieved the highest use case scores in the Gartner Critical Capabilities for Meeting Solutions report for Internal Collaboration, Webinars, and Learning and Training.
• Cisco Webex was named the Leader in the InfoTech Webex Conferencing Report based on reviews from real-users, like you.
• Webex was given the PCMag Editors’ Choice award for video conferencing.
• …and more.

When we look back over the past year at what we’ve accomplished together, it makes us want to celebrate…with you.

To show our appreciation, we’re holding a contest.

Here’s how it works:

1. Tell us how Webex helps you be successful and enter to win a cash prize to go towards a celebration for you and your team.

2. Submit your entry by November 8^th, 2019 to qualify.

What you could win:

• One lucky winner will walk away with a grand prize of $3,000.
• Twenty-five winners will receive $250.

Think of the party potential—a cupcake party, a team outing, or even a team retreat. However you choose, your team will be able to celebrate in style.

And winner or not, we want to see how you’re celebrating. Take pictures of your party and post them on Twitter with the hashtag #WinWithWebex

Cheers to another great year, with the best Webex community.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions. Mike Fasciani, Tom Eagle, Adam Preset, September 2019.

Gartner Critical Capabilities for Meeting Solutions. Tom Eagle, Mike Fasciani, Adam Preset, October 2019.

These graphics were published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Cisco. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Note, the report was Magic Quadrant for Web Conferencing from 2005 – 2016. In 2017 it was renamed to Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. While the names of the three-person team – Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins continue to reverberate through all the discussions and remembrances of this mission, it took a team of 400,000 people to make it all happen.

On July 16^th, 2019 – Cisco Webex Collaboration will have the extraordinary pleasure of bringing together amazing people who were part of the Apollo 11 Mission to the moon via Webex technology at the Apollo 50^th Gala celebration. We will connect astronauts from the Apollo mission with satellite trackers in Australia and recovery personnel from the USS Hornet who, 50 years ago, collaborated against enormous odds to realize one of the greatest achievements in human history.

Can you imagine what they can do with the tools and digital networks of today? Effective communication and collaboration are mission critical in this era for every project, whether scientific or otherwise. With the right vision, determination and skills, anything is possible. With collaboration technology specifically, projects are completed faster, and they help people communicate quickly, ideate, work globally, and build stronger, better relationships. Exciting times are ahead for the next era of exploration and space travel.

Parkes: Collaboration on a Global Scale

President John F. Kennedy issued his challenge on September 12, 1962, stating “We choose to go to the moon in this decade…not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” In saying this, he kick-started a seven-year plan of inspiration, perseverance, and eventually, achievement. (You can read the transcript and more details about his speech at NASA’s archives here.) His speech launched a megaproject that demanded unprecedented technological innovation and interpersonal collaboration, all against a firm timeline. Keep in mind, this was the age of radio and land-line telephones. There was no internet, no mobile devices or personal computers to connect people.

The race to the moon took seven years, much of it in uncharted areas of engineering, physics and literally, space. Looking back, JFK’s speech may have seemed ambitious and seemingly impossible, but that was the point. We know the human spirit never settles for “impossible.”

Although the Apollo 11 mission was primarily a U.S. undertaking, it required the assistance and expertise of people all over the world. Apollo 11 was more than just a moon mission – it represented the ability of global collaboration in the pursuit of innovation and achievement.

One of the finest examples of this is the story of the Parkes Radio Telescope located in New South Wales, Australia, about 220 miles east of Sydney. To ensure consistent communication with the Apollo crew while the earth itself rotated, NASA needed three radio telescopes, globally distributed and equidistant. Parkes was assigned a vital role, supporting the primary receiver at Goldstone in California. You can read more here.

Parkes not only had to collaborate in real time with Mission Control, but it had to overcome extremely challenging local wind and storm conditions during the very moments of the moon landing. Despite these challenges, the Parkes team succeeded in bringing those images to the people of the world, and thus cemented its place as an exemplary collaborator in the already-inspiring history of the lunar mission.

Cisco Webex Collaboration proud to partner with NASA for the Next Space Era

Today, we are Webextremely proud that NASA is our customer. NASA and Cisco Webex are strong partners in achieving the impossible in space exploration. With Cisco’s IP phones, voicemail, and Jabber, NASA connects teams across multiple centers. Cisco Webex Meetings, Webex video devices, and Cisco UCCX help call centers communicate, both internally and externally, proving that boundaries don’t matter. NASA also uses Cisco VoIP and softphone technology at the International Space Station, with the Mars Rover team relying on Webex to coordinate its mission.

Cisco Webex collaboration and communication technologies are proud to play a role in this next wave of space exploration, by helping to erase distance and build stronger connections between human beings everywhere, from Mars to the Moon, to the Earth and beyond.

Come and see history live! Cisco will be broadcasting a live astronaut panel discussion on July 16^that 6:00p PT.

Ready to Webexplore the future of possible? Visit Webex.com to learn more on how we can help you reach your collaboration goals.

Webex, the leader in video conferencing. Start your 30-day trial for free.

Silos restrict the free flow of information across an organization and reduce collaboration between its teams. The effects speak for themselves: A 2017 eConsultancy survey of marketers found 40 percent of respondents thought each department in their respective agencies had its own agenda, compared to only 29 percent who reported following collaborative processes. Almost one-third (30 percent) also said they designed and measured customer experience on a channel-by-channel basis, a direct result of siloed workflows that lead to time-consuming and duplicative work.

Granted, bringing everyone together, regardless of role or location, was long challenging due to the technical limitations and usability issues of collaboration tools. Not anymore. With Cisco Webex Meetings for video conferencing and messaging, it’s never been easier to start a meeting anytime, anywhere.

The logic of breaking down workplace silos 

Even a seemingly efficient silo can hurt an organization because of how it isolates decision-making processes and places particular pressure on remote and mobile teams, which may feel cut off from everyone else. Company communication, responsiveness to change and general capacity to finish projects on time and under budget are all reduced when silos dominate. Entire movements, such as DevOps in software development, have arisen to eliminate these silos – and for good reason.

This post was contributed by Patty Medberry, Senior Manager, Collaboration Solutions Marketing at Cisco Systems

International Women’s Day (IWD) is nothing short of a global movement. As a woman working in technology, I’m proud to work for a company that values the contributions, perspectives and leadership capabilities that women bring to our industry and one that listens to and understands the importance of diverse voices.

For most sales teams, the first months of a new year mean a fresh start in implementing the strategies needed to meet their sales goals. And one of the most impactful “must-have” tools of the seller’s trade is collaboration technology that make conducting business simple and profitable for sellers, as well as beneficial and positive for clients.

Working in sales is always a competitive adventure, so what should teams focus on to establish meaningful client relationships, meet quotas and optimize the technology available to them? I’ve outlined three focus points that can help give your team the edge.

I can give you a million reasons to join a WebEx meeting – a quick-turn project, a public relations issue, or even an unbelievable business opportunity that fell into your lap. Getting a meeting organized now is sometimes very necessary.

People work in different offices and even time zones – real-time collaboration can get a bit tricky. Thankfully, simple and powerful collaboration is possible with a few clicks.

Thanks to advancements in software and connective technology, virtual meetings now offer the same look, features and realistic feel of face-to-face meetings. And sometimes, the same set of presenter anxieties. Thankfully, whether you’re delivering a video conference for a high-stakes customer or hosting a discussion with internal teams, properly prepping for an amazing presentation is easier than expected.

At one of the 439 holiday events we hosted at our home this year (yes, it was that year… I don’t even remember most of it) my globe-trotting brother-in-law and I discovered some common ground: online training with WebEx.

He’s a corporate training gray hair, the kind of guy who can map out a massive organization’s “talent journey” without breaking a sweat, and then deliver the soft skills needed to move folks along it so delightfully that they think they just watched a series of TED talks. What’s a “talent journey,” you ask? I asked too.