Take the Mundane Out Of Your Meetings: Cisco Enhances Webex To Include More Of What You Do Every Day To Get Great Work Done

“Let’s talk about it—I’ll set up a Webex!” Ever heard (or said) that sentence? If you are like most workers, the answer is yes; the name “Webex” is synonymous with the word “meet”. It is the gold standard when it comes to real-time meetings and getting things done. More than six billion meeting minutes happen in Cisco® Webex®™ every month.

But the way people meet is changing. And Webex is ready.

To make it easier for teams to meet and get great work done, today we announce that we are converging the Cisco Spark ™ and Webex platforms. The result is a new Webex Meetings application for your meetings and a new seamless team collaboration application called Webex Teams (formerly Cisco Spark). We are putting all our award-winning video devices onto this newly converged platform. And we’re adding a new hardware device that turns any work space with a TV into a Webex room. We didn’t stop there. We’re making everything easier to buy. And we’re continuing to apply machine learning and artificial intelligence that will dramatically improve meetings as we know them today.

Here’s more information about each part of our news:

We launch an all-new version of Webex meetings.

The first thing you will notice about the new Webex Meetings is that it is “video first,” meaning you’ll be strongly encouraged to turn on your camera. That’s because seeing and being seen are fundamental to good teamwork. Gone are the days when you’d stare at the screen only to see the presentation. You’ll now see all your teammates, in crisp, clean layouts whether you are using your laptop, your Cisco video room device or your mobile device.

Because we deliver Webex through the cloud, the one hundred million people worldwide who use Webex do not need to take any action. They will simply get the update in the coming months.

We launch a brand new version of Cisco Spark and at the same time give it a new name

Today’s business challenges are getting more and more complex, creating an urgency to help teams connect and get their best work done. We want to make it simple for our Webex users to take the next step to team collaboration.

Our goal has always been to make Cisco Spark the simplest, most secure team collaboration tool on the planet. Today, we launch a new version of Cisco Spark, and give it a new name: Webex Teams. Now, when companies are ready to make their move to team collaboration they can do so with the brand that they already know and love—Webex. All they need to do is add the Teams extension to start using team-based persistent collaboration.

With this new version, we have completely integrated the technology across the applications— so you can expect the same rich Webex meeting functionality in Teams meetings, and a common experience no matter which you choose.  Webex Teams gives you a much richer set of tools –including whiteboarding, persistent messaging, simple guest access, content sharing and integrated tools—to support teams both during and after the meeting.

The new name also extends to our award-winning devices. For instance, the Cisco Spark Board becomes the Webex Board. That’s because Webex meetings are even better when you join from one of Cisco’s video devices.