Captivating hybrid work meetings start with captivating collaboration tools

The right tools make a world of difference, no matter the job or task at hand. Business leaders were reminded of this as they were forced to roll-out remote working capabilities almost overnight. Those that had previously invested in best-of-class tools transitioned smoothly. Others met with security issues, service interruptions, and other challenges.

While it has taken some time, companies and employees have gotten used to working from home and done so productively over the past many months. As we start mapping the future of work, we’ll adopt a hybrid model where we choose to go to work or collaborate remotely based on the needs of our teams and projects.

Cisco understands this. It’s why we have been hard at work to innovate faster than ever before – and deliver features that will give our users the ability to captivate their audiences no matter where or how they work.

We spoke about these at our premier digital collaboration conference WebexOne recently, and were blown away by the response from our customers, partners, and other stakeholders. We couldn’t be more grateful for the support because it is what drives our passion for seismic improvements.

While there were nearly 50 announcements at the event, our intent was simple: We wanted to build the greatest, most-integrated, hardware and software collaboration tools ever.

The all new Webex experience makes collaboration more inclusive than ever before and offers more power to users than ever before. Ultimately, it enables participants to put on a show like never before.

Picture this: You get on a Webex call with a client to share a few slides which run dynamically in the background with your video overlayed as if you were making a keynote presentation on stage. To make the experience more immersive, background noises are muted, and participants can see real-time transcripts in more than 10 different languages including Mandarin and Japanese.

With such a powerful tool, every Webex user can be a captivating speaker, sharing their ideas confidently. Frankly speaking, doing meetings over Webex is now more fun than doing them in person, especially for those that want to make a great impression and a lasting impact on their audiences.

Truth be told, any great presentation requires hours of collaboration behind the scenes. Innovations announced at WebexOne make those better as well. Transcriptions make note-taking redundant and ensure the team stays focused on the conversation, and meeting artifacts and recordings are instantly saved within Webex making it easier to revisit key files and refresh your memory before the next discussion or presentation session.

Here’s a short video to help you visualize everything I’ve just shared with you:

Of course, what we spoke of so far are just software innovations. For hardware, we’ve a slew of new products that provide you with the best possible video setups – allowing internal and external stakeholders and collaborators to see you in a new light.

Our hardware also makes it more comfortable and convenient for you to participate in virtual meetings, so you be more productive every day. Learn more about them in a short press release we shared recently.

Finally, Cisco has always talked about the importance of upgrading legacy infrastructure – investing in solutions that integrate with software that your business is already familiar with. We always walk the talk. This is why we offer prebuilt integrations via the new Webex App Hub, allowing IT teams to breathe a sigh of relief and enabling them to integrate Webex with popular tools such as Box, Dropbox, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Workplace from Facebook, among others. You can learn more about our integrations in our newsroom.

Of the innovations we announced, many are industry-firsts. This makes Webex the right tool for any job in the new era, the era of hybrid work. I’m a proud user and an evangelist – but don’t take my word for it, listen to the many clients who spoke at our recent online event.

Come to think of it, WebexOne was really packed with announcements and stories. As hard as I might try, I don’t think I can do justice to all the great work the team has done this past year in this blogpost alone. If you missed out on the live event, check out some of the replays online.