Finally: Your Own Apps on the Webex Boards!

Introducing Web Apps on the Webex Board

In my previous blog post Use your Cisco Webex Video Screens for More—Put Them Into “Signage Mode” I explained how we use a web engine to enable state of the art digital signage solution across our endpoints. But we are not stopping there. Now you can start to put your own apps on your Webex Boards!

Watch this demo to learn about adding your favorite productivity tools to the Board:

We use the same underlying mechanism as signage, a powerful web engine. This means that you can basically use any web-based tool on the Board – so take a minute to think about what that means in terms of a flexible workflow for your team!

All-In-One Device for Team Collaboration

We are serious when we say that we are a platform for collaboration. That includes providing world class real-time collaboration solutions for meetings, interactive whiteboarding, and content sharing. But it also means that we allow you to keep using the tools that are already an integrated part of your workflow. So expand your range and add these to your team collaboration toolbox:

• Run agile work processes: You can run your web-based Kanban Board directly on the Webex Board and use that for your daily stand-ups. No more facilitating and updating after the huddle, you do it right on the Board – together!
• Review a document from a Web-based productivity tool (like Office 365 or Google docs): If you need to review a document from a Web-based productivity tool, then you can bring that document up on the Board to review it and edit it together – as a team.
• Enable a specific tool for your industry, like health care or manufacturing: No more waiting in line for us at Cisco to get around to your feature request. You can go ahead and create the tool you need, using a standard development framework for web apps, known to millions of developers everywhere.
• Make interactive education tools: If you need to make interactive education tools for toddlers or university students available for the next generation of teaching and learning, you can go ahead and find that tool. From basic visual programming to advanced CAD viewers, it will all run on the Webex Board.

What’s Next?

If you read this far, you will probably want to know about the caveats of the solution as well. What we are releasing in this first phase, is the ability to set up web apps on the home screen of the Webex Board, using the existing in-room controls and macro framework. In a later release we will also add full support for setting up web apps from Control Hub, without the need to understand how customizations work in RoomOS.

Web apps will initially work only out of call. We are working hard to get to the next phase, where we will be able to scale this experience to in-call experiences. The implications for how we can support even more workflows when you can bring up interactive web tools in call is quite mind boggling, so stay tuned for updates on that!

Interested in how to set up web apps? Watch this video:

I can’t wait for your feedback to flood in! We are just getting started in this area, so everything you tell us about what you want to use it for, is valuable input when we are shaping the future of apps for your “tablet on the wall”.

Click for more information on the Webex Board

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Learn more

• Cisco Webex Devices blogs
• How Cisco Webex Board can transform the way you collaborate