Improving the Customer Collaboration Experience

Immersive Experiences Leads to a Passion in Collaboration

2019 was a year of big changes, both for Cisco Headsets and for me professionally. I had been a programmer at Cisco for 8 years and in 2018, I was offered the opportunity to be a part of a small research team, tasked with building product concepts to solve the challenges of the modern worker. It was uncharted territory, but I developed a great passion for the work as we observed customers closely in their habitat, identified pain points, and translated the learnings to user-centered design concepts. Due to my work, I was offered the role of the Headset Product Manager and quickly accepted as I was excited to continue working in improving the customer collaboration experience. Plus, it was also a critical time for Cisco Headsets as the 500 Series was in the design phase.

Bringing Workplace Transformation to Life

In my new role, I interacted with customers who were undergoing office workplace transformation targeting to enhance collaboration, foster innovation, and improve the employee experience. Headsets are an integral part of that transition and the ones in the market at the time weren’t meeting the needs of modern workplaces. Headset management and support were just one of the areas that were fragmented as customers and partners were frustrated when bounced between headset and collaboration vendors to resolve issues. Also, an integrated headset collaboration experience that encompassed hardware and software, management & analytics, and intelligent user experiences just did not exist! This is when I grasped why Cisco is uniquely placed to deliver an end-to-end, platform collaboration experience that now extended to headsets.

Headsets With Modern, Intelligent IT

It wasn’t an easy task but in 2019, we were able to deliver a first of its kind, integrated headset management solution for modern IT operations. Your business headsets can now be proactively managed from a single platform with all your collaboration applications and devices – no additional software or hidden service fees. Headset management is available on-prem and in the cloud.

Premium Bluetooth Headset Built for Business, Personal, and the Journey in Between!

In November 2019, I had the pleasure of launching my first device as a Product Manager, the Cisco Headset 730. This is the first in the line of our new premium Bluetooth 700 Series. We designed it for the modern worker, who is no longer tied to a desk but needs to stay connected and productive. The Headset 730 features a sleek microphone design and clear voice technology that has best-in-class noise cancellation and powerful background noise reduction to provide an uncompromised calling experience. In true Cisco fashion, we also redefined security for headsets. The Headset 730 has industry-first, enterprise-grade security incorporating secure boot and image authentication. If you haven’t been lucky enough to hear one of these headsets for yourself, watch below to experience the 730!

We’re Listening and Have Only Just Begun

We also listened to your feedback and enhanced our 500 Series. The 520 and 530 Series is now available to order with a USB – C connectivity option. And on the 560 Series, we added multiple Bluetooth pairing capabilities and conferencing features.

2018 and 2019 were big years for us and we are just getting started! I sat down with Simon, our Business Development Manager in the UK, to discuss how Cisco is uniquely designing headsets and answer some of our most frequent questions.

Watch our webinar on Cisco Headsets to hear the conversation!

Learn More

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