Cisco Collaboration Outlines Blueprint for the Hybrid Workplace

New features and industry firsts help customers keep employees productive in the home office and safer in the workplace

• The future of work will blend working in an office and working remotely.
• Cisco has created a blueprint to help customers navigate this future. (More detail here.)
• As part of this blueprint, we’ve introduced new features and industry firsts that empower remote workers and create the conditions for a safer return to office.

• Video for everyone: Too many remote workers suffer from a poor bandwidth experience at home. We’ve further refined our application, so employees still maintain a great experience even with 50% packet loss. And with intelligent super-scaling of 360p and lower video, we’re able to deliver 720p-like quality. And with “region of interest” video encoding, Webex can provide a higher quality image for the more important areas of the video—like a person’s face. Now, remote workers with less-than-ideal networks still get an optimal experience.
• Virtual, Customized, or Blurred Background: Webex is the first in the industry to deliver virtual and blurred backgrounds across all devices and platforms – Windows, Mac, and Android. Blur your background, choose a virtual one or create your own to remove unwanted distractions—the conversation will be focused on you and what you have to say, not on what’s behind you.
•  Webex Assistant for Meetings: Simplify your work life by having Webex Assistant take notes and record action items; even the transcript becomes searchable if you are looking for a key topic discussed across multiple meetings. With Webex Assistant you can be even more efficient at home than you might have been in the office. See it here.
• Screen Share Preview: Have you ever been in a meeting where the presenter forgets to push the “share my screen” button—and may not realize it until Slide 5? Or inadvertently shares a highly confidential document? The screen share preview feature delivers visual verification of what you’re sharing right from the start. See it here.
• Hand raising: Asking a question or making a point can be a challenge when you’re working remotely. While Webex has always had a "Raise Hand" feature, we have now enhanced it to let you do that no matter what device you’re using—even if you joined a meeting using your phone (PSTN). Even better, now when you raise your hand, you’re bumped to the top of the participant list to be more visible than before.
• More business calling capabilities in Webex Teams: Many have quickly transformed a corner of their kitchen into a home office, with a laptop and cell phone. With Webex Calling and new calling features available in Webex Teams - including visual voicemail, local contacts search, and call pull - connecting to co-workers has gotten easier. The capabilities bring the enterprise calling features you love from the office to your desktop and mobile.

• Webex Teams has long operated as a remote control for Webex devices. With it you can call, mute, change audio, share screen, end a meeting or call - from your phone or laptop, without having to touch anything that’s not yours.
• Plus, you can leverage voice-activated controls, so people don't have to touch anything to start a meeting or share their screens in those meeting.
• Easily promote safe office practices and social distancing guidelines across any common area office screen.
• Room capacity notifications appear in real time when too many people are in the room based upon high-end sensors in the room devices.
• Schedule cleaning notifications, so employees can rest assured knowing when the room was last cleaned.
• For open floorplans, a personal Cisco headset can instantly log you in and out of shared workstations and hot-desk environments without needing to touch anything.

• Blog: “A Blueprint for Hybrid Workplaces”, by Javed Khan, SVP and GM, Cisco Collaboration.
• Learn more about preparing for the hybrid workplace with Webex here.