New Webex enhancements address employees’ fears over return to office

Following a new global survey that found employees have worries about returning to an office environment and want better video meetings, Cisco has revealed a range of Webex enhancements aimed at delivering practical benefits to both organisations and employees.

The study, entitled The Rise of the Hybrid Workplace, looked at the impact COVID-19 has had on the work environment, the concerns of workers about returning to the office and the role that technology can play in supporting businesses in their transformation to the hybrid workplace.

Some of the findings:

• Going forward, more than half of all employees will work eight or more days each month from home, meaning that 98% of meetings are now likely to have at least one employee attending remotely from home
• Around 97% of employees want changes to make them feel safer at work, whilst 99% of companies are planning sweeping changes to the workplace as a result of COVID-19 in order to provide a safer work environment 

• The growth of the hybrid work environment will increase, with 77% of larger organisations intending to increase work flexibility, whilst 53% will shrink office sizes

Cisco is addressing these concerns with a variety of new Webex-based solutions aimed at enhancing the quality of service from home networks, while also making the return to the office environment safer.

Making online meetings more effective

Cisco had already announced a number of new features to enhance Webex meetings, including the use of whiteboarding to help teams collaborate and share ideas, the availability of breakout rooms to enable individuals to get together in small groups and enhanced transcription that uses advanced voice technology to transcribe speech to text and improve the post meeting experience.

Further enhancements revealed:

• Background blur and virtual backgrounds –allowing meeting participants to maintain their privacy by hiding their surroundings. Background blur keeps the speaker in focus and everything else around them blurred. Alternatively, meeting participants can choose a different virtual background altogether 
• Background noise removal – Cisco has recently stepped up its noise-cancelling activities with the acquisition of BabbleLabs, a provider of noise removal and speech enhancement. The technology, integrated into Webex Meetings, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to boost a speaker’s voice while filtering out unwanted noise

Helping workers to return safely 

Companies are planning how to optimise their space, address worker concerns about sanitation and social distancing, and will need to communicate the new policies and information clearly. Cisco will help to address these issues through new additions to its Webex portfolio:

• Increased environmental sensors – sensors were already available to detect ambient noise levels and count the number of people in a space, but additional sensors will now also collect data on room temperature, humidity, air quality and light
• Webex Room Navigator – the new Webex Room Navigator is available in two different versions, purpose-built devices that sit either inside or outside the meeting room to provide intelligent, safe room booking for users and deep data for IT and facility managers. The out-of-room model makes it simple to find and book a space to meet  
• Webex Control Hub – fewer than half of companies currently measure room utilisation. Webex Control Hub will provide historical insights into both room utilisation and room environment metrics such as rooms booked but not used, median occupancy across all spaces and ambient noise levels, so it will be possible to analyse the data and set proper cleaning schedules 
• Improved digital signage – via an integration with Appspace, Cisco will provide enhanced digital signage and team communication options both in the office and at home for workers with Webex Desk Pros  

It’s clear that Cisco is focusing on supporting the hybrid working model as companies consider downsizing to smaller offices and look at the strategies required to support workers who may only be in the office part-time. 

Jeetu Patel, senior vice president and general manager, Security and Applications Group, at Cisco reinforced this in describing these latest Webex innovations as: “… a great step forward in providing seamless collaboration to empower remote work in a secure way while also enabling smart hybrid work experiences to enable safe returns to work”.