If you’re looking for a way to unlock the power of generative AI to enhance hybrid work, boost employee engagement, and increase productivity, Cisco has you covered. The Webex Assistant, similar to solutions like Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, eliminates communication gaps, improves collaboration, and delivers useful insights in an instant.
Part of the comprehensive Cisco Webex AI suite, the Assistant integrates with all of the key solutions in the Webex ecosystem, including its productivity and collaboration apps, customer experience tools, and even device management systems.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Webex Assistant and its potential benefits for your team.
What is the Webex Assistant? Defining Webex AI
Webex Assistant is an AI-powered assistant integrated into Cisco’s Webex suite of tools. It powers intuitive experiences across the Webex platform, enhancing meetings, messaging, polling, device management, and IT workflows.
Originally announced in October 2023, the Webex Assistant began rolling out to all users in April 2024 with many intuitive features. According to the tech leader, this assistant can help users catch up on meetings, summarize conversations, identify customer support issues, and more.
Unlike some AI innovators, Cisco’s Webex team has even shared insights into the technology that powers its bot. For instance, the Webex AI Codec allows the AI assistant to leverage insights from meeting recordings with exceptional accuracy while minimizing bandwidth use.
Additionally, while most companies focus on text inputs processed by large language models for AI productivity tools, Cisco has gone a step further. The company has developed proprietary “Real-Time Media Models,” or RMMs. These RMMs can process data from real-time video and audio streams for instant insights.
Cisco has even introduced a “Super Resolution” feature, which uses generative AI to rebuild packets in situations with poor bandwidth connections during video transmissions.
What Can Webex Assistant Do? The Features
Webex says its intelligent assistant is more than just a meeting add-on. It’s a comprehensive solution designed to transform the future of hybrid work. In the last few months, Cisco has enhanced the AI technologies throughout its entire platform, introducing new capabilities to users.
Here are some things you can do with the Webex Assistant.
Upgrading Meetings and Calls with Webex Assistant
First, the Webex Assistant for meetings and calls aims to improve collaboration and conversations within the office while turbocharging productivity.
Like Copilot in Microsoft Teams Meetings, the assistant leverages large language models for messaging and meeting summaries, complete with chapters and action items. It can transcribe conversations in real-time, add closed captions, and create “be-right-back” summaries.
With Webex Assistant, users can upgrade the quality of their meetings, automatically scaling video quality and enhancing audio quality with ultra-low bandwidth requirements. Integrated AI in video conferences also delivers AI-directed framing to help boost meeting inclusivity.
Additionally, Cisco’s HD Voice AI-powered solution can remove conversation background noises, convert narrowband audio to wideband, and enhance conversation intelligibility. All of these features are available for Webex Meetings, Webex Calling, and even Webex Go.
Plus, the Meeting Assistant can help users create more powerful messages by providing real-time translation for 30+ languages and content suggestions.
Enhancing Hybrid Work Experiences
While flexibility is still a priority for many companies, many impose return to office mandates to ensure team members collaborate in the office, at least part-time. Unfortunately, Cisco’s research has shown that many employees feel their offices aren’t fully equipped for hybrid work.
The company is using the Webex Assistant capabilities in its portfolio to eliminate this issue, helping businesses to create more immersive work experiences. For instance, in 2023, Webex introduced its AI-powered cinematic meeting features (leveraging the same tech as Webex Assistant).
Additionally, they’ve offered access to a range of toolkits, like the Cisco Room Kit EQX, which is specifically designed for hybrid work and integrated with AI tools.
At ISE, alongside Samsung and Microsoft, Cisco announced new integrated video collaboration solutions enhanced by intelligent Cisco Room devices. This ensures companies can create more engaging and inclusive hybrid work environments with AI-powered tools.
Reimagining Device and Room Management
On a broader scale, to boost the performance of hybrid teams, Cisco has embedded Webex Assistant and its AI capabilities into a range of device and room management solutions. The AI virtual lens solution in the Cisco Board Pro G2 and Room Bar Pro uses AI to capture participants in a room wherever they are without compromising on quality.
Cisco also allows companies to implement AI-powered features that enable remote and local presenters to simultaneously co-present in hybrid events. Users can also experiment with different “people focus” settings to determine how cameras follow them around a room.
The AI technologies also empower users in an office to control meeting and conference rooms with their voice, booking sessions, joining meetings, and controlling amenities like lights and blinds. Additionally, users can leverage embedded sensors to access actionable insights into how meeting room devices and spaces are used.
IoT-powered solutions enhanced by artificial intelligence can even empower business leaders to design meeting rooms more effectively, boosting well-being and productivity.
Transforming customer experience with Webex Assistant
Like many leaders in the generative AI landscape, Cisco isn’t just looking for ways to boost employee experiences with intelligent tools. The Webex Assistant capabilities also extend to Cisco’s portfolio of customer experience solutions.
At WebexOne, the company introduced Webex Contact Center with AI Assistant, designed to solve CX issues and transform customer interactions. Webex Assistant can transcribe, translate, and summarize calls in real time, providing instant access to data for team members.
The solution can also run automatic customer satisfaction surveys, analyze conversations for common topics, and reduce the risk of agent burnout. The agent burnout solution enables automatic real-time coaching and reminds employees to take regular breaks between calls.
Plus, Cisco introduced its Webex Customer Experience Essentials kit, which supports customer-facing employees looking for support outside of a traditional contact center environment. The solution offers immediate access to supervisory tools, agent-like support, and analytics.
Improving IT, Security, and Sustainability
We’ve already seen plenty of market leaders introducing AI capabilities into security-focused IT tools in the last year, such as Microsoft Security Copilot. Cisco is taking a similar approach with its Webex Assistant suite.
In the last couple of years, Cisco has announced a range of new security and business management solutions, including the new “Sovereign Controls feature” for data management. From an AI perspective, the Webex Assistant integrates with Cisco’s central Webex Control Hub, empowering IT team members to accomplish more with less.
Staff members can ask their AI assistant a question about the data or reports they’re accessing, and the assistant will immediately surface product information and helpful articles. In addition to boosting privacy and security, the AI assistant can also help companies reach their sustainability goals.
AI-powered insights into carbon emissions and office hours allow IT teams to monitor and reduce energy consumption on a business-wide scale. Companies can even automatically enable “Low Carbon Mode” to reduce energy consumption during specific periods in the day.
Pricing and Security, and Access
Currently, Webex Assistant is only included in Cisco’s paid service plans for Webex solutions, such as the Webex Productivity suite and Webex Contact Center. For a full insight into how much you’ll pay to access all of the various AI-powered tools, you’ll need to contact the Cisco Webex team.
Notably, however, Cisco’s pricing structure is slightly different from those offered by competing companies like Microsoft. For instance, while you’ll need to pay an extra $30 per month to access Copilot in tools like Microsoft Teams, Cisco includes Webex Assistant in its plans for free.
From a privacy and security perspective, Cisco takes a similar approach to Microsoft and Google, promising users a fully compliant AI experience. All the data you share with Cisco’s AI tools remains in your control, and end-to-end encryption is included in all software and tools.
You can learn more about Cisco’s approach to AI transparency and security by visiting the Cisco Trust Portal, or checking the Webex website. One point worth mentioning is that administrators can choose to turn access to Webex Assistant on or off in solutions like Webex Meetings. You can allow users to automatically switch on the solution or restrict access.
Accessing Webex Assistant is also relatively straightforward. Cisco’s Control Hub dashboard ensures team members can provision, administer, and manage Webex services and devices in one convenient space. This solution includes access to AI settings, workspace and device administration, troubleshooting tools, reports, and analytics.
Cisco Webex Assistant: The Verdict
On a broad level, Webex Assistant gives users many of the same capabilities as Microsoft Copilot, or the Gemini tools on Google Workspace. It empowers access to an always-on intelligent assistant to surface valuable information, create content, and automate common tasks.
There are a few differences, though. For instance, Webex Assistant is offered for free with most Webex plans, although you may need to pay extra for things like Webex Contact Center and additional solutions. Additionally, Webex Assistant leverages proprietary RMMs alongside large language models, which makes it excellent at processing various forms of media.
Copilot, on the other hand, is more of a text-based solution, although Microsoft does offer AI-powered tools to help boost meeting and call quality, similar to Google.
One area where Microsoft does have an edge is with its Copilot Studio, which allows users to create their own unique AI assistants and tools. Cisco has yet to offer the exact same experience, although it does offer a “bot builder” for basic chatbot creation.
from UC Today https://ift.tt/koNvSt1
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