Cisco launches new cognitive collaboration features for Webex

Cisco has launched a range of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven features for Webex. Webex is a videoconferencing tool that is used by about 130 million people per month. The new features should help users to more easily set up meetings and easily find out more about the people they are meeting with.

One of the new features is Proactive Join to Webex Assistant. This feature proactively asks a user if he or she wants to participate in a meeting when they walk into a meeting room, ZDNet knows. The function works with Cisco’s intelligent proximity technology to locate the user via their mobile device. It also uses information from the user’s calendar.

First Match

Webex Assistant also gets a new feature called First Match, which uses the voice API that Cisco took over with MindMeld in 2017. The AI should help users to connect to the right person. For example, if a user says “call Susan”, First Match will determine which Susan you talk to the most via Webex Teams to find the right match.

If First Match makes a mistake and the first guess is not the right one, then the function gives a number of alternative choices. In early tests, Webex gave users the three best bets, but the top one was accurate enough that users preferred to get only the first match.

Webex Assistant is now available in the entire Webex Room Series. The same goes for First Match. Proactive Join is available on a limited basis, and will be made widely available in June.

Webex Meetings

Webex Meetings will also get some new features, including People Insights. People Insights is based on technology from the acquisition of Accompany in 2018. The function combines internal data with information from the Internet to create a rich, dynamic profile of participants in a meeting. The information is displayed in a box during a meeting.

Meeting participants can manage the information displayed about them via a settings page. The box contains information about a person’s background, but can also show data about a company, such as stock market prices and recent news items.

In addition, new facial recognition possibilities were announced within Webex. With a Webex device it becomes possible for a user to identify all the people in a room. The function will be launched in June.