Confirming Apple’s growing reach in the enterprise, Cisco has announced a range of upcoming features that will benefit Apple-user knowledge workers using Webwex.
Introduction to mobile transfer
Apple and Cisco began working more closely together in 2015, when the companies issued a joint statement promising that they would “begin optimizing Cisco networks for iOS devices and apps, integrate the iPhone with the Cisco enterprise environment and be unique in iPhone and iPad.” Will cooperate. “
Companies have continued this relationship ever since, especially around Webex.
Cisco announced the move to mobile this week, with a new webbex meeting feature coming in August that will make it easier to move calls between Apple devices and allow you to do and take them with Apple CarPlay.
Basically, you can easily start a meeting on an iPhone or Mac, easily transfer the call to CarPlay, and then carry the call from the car to the phone and back to the office. This is the latest in a recent spate of CarPlay enhancements.
The new workplace where you are
It’s a solution based on multiple pillars: Apple’s growing business presence, long-standing demand for mobile professionals, the growing influence of mobility and employee choice, and the growing realization that hybrid work environments enable more productive and smart recruitment. International scale.
Jitu Patel, EVP and GM, Security and Collaboration, Cisco, put it this way:
“Hybrid work is the future of work – and it’s here now. The modern work environment is no longer confined to one place or device. It’s flexible, it’s mobile, it’s connected ৷ we can blend work seamlessly into our lives anywhere, anytime, anywhere through collaboration.”
How to Move to Webx Mobile
- You can have a Webex meeting on your Mac at home but have to travel somewhere.
- The Move to Mobile feature lets you use your iPhone to scan a QR code generated on your Mac and switch calls to your smartphone.
- You can then continue the meeting while walking in your car, where you will connect your phone to the CarPlay system. The call will then go to your car console.
- After your call ends, you can watch your upcoming meeting and join directly from CarPlay (in audio-only mode).
- You can carry the meeting with you on your phone while walking in a meeting room, where you can continue the call using Webex conferencing facilities.
This video, provided by Cisco, shows you how it fits together:
CarPlay also gets the Meeting Catchup tool
Cisco will also add another useful tool in August, when it will be possible to listen to past Webex recordings with CarPlay, which means you can view missed meetings while in transit.
Cisco has introduced a number of new features over the past few months to support WebEx on the iPhone, iPad and Mac. On October ’21 it launched a new Webex app for the iPad, offering support for Center Stage, Split View, Picture-in-Picture and Apple Pencil. Since then it has announced AirPlay support and has now made useful improvements to CarPlay functionality.
“More than ever before, people’s hybrid work experience in the office depends on the experience of those who are not in the office,” Patel said.
Will Webex support Continuous Camera desk view?
Patel told me last year that Cisco has a dedicated team that “hyper-focus on creating celebrities who use Apple’s new technology quickly after release.”
We know that Apple makes extensive use of WebX for its own communications, so I think the next question will be whether Cisco is working with Apple’s newly introduced APIs to expand the WebX feature set.
Take, for example, Desk View (an element in the Continuity Camera): Apple has introduced the API in WWDC to build support for the desk view in the app, and it could be a useful addition to WebX in the Mac Archive. (Like the iPad’s freeform collaboration tools, although it still seems unlikely, Apple is still playing catchup with FaceTime.)
Similarly, in a variety of ways, Apple’s partner-centric approach continues to draw dividends on enterprise demand.
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