WebexOne 2022 has once again opened up its virtual doors, showcasing the latest additions to Cisco’s collaborations portfolio.
This includes UCaaS, CPaaS, and CCaaS platforms, with many new innovations available across each.
Consider the latter. Despite existing for little more than two years, the Webex Contact Center has already achieved “leader” status in the space – according to Aragon Research. It also features as one of only nine vendors in this year’s Gartner Magic Quadrant.
As such, it has benefited significantly from quick speed to innovation – fast establishing a worldwide customer base.
Moreover, Webex shows little sign of slowing down, making four significant announcements at WebexOne, which the vendor hopes will further its CCaaS momentum. These include:
- A Teams Contact Center certification
- New customer engagement channels
- AI-based noise reduction features
- A new agent headset
Below, we delve deeper into each before sharing some other highlights from WebexOne.
The Webex Contact Center Is Certified for Microsoft Teams
Webex will integrate its CCaaS solution into Microsoft Teams in early 2023, enabling skill-based routing of inbound Teams calls.
With the solution, Webex opens itself up to a new market of businesses that harness Teams as their UCaaS platform of choice.
These Teams users may route calls across the business, opening the contact center up to external expertise that lies outside its traditional remit.
Moreover, other departments may harness CCaaS tools more easily and cost-effectively for improved knowledge sharing, customer communication, and collaboration.
Of course, the move raises eyebrows as Microsoft and Webex are long-term rivals in the UCaaS space. Yet, it is a significant win for interoperability and customer experience, as users can access the best technologies within each other’s rich ecosystems.
Also, an opportunity lies here for Webex. As Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst at ZK Research, points out:
Microsoft treats unified communications and the contact center almost like a feature of Office. Yet, Cisco sees the chance to make the Teams experience a better experience than Microsoft can.
There is precedent for that. The example that Kerravala gives is that "Box does document management better for Microsoft apps than Microsoft."
In addition, given the high regard many hold for Webex’s CCaaS platform – and the infancy of Microsoft’s CCaaS solution – Cisco can offer a solution that Teams businesses can perhaps have more confidence in.
It Now Offers 16 Customer Engagement Channels
Thanks to the evolution of its sister CPaaS platform, the Webex Contact Center now allows consumers to connect with businesses across 16 channels.
New additions include Google Business Messenger and Instagram, which continues to grow its potential for digital commerce.
Of course, this showcases how the intimate nature of the platforms within Webex enables rapid innovation. But it also highlights the benefits of a cloud-native CCaaS platform.
Making this point, Kerravala states:
Cisco has built out its contact center the right way. It could have short-circuited it by maybe acquiring one, but they wanted to make sure it was cloud native.
Once a CCaaS provider is cloud-native, it becomes much easier to drop in new services - like Instagram as a channel.