Update Webex Teams

1. How To Update Webex Meeting
2. Cisco Webex Update
3. Cisco Webex Teams Update

5 Ways to Connect Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex in 2021

Being based on Cloud, the 100 million Webex users will receive the update in the coming months. Cisco Spark is now Webex Teams. Application aimed at team collaboration, “helping teams to collaborate both during and after meetings”: The new version allows Webex users to take the next step towards team collaboration. Install Cisco Webex Meetings or Cisco Webex Teams on any device of your choice. Get step-by-step instructions for scheduling your own Webex meetings, real-time group messaging, and more. Make meeting online easy.

For many reasons and in many businesses, we regularly see organizations with instances of both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex.

This post addresses how businesses got to this situation and highlights the best ways to connect the two platforms together.

Why Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex?

Common reasons for instances of both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex include:

• Legacy or current Cisco hardware like telepresence, VoIP handsets, and Cisco Spark boards
• Microsoft 365 packages offering free Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams licenses
• Mergers and acquisitions where one company uses Cisco Webex and the other uses Microsoft Teams
• A new CIO or IT Manager started and implemented their preferred solution
• You interact with guests from other organizations that use different messaging platforms

Can Microsoft Teams replace Webex?

Microsoft Teams has tons of great features, like grid videos and custom backgrounds. You can integrate your conversations with Microsoft 365 and access direct routing.

But Microsoft Teams isn’t the right solution for everyone.

If you try to shift everyone to Microsoft Teams, you risk isolating some of your team members who use Webex.

People who don’t want to stop using their preferred app won’t switch easily. This puts your team at risk of shadow IT and other security issues.

It’s always better to give your team the freedom to use the tools they prefer.

If you do need to connect the two together, the next section outline five ways to connect the two platforms together.

1- Webex call features in Microsoft Teams

If all you want to do is connect your Microsoft Teams account holders with Cisco Webex calling features, here’s how:

In April 2020, Cisco announced a new Call Appfor Microsoft Teams. The app launches calls through Webex technology, even when you click the call button in Microsoft Teams.

To access this functionality, follow these steps:

• Verify users have accounts activated in the Webex Control Hub
• Ensure users are registered to the Cisco Webex Calling or Unified Communications Manager
• Make sure users have the Webex app
• Ensure you have Administratorprivileges for Microsoft Teams
• Update phone numbers for users in the Azure Active Directory

With us so far? Great.

Head over to the Microsoft Teams Admin Center and click Teams Apps followed by Manage apps. You can search for the Webex Call function and toggle the app status to allowed.

Remember to update your permission policies to allow third-party apps too.

In the Teams apps menu, click on Setup policies and add the Cisco Webex Call app to your Microsoft setup. Users will now be able to click Webex Call at the bottom of a window when chatting in Microsoft Teams.

Or employees can click on the Webex Call function on the left-hand menu bar and just tap in the number of the person they want to call through Webex.

Pros:

1. Simple way to connect Webex calling functionality with Microsoft Teams
2. Embedded buttons in Teams make the function easy to use

Cons:

1. Only works to connect two VoIP calling strategies. You can’t connect your chat messages or file sharing this way.
2. Calling opens a new window, which means there are more tabs for users to keep track of.
3. Only works to add Webex Calling to Microsoft Teams. You can’t add Microsoft calling to Webex instead.

2 – Cisco Webex and Microsoft 365 integration

Cisco recently announced integration between its Webex app and the Microsoft 365 suite.

How do I integrate Webex with Office 365?

Users can access files like apps like SharePoint and OneDrive from within the Webex app.

If your end goal is to use the Microsoft 365 suite within the Webex app, this integration will work just fine.

How do I integrate a Webex team with Outlook?

Go to your Cisco Webex admin Settings.

Click on Outlook then Outlook settings. You’ll have the option to Connect to Outlook. Choose Yes and hit the Save button.

Having more than one app integrated with Outlook sometimes causes problems with Webex. Before you integrate Webex and Outlook, you’ll have to unregister other tools. This includes removing Skype for Business connections.

Once your Outlook integration is ready, you can see the status of Webex contacts in Outlook.

Pros:

a. Users no longer have to leave their Webex app if they use Microsoft 365 for productivity tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word.

b. You can benefit from Microsoft Teams governance and data privacy from Microsoft 365 whilst never leaving your Webex app.

c. Share content created in Microsoft apps in Cisco Webex spaces.

Cons:

a. This integration is available for multiple Microsoft apps, but not Microsoft Teams.

b. If you’re a Webex for Web user, you can only view these types of files, but not make any changes to them.

The Cisco Webex and Microsoft 365 integration is great for users that are happy to live in Webex – but it doesn’t take into account users that prefer Microsoft Teams for collaboration.

3 – Bot integration for Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex

If This Then That (IFTTT) helps apps and devices work together.

There are examples of IFTTT working in homes and businesses alike.

When rules are set for one app or device to do something based on the behavior of another app of device, these are called recipes.

From common scenarios like turning up the heating in your home when the temperature drops below a certain threshold to syncing your Instagram and Dropbox account, recipes come in all shapes and sizes.

When setting recipes for both Microsoft and Cisco, this typically includes what happens on Microsoft Teams when a message is posted in Webex.

For this scenario, a Webex users sends a message and the bot in Microsoft Teams gets a notification.

Pros:

a. Hard disk for mac pro. Bot integrations come with many pre-built recipes to choose from across a range of apps and devices.

b. Familiar look and feel to consumer IFTTT apps.

c. Options to add your own customized recipes.

Cons:

a. Administration time can be lengthy as scenarios have to be set up one-by-one.

b. When new users are added, administrators must build new recipes.

c. Functionality across platforms is limited.

d. Cross platform experience is not seamless. Notifications are received in a bot rather than native to a chat, space or direct message etc.

4 – Host Webex meetings in Microsoft Teams

For users that prefer Microsoft Teams for messaging and collaboration, but must use Cisco Webex for meetings, there is the Cisco Webex Meeting app.

This is perfect for running Cisco Webex meetings direct from Microsoft Teams.

The meeting app is also available for Slack, Workplace from Facebook, and Google Calendar.

Pros:

a. Schedule and join Cisco Webex meetings without leaving Microsoft Teams.

b. Microsoft Teams users just need to add the Webex Meetings app to their Microsoft Teams app.

c. Simple administration in the Cisco Webex Control Hub.

Cons:

a. The Cisco Webex Meetings app for Microsoft Teams doesn’t support accounts on webex.meetings.com, on meetingsln.webex.com, or on Cisco Webex Meetings Server sites.

b. Limited to Cisco Webex Meeting functionality.

c. Messages, chats, files etc cannot be exchanged via the Webex Meeting app for Microsoft Teams. A meeting must be launched to communicate across platform.

d. Jonathan Dame wrote on SearchUnifedCommunications that customers of both Cisco and Microsoft using the integration have labelled it clumsy, forcing them to consider back to working in silos.

5 – External federation for connecting with guests on different platforms

Do you communicate with people outside your organization?

Do they use apps other than Microsoft Teams?

If the answer is yes to both of these questions, according to research, Cisco Webex is one of the most favored.

When this is the case, it becomes extremely unproductive moving out of Teams, into your external contact’s choice of app, and starting the conversation again. Learn word for mac.

Or even worse, end up resorting to email like it’s the 90s. (Okay, email has a purpose but you get the point).

That’s why Mio has created universal channels for Microsoft Teams with Webex…

You can stay in Teams and send messages to your contractors, suppliers, or clients who use Webex.

They stay in their platform too and Mio translates the messages across platform.

And it’s not just messages that are supported! GIFs, emojis, channels, DMs, and message edits/deletes are all supported.

If this sounds like something you need, install Mio into either Microsoft Teams or Webex.

You choose which platform you use and your external contacts choose theirs.

If you’d like to learn more about enabling cross-platform messaging, you can watch our on-demand webinar with Mio CEO, Tom Hadfield, here.

How To Update Webex Meeting

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The Latest New Features of Webex Teams

• 23 September, 2019

Article, Cisco, Unified Collaboration

Webex Teams is completely integral to the way everyone at Tesrex operates on a daily basis. When a Webex Teams update happens we’re always excited to play with the fun new features and delve into what’s changed.

One of Cisco’s big focuses for their entire collaboration portfolio is creating a unified and aligned experience across their many platforms. Here we’ll take a closer look at some of the improvements that the September Webex Teams update has had to contribute to this unified experience!

Calling a person within Webex Teams has always been a great feature. In this Webex Teams update, Cisco has added some tweaks that make the experience even better.

You can now turn on this option directly from the application instead of the Webex Control Hub. This popular feature allows users to receive calls without being restrained to their desk. All the devices you set up for Single Number Reach will ring simultaneously when someone calls you. The new ability to switch it on from the app is great news for those of us that need to take calls between meetings, while running out for coffee or during our commute.

You can now turn on this option directly from the application instead of the Webex Control Hub. This popular feature allows users to receive calls without being restrained to their desk. All the devices you set up for Single Number Reach will ring simultaneously when someone calls you. The new ability to switch it on from the app is great news for those of us that need to take calls between meetings, while running out for coffee or during our commute.

Conference calls have become an everyday part of life for many people, us included! That’s why the new Conference Call feature in Webex Teams is really appreciated. Previously you could do a group call within a space and speak to multiple people at a time, but Cisco has now taken this one step further. If you call someone directly, you can now add additional people to the call while it’s going on – up to eight people.

These are exactly what the name implies, virtual sticky notes. They allow you to ‘stick’ reminders, notes, or to-do lists onto your digital whiteboard through Webex Teams. Just like physical sticky notes, these are great for keeping everyone focused on their priorities. You can customise the colour and location on the board. Here is a demonstration of this in action.

It’s always frustrating when you send a paragraph of text into a Webex Teams space with a group of people and immediately realise you’ve made a typo, missed a word, or autocorrect has betrayed you (Sometimes all 3, let’s be honest.)

Previously, you had the option to delete the whole message and have to type it out again or blame the lack of afternoon caffeine for your errors. You can now edit a message after it’s been sent, and hopefully, before it’s seen! This is a feature requested by many Webex Teams users so it’s great to see Cisco take onboard user suggestions.

Another highly requested feature by users is delivered with this Webex Teams update. This new button allows you to forward a message from one space/person of your choice with just one click. You can also add context to a forwarded message by attaching images or files.

The most obvious of the changes is the User Interface redesign. Whichever device users choose to use and whether messaging, calling or meeting it’ll be a familiar experience in terms of colours and icons. This alignment is part of their larger branding goal mentioned earlier.

The light/dark theme has also been modified in this Webex Teams update. The first column on the application will now be permanently dark and the spaces column next to it will change to a different shade of grey. Options to share screen or call someone can be found at the top of the screen.

Co-Branding is a popular feature with Cisco Collaboration users as it allows businesses to put their own logo onto their devices digitally. This is now available on Webex Teams also. Administrators can now apply their company logo and brand colour to the first column of the Webex Teams’ interface.

This update gives you the ability to open spaces from your Webex Teams app on the Webex Board and continue right where you left off. Put down one device, pick up another and continue on seamlessly. It’s a great little modification that has a big impact!

All of these new features add great value in one way or another. It’s fantastic to see so many community-suggested features being added and really demonstrates how much the development team behind Webex value user contributions.

Cisco Webex Update

If you don’t currently use Webex Teams and would like to try it for free, please click here.

Cisco Webex Teams Update

We’d love to show you a quick demo of what it can do and set you up with a free trial where you can test it out to gauge the value it would bring to your organisation.