January has ended and Valentine’s Day is next on the docket for many of us. Before that, Cisco is holding the European version of its user conference, Cisco Live. Given the proximity to Enterprise Connect, the product announcements from Cisco Live EMEA tend to revolve around networking and security. However, Webex highlighted the general availability of several innovations in employee and customer experience at the show.

Below is a roundup of the key Webex announcements at Cisco Live EMEA.

AI-Powered Experiences and Contact Center Solutions

It’s fair to say that Cisco is now “all in” on AI. Earlier this year, Cisco held its inaugural AI Summit. At Cisco Live EMEA, the company announced the general availability of Webex AI agents to automate customer support. Organizations can use the tool to create intelligent virtual agents to handle customer inquiries. At launch, the AI Agent will support nine major European languages. Cisco is also planning future upgrades, including more knowledge connectors and integrations with third-party platforms.

Additionally, Cisco is rolling out AI Assistant for Webex Contact Center this quarter. As the name implies, the tool assists agents by summarizing conversations so customers don’t have to repeat themselves when transitioning between channels. It also provides real-time transcriptions, supports multiple languages, analyzes conversations, and suggests responses. These features help agents resolve issues faster and provide a better CX.

One of the more compelling use cases is “suggested responses,” which enables agents to help customers faster. When it comes to fun jobs, customer service isn’t near the top of the list, so the ability to help a customer solve a problem can lead to higher agent satisfaction and lower churn.

One of the interesting aspects of Webex’s go-to-market is that it has a strong focus on agent well-being. Last year, it announced a partnership with Thrive to bring “resets” into the Webex platform, and the suggested responses further helped make agents a happier group. The industry has been laser focused on improving CX, but that can’t be done without improving the agent experience.

Cisco is refining the process of AI adoption by introducing modular AI bundles. These packages are designed to be scalable, allowing companies to start with basic scripted agents and expand to more advanced AI-powered automation tools as their needs change. Think of this as a “crawl-walk-run” approach to AI adoption.

Sustainability, Workspace Innovation, and Security

One of the interesting aspects of Cisco over the past half decade has been the focus on sustainability and energy efficiency, with Webex playing a prominent role in its initiatives. As companies look to bring employees back to the office, all of Cisco’s new office solutions are built with sustainability in mind.

At the event, Cisco announced its new bring-your-own-device (BYOD), Room Bar. This AI-powered video device is specifically designed for small spaces and can be installed without requiring a significant amount of IT support. It connects laptops and existing displays using a single USB cable, enabling companies to take advantage of existing equipment. Room Bar has a built-in camera, microphone, and speaker system, eliminating the need for extra peripherals. Its AI features include automatic camera framing, noise suppression, and audio enhancements, which optimize performance while reducing power consumption.

While many such devices are available on the market, Room Bar’s uniqueness lies in its integration with other Cisco products. The Room Bar supports deep sleep and network standby, which turn off the device when it is not in use. This can significantly reduce energy utilization compared to running it 24/7.

For IT teams, the Room Bar supports Cisco’s Control Hub and ThousandEyes, allowing it to be managed centrally and speed up troubleshooting times. The device also integrates with Webex and other third-party collaboration platforms, making it flexible for all workspaces. I’ve long felt that ThousandEyes was the best, under-leveraged asset in the Cisco portfolio as it brings visibility to the Internet, something other management tools can’t do. Over the past year, Cisco has begun to embed ThousandEyes on a broader range of devices with the Room Bar being the latest.

Cisco’s vision is to video equip every space where people work. One of the challenges with smaller spaces is that they tend to have very little equipment and rely on people bringing in laptops, USB speakers, and other personal peripherals. While this can work, it’s not ideal as it creates inconsistent experiences. Historically, Cisco has done medium and large rooms well but has had a gap in this part of the portfolio. With the addition of Room Bar, it is bringing large room features, such as Control Hub and ThousandEyes, to smaller rooms.

Cisco also announced it has expanded its Workspace Designer tool by adding support for training rooms and auditoriums. These additions address the needs of organizations that manage large-scale meeting and learning environments, where video setup is more complex. With training room support, organizations can better plan for in-person and remote participants, while the auditorium feature allows them to design larger event spaces and customizable workspaces.

Workspace Designer was announced at WebexOne in October 2024 and has been very popular, particularly with channel partners. The tool allows users to design spaces and visualize the equipment's performance in each room. It also enables the creation of “digital twin” rooms so the design can be validated before deployment.

Moving onto the security front, Cisco is strengthening compliance measures in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) by integrating Mistral as a newly qualified large language model (LLM). With Mistral, alongside existing Amazon Bedrock and Microsoft Azure partnerships, Cisco wants its EMEA customers to have more choices while maintaining strict data sovereignty. Cisco is also launching a beta feature that allows local service providers to host encryption infrastructure, giving companies even greater control over their data security.

Looking Ahead

Cisco has an ambitious roadmap, with more than 60 new features in the pipeline. An upcoming Contact Center Enterprise 15 release will refresh the platform with improved performance and usability. This will include integrating AI Agent and AI Assistant capabilities, allowing organizations to automate customer interactions and provide agents with real-time support. Additionally, new digital channels are being introduced so businesses can interact with customers in more ways than before.

Cisco is also expanding its industry-specific solutions, including an Epic integration, which will make it easier for healthcare providers to connect with patients and manage communications. Meanwhile, for large organizations with multiple contact centers, Cisco is introducing enhanced role-based access control so they can manage data separately and partition resources within a single system.

Lastly, Cisco is introducing a Bring Your Own Virtual Agent framework, enabling organizations to integrate various AI tools into their contact centers. This will provide greater flexibility in choosing AI solutions that fit their needs. Cisco is also launching a new unified flow builder, which will simplify the creation of automated workflows for both voice and digital interactions.

The revamping of Webex has been a long, multi-year process, but the product is in its best position in decades. Better cross-product integration has been the catalyst for this change, creating a “1+1=3” effect. Cisco has always had good products, but it became overly reliant on acquisitions to enter new markets, acting like a holding company rather than a product company.

Now the fruits of those efforts can be seen with ThousandEyes integration, consistent design, a common AI agent and sustainability initiatives. The UC and CC spaces are incredibly competitive, but Webex now has several unique “Cisco” capabilities, allowing them to compete better.