The evolution of Cisco Systems Inc.’s Webex video call and collaboration platform is gathering speed as the company prepares to cater to the so-called “hybrid work era” that will see more people work from home as a matter of course.

The company said in today’s announcement that it believes the remote interactions ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic are here to stay. As such, it’s pushing for its revamped Webex Suite to become the foundation of those interactions by making it much more functional.

The Webex Suite combines Webex Meetings with its Events, Support and Training platforms to cover a range of online interactions, with the main focus being on its Meetings platform.

Most of the updates announced today will roll out later on this year, but there’s lots to look forward to with Webex set to gain new event features as a result of Cisco’s recent acquisitions of Socio Labs Inc. and Slido s.r.o. Those “audience engagement” capabilities will include polling, quizzes and question-and-answer sessions powered by Slido, enabling companies to hold online events that are far more engaging for audiences. The polling feature is already available in Webex Meetings and will soon arrive in Webex Events.

On the video calling side, Cisco said it’s adding a new speech intelligence feature called “My Voice” in August, which combines noise removal and speech enhancement technologies. They work together to eliminate all background noises, so other meeting participants can only hear and therefore focus on the speaker’s voice.

Meanwhile, the “People Focus” capability announced earlier this year will be made generally available in Webex later this year. People Focus uses artificial intelligence individually frame meeting participants who are spread out across a large meeting room and focus on them more, so remote participants will be better able to see their body language, facial expressions and so on. It’s all about helping remote participants feel “more connected,” Cisco explained.

Cisco is beefing up security in Webex too. For example, it will gain what Cisco said is the first real-time data loss prevention tool for Webex that works by automatically blocking and removing confidential information in places such as Messaging. That means users won’t be able to store certain, specified types of content in the cloud, the company explained.

In addition, Cisco said the new Webex experience will offer a full EU data residency capability for customers that do business in the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia region. That will enable them to host 100% of their Webex data in European cloud data centers with always-on encryption and verified identity to protect against unauthorized persons listening into meetings.

The company is also promising some new “next-level devices” for its Webex Desk hardware portfolio.

Jeetu Patel, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Security and Collaboration, said his company has built platform that’s flexible, inclusive, supportive, secure and easily managed by information technology teams. “The all-new Webex Suite ensures everyone in a hybrid workforce has equal opportunity and voice,” he said.

Image: Slido