I used to hate meetings. But we all know meetings are critical to running a business. They are basically the operating engine of a company. Meetings are just how people get work done… even though they are often boring and occasionally painful.

Which is why I love WebEx. With WebEx, meetings are better: simpler, easier to run, and more personal. Because of WebEx, my work life is easier. It allows me to run my business wherever I am, whether in my home office, at headquarters, or halfway around the world meeting with customers. And it allows me to connect personally through the power of video.

With the latest WebEx releases, we’ve made meetings even simpler and more personal. You now have a new place to start your meeting: a virtual, personal meeting room that feels like your physical office. We made it look like a real room, from pictures on your “wall,” to a desk, and a virtual beverage of choice. We made the Start Meeting button bigger so you can’t miss it. And we further optimized the time to join a meeting, down from 20+ seconds to less than 5 seconds.

This WebEx has a modern, interactive design with avatars for all participants. No more interchangeable gray blobs. We aligned the icons with our portfolio. We created a fluid, flexible, responsive layout that lets you have your WebEx meeting how you want it; maximize shared content or show video only. Everything about this update is faster. And the design is more beautiful than ever.

I could go on and on, but my real point is the video.

Do you know how many times I hear “What?! WebEx has video?”

Hard to believe! But in fact, many people don’t know video is an integral part of the WebEx client. It’s high-quality and we’ve offered it for more than eight years. Others know it’s there, but don’t realize that video is the best way to have a great meeting: to build trust, gain context, and get work done. At the end of the day, not everyone uses video.

This may be in part because, frankly, we used to charge extra for video conferencing. Our bad. If we want people to experience the power of video, and how it can improve meetings and the way you run your business, we have to change the paradigm.

So we’ve put video “back” into web conferencing. As of May 2nd, anyone can use video in WebEx – from within WebEx, a telepresence system, Microsoft Lync, anything. Because all video in WebEx is now available to anyone with a WebEx subscription. Anyone.

I believe in the power of video. And I want everyone to have the delightful experience of joining a WebEx meeting from a video system (preferably a Cisco one!). So let me reiterate:

WebEx includes video conferencing from any standards-based video-enabled device, including mobile, desktop endpoint, soft-client, or room-based video systems, and Microsoft Lync / Skype for Business clients at NO additional charge.

Seriously.

Everyone can have the same conferencing experience with integrated voice, video, and content sharing. You no longer need to be concerned about separate video and web conferencing. Or think about what type of meeting to have or which one will require video interoperability. It’s just one meeting. Simple. Easy. Personal.

And my favorite new innovation? We’ve added a “video dial-back” feature. Simple: have WebEx call you. It works with any video system – both on-premises and in the cloud – and makes joining meetings pretty simple. No one else in the industry can do this. No one.

Now do you see why I love WebEx? At Cisco, we have built the world’s best video systems, the best endpoints, and the best web conferencing, integrated to create one amazing experience. All powered by the world’s best infrastructure.

Get more details about the latest WebEx features.

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