Cisco out to boost workplace collaboration with platform
CISCO Systems is offering a platform that the US-based technology giant says is improving workplace collaboration in Thailand.
The platform, Cisco Webex, is promoted as opening up more opportunities for users in the area of collaboration and is designed to work with software from the likes of Google and Microsoft.
Sandeep Mehra, managing director of collaboration sales for Asia Pacific at Cisco Systems, said that Cisco's mission is to transform the workplace in Thailand, “with collaboration technologies that are affordable, simple, open and secure and available to everyone”.
Under the Cisco Webex platform are offerings known as Webex Calling, Webex Meeting, Webex Teams and Webex Devices.
Mehra said that, according to a survey by the company, there is increasing demand for mobility options.
Some 60 per cent of employees will be considered mobile by 2020, the survey found, citing that members of the Generation X, Generation Y and millennial segments make up more than 60 per cent of the global workforce. This will drive changes in workers’ expectations, Mehra said.
“This rapid technology shift is part of a trend that is also changing workplace activities,” Mehra said. “There has been an increase of around 50 per cent in collaborative intensity in the workplace over the past 10 years. Further, around 90 per cent of knowledge workers spend time in meetings, exchanging messages and other collaborative activities.”
Cisco is active in calling, contact centres, Web conferencing and video conferencing, with the biggest market share in these segments – at 59 per cent, 37 per cent, 55 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively.
Mehra said Cisco's strategy approach is to optimise its products and solutions portfolio for both cloud and on-premise services. As a result, it creates a new collaboration market, he said.
Mehra said that Cisco differentiates itself in the workplace market by providing a platform, devices, and mobile services in a single place with security. Cisco is the only provider to offer cross-company collaboration, he said.
“Cisco understands these needs and offer features and functions around meetings as well, Mehra said. “Webex Team is designed for safe and secure communications, while Webex Devices is designed to deliver a meeting experience, proximity enabling. and artificial intelligence-ready services,
“Webex Assistant uses natural language. An example of a specific group of users that needs this capability in Webex are those in the healthcare sector.”
Vatsun Thirapatarapong, managing director, Cisco in Thailand and Indochina, said that priority customers are in banking, services, education and healthcare.
In Thailand, there are several thousand companies using Webex Meeting, which has been in the market for five years, while Webex Calling has been available in the Thai market since 2017. Several hundred firms use this solution, Vatsun said.
The University of Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) is among the customers that have adopted all the solutions of Cisco Webex. UTCC is the first university to apply Webex Broad for learning.
“Thailand is an active market for Cisco Webex. Our job is to educate the market how to utilise the Cisco Webex platform.
“For example, banks apply Cisco Webex for doing robotic process automation (RPA),” said Vatsun.
