Cisco has promised to bring additional innovative online video conferencing capabilities to Webex Groups eventually. But for now, consumers ought to rely on the vendor’s Webex Meetings item for complete-highlighted online video contacting.
Cisco has been doing the job for decades to bring the two apps nearer together. But in spite of relying on the similar cloud infrastructure, Groups even now lags behind its collaboration cousin.
Webex Groups lacks polls, in-assembly chat, display-sharing with remote desktop handle, 5×5 online video shows and critical host options like the skill to instantly mute attendees on entry.
What is additional, Webex Groups consumers can’t access vital online video conferencing capabilities devoid of a license for Webex Meetings. Those abilities include things like assembly recording, guest access and dial-in quantities.
Regardless of marking Webex Groups as an all-in-a person collaboration app, Cisco generally sells the item in a bundle with Webex Meetings.
“We are actively doing the job to bring all the innovative online video conferencing abilities of the Webex Meetings to Webex Groups,” Cisco claimed in an emailed assertion.
Later this thirty day period, Cisco plans to tackle a person important shortcoming in Webex Groups by growing the product’s online video display. The app will soon help a 3×3 online video grid. But it will even now present much less online video panels than Webex Meetings, which has a 5×5 array.
Need for big team online video conferences has soared amid the coronavirus pandemic. People want to be in a position to see every person on display at the similar time. Some customers have selected a online video platform based only on this issue. Cisco did not say when it would help a 5×5 grid view in Webex Groups.
Another aspect lacking from Webex Groups is a “wellness checker” button, like the a person in Webex Meetings for troubleshooting connectivity concerns. Also, the online video interfaces of Webex Groups and Webex Meetings are not identical, which could confuse consumers who host conferences in both of those.
Cisco released Webex Groups as Cisco Spark in 2015. The app in the beginning relied on a different cloud engine than Webex Meetings. The enterprise later on rebranded the item as part of a broader system to streamline its portfolio of communications apps.
Not like rivals Microsoft and Slack, Cisco has not disclosed how numerous individuals use its workforce collaboration app. On the other hand, the enterprise claimed 324 million individuals attended a Webex assembly in March.
“Clearly, it is really been a get the job done in development from the Webex Groups side for a pair of decades now,” claimed Josh Warcop, senior solutions engineer at Byteworks, a Cisco reseller. “We are almost certainly heading to see a whole lot additional aspect parity listed here just this 12 months.”
On the flip side, Cisco claimed it was also doing the job to bring at minimum two Webex Groups online video capabilities to Webex Meetings. A single is the skill for anyone to start off a assembly, not just the host. The other is the integration of Meetings with online video mesh nodes, which allow businesses maintain some online video site visitors on premises.
