The remote working trend is shifting companies’ digital work hub from email to team collaboration applications. Increasingly employees rely on them as their primary means of engaging with their co-workers to manage tasks and workflows.
Cisco Webex Teams provides continuous teamwork beyond the meeting with group messaging, file and screen sharing, white boarding and more. It is a secure platform with end-to-end encryption, that means your messages, files, and whiteboard drawings are fully encrypted right from your device to your recipients' devices. CISCO WEBEX MEETINGS REFERENCE ARTICLE.
Team collaboration is rapidly extending beyond enterprise boundaries as companies look to embrace team apps to improve engagement with partners, suppliers, and customers.
- In the Teams apps menu, click on Setup policies and add the Cisco Webex Call app to your Microsoft setup. Users will now be able to click Webex Call at the bottom of a window when chatting in Microsoft Teams.
- (Preview) Webex Teams enables continuous teamwork with video meetings, group messaging, file sharing, and white boarding.
In April 2020, Cisco announced a new Call App for Microsoft Teams. The app launches call through the Cisco voice and video services, even when you click-to-call in Microsoft Teams. As a result, users can join a Microsoft Teams meeting from a Cisco Webex Room Device and join a Cisco Webex Meeting from a Microsoft Teams Room.
Below is a list of frequently asked questions about Cisco Webex Meetings within Microsoft Teams.
Q: How can I use the Cisco Webex Meetings for a Team Meeting?
You can hold meetings with your team on Microsoft Teams with Cisco Webex Meetings after you or a member of your team has installed the Webex bot on your Microsoft Team. For a team meeting, only one member of the team needs to install the app. To install the Cisco Webex app, go to Teams on your Microsoft Teams then click on Manage Teams. Search for Cisco Webex Meetings App in the app store and then install it.
However, before you can set up Microsoft Teams for Cisco Webex Meetings, your Cisco Webex site administrator must first configure Cisco Webex either from the Control Hub or site administration as the case may be. As an administrator, you must link the users matching the Webex account with that of their Office 365 account. Similarly, the Microsoft Office 365 administrator must accept or decline permission to add the Cisco Webex Meeting.
Q: What are the permissions needed to use Cisco Webex Meetings in Microsoft Teams?
To have a seamless integration of Cisco Webex Meetings into Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office 365 will require you to accept or decline some of the following permissions from Cisco Webex :
- Read user calendar
- Read and write calendar in all mailboxes
- Maintain access to data you have given it access to
- Read all groups
- Read all users’ full profiles
- Read contacts in all mailboxes
- Read directory data
Q: How can I join the Cisco Webex Meetings from Microsoft Teams?
You can join a Cisco Webex Meetings from the Command Box in the Webex Tab and accepting the join prompt sent via message extension.
To join a Cisco Webex Meetings through Webex Tab, simply click on the Upcoming Meetings and join the scheduled meeting. You can also use both the meeting number from the email invitation sent to you or Personal room ID from the Personal Room URL to join a meeting.
On the Command Box located at the top of Microsoft Teams, enter @Cisco Webex Meeting and then enter the meeting number and then select join.
Q: What is the maximum number of participants that Cisco Webex Meetings in Microsoft Teams can hold?
Microsoft Teams can currently accommodate 250 participants in a meeting. However, it plans to expand the maximum number of attendees to 1000, while Webex already has a ceiling of 1000 attendees.
Q: How do I schedule Cisco Webex Meetings in Microsoft Teams?
You can schedule a meeting directly from your Microsoft Teams workspace with Webex Tab. You can also schedule a meeting on a channel or a private chat with Webex Tab.
To schedule a meeting in a channel, select Webex Tab from the channel and choose the schedule. Choose the meeting type which is between Cisco Webex Meetings and Webex personal Room meeting. A channel meeting is open to everyone in the channel.
For a private meeting, select the Webex Tab in a private chat with the Cisco Webex Meetings bot. Private meetings are only for invited individuals and not all the team members.
For both private and channel meetings, you can select the frequency of your meeting when scheduling. You can choose whether you want a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual meeting.
You can also use a command @Cisco Webex Meetings on the Cisco Webex meeting App to share a meeting link from your Personal Room with your participants or the join button if you do not have a Personal Room. Use the help command on your app if you are not sure of the appropriate command.
Q: How do I add participants to a meeting?
You can add attendees as you schedule your meeting by adding the email address of the participants. Simply select “invite all channel members” in the Attendees box if you want to invite everyone in your Team. To invite only some participants, enter the email address of the people you want to invite.
To make it easy to add participants’ email addresses, the ‘look ahead’ feature of Cisco Webex lets you add attendees by typing the first three letters of their email addresses and the rest will auto-fill. If more than one person’s email address starts with the same first three letters, you will find the suggestion of all the participants.
Q: Will I know if a scheduled meeting has started?
Yes. You will get notified five minutes before your scheduled meeting will start from your Cisco Webex app. You can also check the ‘Upcoming Meetings’ list to know if a scheduled meeting has started, how long it has been going on, and the number of participants who have joined.
Q: What do I do if I am not ready to join a meeting?
When notified of a meeting from your Cisco Webex device, you can hit snooze or join the meeting immediately. If you are not ready to join a meeting, you can simply continue to snooze it until you are ready.
Q: How do I record a meeting?
You can record your meeting to listen to it later in case you miss any part of the meeting. As a participant in an ongoing video meeting, you can record a meeting by tapping the ellipses (…) menu on the screen.
Q: Will others know if I record a meeting?
The meeting participants will be notified of the recording when the meeting ends with the topic of the meeting, date, time, duration, and a play button. At the end of the meeting, you can play and share your recordings with other participants in the channel or private chat. You can go back and listen to the recordings from the last ten days on the Webex sites on the right side of the Webex Tab as saved on the cloud.
Q: Can I share content from Microsoft Teams with Cisco Webex Meetings participants?
Both the Cisco Webex Meeting and Microsoft Teams support content sharing in a meeting. As an active speaker in a meeting, you can share your screen and use digital whiteboarding to buttress your point in a meeting. Using a dual-screen solution, you can see the active speaker on one side and the shared content on the other. You can share content bi-directionally from Microsoft Teams to Webex Meeting during a meeting.
However, you cannot chat or share direct messages from the native app.
Q: Can I use Microsoft Team’s feature in Cisco Webex Meetings?
You can also use some of the Microsoft Teams features in Cisco Webex Meetings, like screen sharing, digital whiteboard, and virtual background during video conferences. However, the Cisco Webex Meetings app for Microsoft Teams does not support hybrid Microsoft Exchange mailboxes.
The interoperability between the Cisco Webex Meeting and Microsoft Teams allows users to join Cisco Webex Meetings from Microsoft Teams if invited. Cisco Webex users can also join Microsoft Teams room’s meeting through their Cisco Webex devices.
Q: Can I use my mobile device for Cisco – Microsoft meetings?
Yes, you can use any mobile device that supports the Webex Meeting app to start, schedule, and join Microsoft Teams meetings. Cisco Webex Meetings supports mobile devices such as Touch 10, iPads, iPhones, Huawei, Xiaomi, and the new Samsung series. You can download and install the Cisco Webex Meetings app, accept the permission, and join a scheduled meeting chat with a Microsoft Team user. Your mobile device must be at least 3G compatible to support Webex -Teams meetings.
Q: How secure is the Cisco Webex Meetings within Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams has end-to-end encryption. Cisco Webex Meetings in Microsoft Teams can take advantage of the Azure AD integration in Microsoft Teams.
Q: Which is better, Cisco Webex Meetings or Microsoft Teams?
The choice between Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex Meetings is a difficult one. Although the two collaboration platforms have similar features, they also have distinct differences. It depends on the need of your organization.
The app integrations built into the Microsoft Teams makes it the best choice for collaboration. But Cisco Webex Meetings offers better conferencing solutions if your company uses Cisco voice and video devices & services. Microsoft Teams has more extensive features in its free plan than Cisco Webex Meetings. Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex Meetings have different levels of security but Webex provides better end-users control when it comes to management than Microsoft Teams.
You need to consider what your company prioritizes. You can compare the cost, security, and telephony extensions as well as the main features of both platforms to determine your choice.
Q: Can Microsoft Teams replace Cisco Webex Meetings?
Choosing Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex depends on your enterprise needs. Both Microsoft and Cisco are focused on bringing enterprise solutions. However, while Cisco Cisco Webex Meetings can take advantage of Cisco’s hardware solution to deliver superior video conferencing experience to its users, Microsoft can build on its Office 365 with Teams to ensure users have seamless communication and collaboration.
Q: What is the difference between Cisco Webex Meetings and Cisco Webex Teams?
Cisco Webex Meetings is a cloud-based solution for online video-conferencing and meeting while Cisco Webex Teams is a cloud-based collaboration app for teamwork. Features like meetings, group messaging, file sharing, and screen sharing are inclusive in Cisco Webex Teams.
Q: How can I use Microsoft Teams to call into a Cisco Webex Meeting?
The integration of Microsoft Teams within the Cisco Webex Meeting does not allow Microsoft Teams users to call directly into a Cisco Webex Meetings session unless invited to join the meeting.
Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex: Building Bridges
To serve business needs, enterprises often end up installing custom software or using multiple tools to fulfil requirements.
Many tools offer freedom to avail distinct features, but accessing those features from different resources can be a daunting task.
That’s where interoperability makes sense.
When two or more applications interoperate, they offer users to have access to all features.
The co-existence of two tools not only provides an extensive list of functionalities but also makes the workplace productivity, and the business process twice as efficient.
Messaging interoperability: Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex
The number of messaging users is rapidly growing.
From around 1.6 billion users in 2014 to 3.8 billion users in 2018, the growth of messaging provides an insight into the need and challenges on interoperability between messaging and collaboration tools.
To meet the distinct demands of the company, more and more enterprises are seeking means to bridge the features of multiple tools in one system.
While many applications can be bridged together, this article mainly addresses the interoperability of Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex.
Here, we will highlight the best medium of connecting these two tools, and making the most of it.
Why Microsoft and Cisco is a great combination
Here’s why Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex make for a perfect interoperability combination:
- With Microsoft Teams, the users can avail Microsoft Licenses, Skype for Business features, and integrate natively with Office 365 features
- Given Cisco’s legacy, users get access to hardware like Cisco Webex boards, VoIP handsets, and telepresence solutions
- Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex interoperability is the optimum solution for company acquisitions and mergers where one company’s resources are on Microsoft Teams, and the other one uses Cisco Webex.
- Where Cisco Webex offers core hardware, Microsoft allows integration with leading third-party tools like Adobe Creative Cloud, Trello, Slack, Outlook, Survey Monkey, Wrike, Jira, Folly, and many more
Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex interoperability options
1 – Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams Office 365 integration
Recently, Cisco announced the compatibility of Webex with Office 365. With such an alliance, the users can easily access OneDrive, SharePoint, and even G-Suite applications within the Webex app.
Pros
1. You no longer require signing off from Webex to access Office 365 productivity tools like MS words, MS Excel, and Powerpoint
2. Since Office 365 assures robust security to your company’s data, Webex integration will allow you to benefit data governance have to keep your files encrypted
3. Content Created in MS tools can be easily transferred to Webex storage space
Cons
1. This combination works fine with different Microsoft Office tools, but the integration of Microsoft Teams is not possible
2. Webex users cannot make changes to Microsoft files
Author Verdict
The MS Office 365 and Webex team’s integration is perfect for users who need to access Office 365 tools within Webex, but it’s not a great pick for those looking for MS team’s collaboration too.
2 – Bot integration
IFTTT (If This Then That) allows the collaboration of applications and devices.
Through IFTTT, a rule or function is established for one device or app based on the action or behavior on another device or app.
One example is syncing an Instagram account with Twitter so the photos display on Twitter rather than a link.
In the business world, a similar process is followed when setting IFTTT for both Cisco and Microsoft. So, when a Webex contact sends a text, the bot in Microsoft Teams also gets a notification.
Pros
1. Users have the freedom to add customized actions
2. Bot integration has several pre-built activities to choose from across an extensive range of devices and applications
Webex Teams Microsoft Edge
3. The familiar feel and design of IFTTT applications in the business world, that you may be used to from a consumer world
Cons
1. Administrative time for adding custom options is lengthy
2. With new users, the administrator is asked to add further actions or recipes
3. Limited features across platforms
Author Verdict
Bot integration can facilitate collaboration across Webex and Teams, but the cross-platform experience is not as seamless since notifications are not received in a native app, instead of in the bot itself.
3 –Cisco Webex Meetings for Microsoft Teams
Microsoft users who wish to host live meetings can integrate with Cisco Webex.
You don’t have to switch to a different tool since the interoperability allows Microsoft users to host Cisco Meetings directly.
Pros
1. Users can host and schedule Cisco meetings without signing out of Microsoft Teams
2. The meeting app is available for Workplace from Facebook and Slack too
Cons
1. During the Webex meeting, from Microsoft Teams, you cannot exchange chats, messages, or files
2. Webex Meetings for Microsoft Teams does not support accounts on meetingsIn.webex.com and webex.meetings.com
Author Verdict
Cisco Webex Host Meetings for Microsoft is an excellent integration, but you’ll have to compromise with limited meeting functionality.
Bridging the gap
Interoperability between Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex is simple.
You don’t need a technical developer, and no longer do you need to shoehorn one app into another. There’s only one tool you need: Mio.
Mio is the only platform to fully sync Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams.
Mio operates through APIs and runs in the background to offer seamless messaging interoperability across channels and messages.
To start connecting your Microsoft and Cisco software, you don’t even need to download a new app, as it’s an entirely native experience.
How to Make Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams Interoperable
Praetorians mod imperial. You don’t need administrative support or a ton of training to get started. The way Mio allows collaboration across platform is simple.
Here’s how a non-techie can do it:
Step 1: Getting Started
Request a demo here (will open in a new tab).
Sign up by entering your email address and name. A Mio account rep will send you a verification link for account authentication for web-based interoperability experience.
Once your account is registered with Mio, you will need to add basic details that’ll help the system learn which programs or applications you want to sync. Once you have shared account details, Mio will scale to fit your business requirements.
Step 2: Channel mapping and User mapping
The next step involves administering your team and adding the channels of your choice. For example, you can sync the ‘Project Management’ channel in Cisco Webex with the ‘PM’ channel of Microsoft Teams.
If you have dozens of linked channels, you can use the search feature to make the process super efficient.
Step 3: Message Routing
Once you’ve linked your channels, Mio can provide interoperability between these specific teams. There’s also an option to sync all channels in one go. You can also enable future sync so any new channels are automatically synced.
Step 4: People Sync
Mio isn’t restricted to just syncing channels. People Sync allows you to send direct messages between Webex and Microsoft Teams.
Once People Sync is active, Auto Prompt sends automatic prompts to users whenever they receive a message from anyone using Mio so they can start receiving messages from other platforms.
Bridging the gap between Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex in your company
With Mio as a bridging tool, you can easily make your favorite messaging tools interoperable. You no longer need a complicated development or migration strategy if your team’s different applications.
This is a guest post provided by Md Mohsin Ansari, Marketing Manager at Troop Messenger. Troop Messenger is a business messenger that is spreading its wings across all industries by bringing all internal communication to one place. Connect with him on Linkedin.
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