Cisco Gets it Right with their first wireless headset

Even prior to the unprecedented, pandemic-driven shift to working from home that swept across many companies globally in March 2020, the reality of work for myself and my colleagues consisted of constant, back-to-back teleconferences and video collaboration sessions. A high-quality headset is a vital part of my work-kit, and I've tried out many different ones over the years. While Cisco is a relative new-comer to the headset market, they have clearly learned lessons from the experiences of the existing competition. Across my organization, we use headsets from all of the major manufacturers, and the quality of the Cisco units is certainly on par or better.

In a word: Yes. The fact that the headset can be powered directly from my PC's USB port meant that I was able to start using it within a minute of unpacking it, without even needing to wait for it charge up first. Setting it up as a Bluetooth device was very straightforward. When I plugged in the included wireless dongle into my PC, I was pleased to see that the dongle was already paired with the headset, meaning it was working right away. Longer-term, as we deploy more of these across the company, the fact that the units can be managed through Cisco's Control Hub portal for asset management and firmware updates will be beneficial.

"HD Audio" has rapidly become the norm as most meetings now take advantage of VoIP. The microphones on the Cisco 700 series wireless headsets in particular filter out background noise with ease, resulting in clear audio and eliminating the need to repeat myself. Likewise, the high dynamic range of the headset output makes it easy to pick out subtle nuances in the speech of others.

This is one area that we continue to adapt for our work practices. We primarily use headsets with PC-based UC softclients, and the lack of a PC-based app for self-management is a weakness compared to the key competitor alternatives. However, the fact that organizations that use Cisco Webex and the Webex app as their soft-client, will receive some management benefits for identifying when firmware updates are available.

We have fully implemented flexible workspaces within our office locations, with employees reserving a desk or meeting room in advance. Webex meetings are the norm now for internal meetings, levelling the meeting experience for all attendees regardless of location. We still have a ways to go in terms of user culture, with variances across working teams as far as the use of our hybrid work tools to maximize performance.

The greatest challenge was, and continues to be, the general feeling of uncertainty around personal health and safety. For some, the return to the office brings with it a greater ability to separate work from personal life. For others, the shared flexible workspaces are noisier and filled with more distractions versus their work-from-home setup. Being able to access similar tools in all locations (such as portable personal headsets like the Cisco 730) does bring some predictability to the otherwise constantly changing workplace reality.

With almost all meetings being facilitated through Cisco Webex, it's the features that are usually out of sight that have the most impact. Webex Meetings' ability to handle noisy environments is almost legendary compared to the competition. People Focus capabilities when using Cisco meeting devices further enhances the ability to have a level playing field for all participants regardless of location or connection.

Generally, greater insight into the challenges of maintaining a balance between focused work and meetings, as well as greater personal disciplne in schedule management. Just because the hybrid work model and the tools that support it help to let us work from anywhere, anytime... does not mean that is the best way to work all of the time.

Cisco, with the Webex cloud collaboration platform and the closely integrated portfolio of devices (phones, headsets, video endpoints) provides us the maximum efficiency with the least management overhead. There is no need to spend a lot of time and money on integrating components from multiple vendors. Interoperability.. just is. Device management and updates are simple to stay on top of.