Item: Webex App
Rating: 9
Author: Mitchell Bumgarner

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our entire organization has access to, and heavily relies on the Webex App! We use the Webex App to communicate, share content, and collaborate daily. Our Cisco Unified Collaboration practice also not only uses it, but we help install and configure a wide variety of Webex features for companies all across the globe.

Once deployed and configured for those particular companies, we then use the Webex App to continue to communicate, collaborate, and assist those customers faster and easier than before! We really love the Webex App, and pretty much live in it daily, to perform every facet of our jobs.

Pros and Cons

Webex App is great for sharing content and in a hurry. With a click of a button, you can screen share to coworkers, or fire up a Webex Meeting, right from the same Webex App window you were just chatting in.
Webex App does a great job of allowing custom notifications, so you can filter out some of the daily noise and interruptions. I have my Webex App configured to have my most important notifications on all the time, and the noisy rooms that we're all a part of, are set to mentions only. This works particularly well for me, so that I don't miss any of the large and important updates that might be sent through those spaces, but lets me catch up on the information in those spaces at my leisure.
Webex App also does a great job of integrating into our existing Cisco Unified Communications Manager, so that we can have seamless access between our PCs, Phones, Mobile Phones, and many more! We use Webex App to make sure we can connect and collaborate with each other, no matter where we may be.
Webex App does a wonderful job of gathering, scheduling, and providing information regarding my plethora of daily meetings! I use it daily to manage, host, and launch meetings throughout the day. I even use Webex App to help and track my busy schedule.

Webex App could use a slight improvement on the search feature. I find that sometimes when searching for specific results that I know exist, I have to manually find them from Spaces that have long since moved on from that topic. After finding the phrase I was searching for, sometimes there is no difference between the needed message and the exact searched phrase.
I would like to be able to turn off "Log Missed Calls" from Webex App like you can do with CUCM and Cisco phones. I would rather not know that Webex App specifically, missed a call when I have answered the call on my desk phone.
I believe the Whiteboard and shared content could be surfaced better. I use the Webex App daily, so I am quite familiar with the location of those somewhat hidden features, but I believe many others would benefit from a slightly more inclusive UI around that content creation/tracking.

Return on Investment

We have been able to boost sales and services because we can collaborate directly without clients and customers. We use Webex App to communicate directly via chat, meetings, and calls, rather than sending tons of emails back and forth like we used to do.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams

We use the Webex App for better and faster communication. The "thread", "quote", and "reaction" features are but a few of the much richer experiences on the Webex App. In my opinion, instant content sharing, conversation tracking and responses, and integrated meeting experiences are also truly much better than that of MS Teams. While MS Teams can integrate into SharePoint a little better, but that's to be expected from an MS product. However, other than the SharePoint integration, MS Teams lacks many other features and services that we use too heavily in the Webex App to ever consider switching solely to MS Teams. Our company does have and uses both, but mostly for their respective required feature sets. Our Collaboration and Networking practices especially use Webex App handily over MS Teams. The group communication and collaboration are just too poor on MS Teams, and just too good on Webex App. The MS Teams application will automatically hide certain channels if you don't frequent them often enough, or even if you do, but don't participate. Also, because we already have Cisco CUCM and other collaboration products in use, we prefer to use Webex App for our chosen communication method.

Support Rating

I work with Cisco TAC, at least once a week. They never fail to provide wonderful support, and are always willing to go above and beyond to find the answer to whatever might go wrong. They support their products and know them inside and out, much better than many other competitors. There are no hoops to jump through to get the thorough and fast support that you need. I even use Webex App to communicate directly with many of the TAC engineers that I work with.

Key Insights

Do you think Webex App delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Webex App's feature set?

Yes

Did Webex App live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Webex App go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Webex App again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams, Cisco AnyConnect, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Microsoft Visual Studio Code, Telegram, Webex Meetings, Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE), Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager), Cisco Jabber, VMware Horizon (formerly VMware View), Citrix Workspace, Notepad++, GitHub, Python IDLE, Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series, Discord

Usability

Very few complaints or issues with Webex App. This tool has really developed and grown over the past 6 years. There are definitely certain things that could be improved, but that will happen with any application and will likely happen over time. The core features and use cases that Webex App currently contains, are more than enough for most businesses today! The integrations into existing systems and processes are some of the most important uses that we rely on from Webex App.

Likelihood to Recommend

Webex App really is perfect for sharing content and collaborating insanely fast. We host ad hoc Webex meetings, right from the Webex App all the time. I can help a coworker troubleshoot a problem that they are seeing on their desktop, just with the click of a button. I also use the GIF search feature daily! I love to share some good humor amongst friends and coworkers, and it's a single button click away. Of course, as with any GIF search feature, you have to make sure the audience is well-suited for the content you're sharing, but Webex App makes it easy to find the right content for most situations.

We really couldn't do our job, without Webex App! It's truly transformed how we work, and we will never go back.

Overall Satisfaction with Webex App