For the launch of Cognitive Collaboration, Cisco Webex's artificial intelligence and machine-learning powered feature set, my team created a video highlighting product quality, ease of use, and security.
view solutionFor years, Cisco has been a market leader in video conferencing solutions. Cisco is also a leader in security solutions. Our vast and interconnected product portfolio gave us an advantage, but as anyone knows, technology changes rapidly. Leading up to one of our biggest conferences, Enterprise Connect, we had to showcase how we were maintaining our leadership and legacy while also exploring new opportunities.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the hottest buzzwords in the tech industry, but they are often misunderstood. One of the main concerns many people have is the issue of data privacy. In preparing to launch our new feature set powered by these two technologies, we had to communicate a message that would instill confidence and trust in even our most skeptical critics.
Power better meeting experiences with features centered around machine learning and artificial intelligence, including People Insights for Cisco Webex Meetings and Webex Assistant.
People Insights for Webex Meetings gives all meeting attendees access to read curated biographies about the individuals they are meeting with, including information like company history, education, and current news. Users have the ability to edit or hide their profile at any time if they wish to keep their information private.
The Webex Assistant is a virtual voice assistant that is integrated within the Webex Devices portfolio. The Webex Assistant can schedule meetings, alert you on conference room availability, and start meetings via voice command. All you have to say is “OK, Webex.”
Facial recognition is a feature of the Webex Room Series devices. It accompanies the facial detection feature that allows the device camera to track the movement of the speaker. The facial recognition feature is tied to your company’s directory information and will show names and title tags at the bottom of the screen so you always know who’s in the room.
We launched the video during the week of Enterprise Connect to sustain the interest and momentum after the keynote sessions. The video was played in the booth during the conference so attendees had a reference point when asking questions.
The video was featured in the following places, including:
My leadership commissioned a second video, after the success of the first high-level video, to dig deeper into the details of the People Insights feature.
I also wrote the script, recorded the on-screen voiceover for this video, and worked together with the product and UX teams to compile the correct screens. The video was featured in a stand-alone blog on Cisco.com to introduce the feature to the general public.
The Cognitive Collaboration product and solutions launch was one of the biggest launches our team had ever worked on that expanded across print, digital, experiential, and OOH marketing. It was also one of the most important launches for the team because it signaled our business’ shift to focusing on emerging fields like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing.
Any content created for the launch also had to be relevant for at least six months to a year after the event had finished. We created general messaging to ensure any future updates to the product would not require extra effort to re-edit the existing videos.
Despite the stress, chaos, and time constraints, I'm so grateful that I was able to work on this project. It's wonderful to see that my work is still being promoted almost a year after launch. My three years at Cisco were the most formative years of my life so far because I had to mature very quickly. Working at Cisco taught me how to manage stress, manage people (even people higher up than me), take criticism and feedback positively, rise up from setbacks, and move forward with confidence.
Ted Calandra, XLNS Films
Cisco Webex product team