TLDR: Cisco announces AI Notetaker, AI Polling Agent, Task Agent, Meeting Scheduler, and AI Receptionist, plays nicely with Zoom, and continues Microsoft kinship.
To share my WebexOne experience, here’s exactly how the event unfolded for me…
After what is possibly the most scenic 5k run circuit I’ve had the pleasure of running, I settled down into the press and analyst briefing on day one of WebexOne.
Connected Intelligence in Collaboration
Anurag Dhingra, SVP/GM, Enterprise Connectivity & Collaboration, opened by saying, “It won’t come as a surprise to you, but you’re gonna hear a lot about AI over the next couple of days”.
And, boy, he didn’t undersell that.
Under the umbrella of connected intelligence, announcements include:
- AI-ready data centers
- Digital teammates (autonomous agents)
- AI Agents for Webex suite
- AI Quality Management
- AI Canvas with Collaboration
- Room0S 26
Beyond The Noise: Cisco’s Intentional AI for a Future-proofed Connected World
As we moved into session two, fan-favourite, Snorre Kjesbu, SVP & GM Employee Experience, introduced us to Cisco’s “intentional AI” for a future-proofed, connected world.
Focusing on AI not being piecemeal and everything being backed into Cisco’s “One platform, one exceptional experience” play, Snorre broke the levels of Cisco AI into the following categories:
- AI at the Edge
- AI in the Cloud
- AI in Control
Almost immediately, Snorre extended Cisco’s intelligence into other platforms:
- Native Microsoft Teams Rooms
- Webex Calling integration with Microsoft Teams
- Simple Zoom meeting connection
That means regardless of your platform front-end, you can benefit from Webex Suite intelligence:
- AI-powered, enterprise-grade calling
- Audience engagement
- AI notes and action items on every call
- AI-generated vidcasts and polls
- AI chapters, highlights, and search
Touching on what is what I think the strongest component of the Webex Suite, we now also see an AI Assistant featured prominently in Control Hub. You can now ask for insights, help, and direction when administering your phones, users, meetings, etc.
Amit Barave, VP Product for Webex Suite, then ramped up the new announcements for five new AI agents, with controlled availability from Q1 2026:
- Notetaker: Available on the Webex app and even on Webex devices
- Polling Agent: Spots discussion topics and prompts live polls for immediate engagement
- Task Agent: Proactive task assignment and first steps
- Meeting Scheduler: Who needs to be there, when, and what’s on the agenda
- Receptionist: Automate routine inquiries without the need for transferring to a human
He then teased that the agent is the new API. In the near future, expect Webex AI agents to be interacting between other platforms like:
- Microsoft Copilot
- Salesforce
- Amazon Q
- Jira
- Glean
- Slack
- Outlook
- Microsoft Teams
For example, in PowerPoint, Microsoft Copilot can be queried using the Webex AI Assistant. Regardless of the apps you’re using, you can rely on a single AI Assistant, retaining context and remembering preferences.
Connected Intelligence to Redefine Customer Experience
Following a timely heckle something along the lines of “But what about contact center?”, Vinod Muthukrishnan, VP & COO of Webex Customer Experience, discussed the idea of being in the era of the last generation of the human-only workforce.
Designed to empower all stakeholders in the customer experience process, Webex Contact Center will soon come with:
- Near real-time topic analytics
- Suggested responses
- Consult and transfer summaries
- Wrap-up summaries and codes
- Multilingual capabilities
Inside the Quality Management module—something previously delivered via third parties—we’ll also see a ton of AI and automation:
- Automated scoring
- Visual dashboards and insights
- Performance evaluations
- Real-time guidance for agents
- Personalized coaching
- Conversational analytics inside a new UI
Sticking with the theme of integration and cross-platform, Webex Contact Center users will be able to access its functionality via a choice of preferred CRM interfaces. You can also bring your own agent, using Amazon Lex, if your business so prefers.
Embracing Interoperability for the Sake of the Customer
Aside from the new in-platform announcements, we also heard from Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, who spoke about the new Zoom Meetings for Cisco Rooms, available Q4 2025.
Businesses running Zoom for online meetings but using Cisco for in-room equipment can now benefit from Zoom’s usability and continuity while getting the best bits from Cisco’s market- dominating in-room experiences.
One final session I took in was the one that always piques my interest: Cisco and Microsoft: Enhancing productivity through powerful partnership. I was both surprised and delighted to see Travis Pouliot—known by most as Cisco-first—presenting precisely how you get the best of both worlds.
Cisco and Microsoft now play nicely in the following categories:
- Webex Calling in Microsoft Teams
- Slido for Microsoft PowerPoint, Teams meetings, and AI-generated polls
- Import Teams meetings into Vidcast with AI Assistant
- Bi-directional support between Cisco AI Assistant and Microsoft Copilot
- Cisco devices for Microsoft Teams Rooms
This doesn’t just mean you get the basic functionality, but rather the full Webex Suite experience inside Microsoft Teams Rooms, devices, and software.
In fact, Cisco is now officially Microsoft’s fastest growing partner in the device category. We’ve come quite a long way, don’t you think?
Want More Webex?: Read the State of Webex 2025 here
