I’ll be honest, I miss the days of Cisco Live being in Barcelona, but Amsterdam is the choice now. There were as usual a load of interesting announcements and AI featured heavily, below I will have a look at the announcements that align to the CDW Modern Workspace.
At Cisco Live Amsterdam, several key announcements were made to future-proof workplaces, focusing on enhancing connectivity, security, and collaboration.
Intelligent Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7 Access Points and Cisco Spaces Integration combined will deliver better space utilisation insights and device performance will help deliver operational efficiencies.
AI-Powered Enhancements: AI Assistant for Networking and AI-Powered Security Cameras, the latter being similar to the developments we have seen in Meraki over the last 5 years.
Unified Security Approach: Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) with Hybrid Private Access to ensure secure and simple access.
Comprehensive Security: Security features across all Cisco products to protect both physical spaces and digital experiences, aligns very much to a renewed focus from industry but also customers who are looking to protect the employee experience (EX).
Collaboration and Productivity: Enhanced AI-driven collaboration tools, including real-time transcription, virtual backgrounds, and automatic note-taking.
It is important to realise that none of the announcements should be seen in isolation, with a renewed focus from Cisco these innovations are designed to create dynamic, secure, and efficient workplaces that can adapt to the evolving demands of modern business environments. I have grouped the announcements under three headings, Workspace Provisioning and Management, Productivity and Collaboration and the Employee Experience as they shows where they have maximum impact, but they are, in effect, all linked to an improved workspace experience.
Modern Workspace – Workspace Provisioning and Management
Although Cisco doesn’t have an end-user device focus, which is where this section would focus, it has made announcements that align with this area. One of the standout announcements at Cisco Live 2025 was the Universal Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) extension. This innovative solution is designed with an identity-first approach and is paired with Hybrid Private Access to deliver secure and simplified access for end users. By prioritising identity verification and enhancing secure access methodologies, Cisco aims to provide robust protection against unauthorised access while maintaining ease of use for legitimate users. This highlights a commitment to bolstering security measures in an increasingly digital and hybrid work environment and understanding that users want to work their way, wherever they find themselves and on whatever device they have to hand. This concept aligns well with the CDW Proposition for the Modern Workspace “Your Work, Your Way”.
Modern Workspace – Productivity and Collaboration
The Cisco AI Assistant for Webex Contact Centre announced at Cisco Live 2025 brings several significant improvements. It offers real-time transcription, so conversations are captured accurately and instantly, which can save time and reduce errors. Additionally, it provides automatic customer satisfaction scores, giving immediate feedback on customer interactions to help enhance service quality. The real-time transcription Cisco states can support more than 100 different languages, which is quite impressive, to be honest, although I’m not sure at present how flexible this is at changing on a per-call basis. Automatic customer satisfaction interested me, and I dug deeper into how this works, as I imagine many would have a question similar to mine about how this works. The AI scores CSAT by analysing a customer interaction's content, tone, and context. The AI uses natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis to evaluate customer feelings about the interaction. This analysis can consider factors such as the speed of resolution, the politeness of the agent, and specific keywords or phrases that indicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The AI can then generate a score or rating for each interaction, which agents and managers can immediately review. The review is essential; I think this is a much-needed addition to customer interactions. This quick feedback loop allows any issues to be promptly addressed and the ability to recognise outstanding service, ultimately leading to improved customer experiences. If I could add a feature to this fantastic capability, it would also be for these analytics to understand when a customer interaction results from a failed web or bot interaction, leading to human-to-human contact being required. Overall, these features improve the experience for agents and customers, making interactions more efficient and enjoyable. The AI Assistant aims to streamline communication processes and improve contact centre service experience.
Collaboration at CDW isn’t just about another meeting space; it is about providing employees the ability to collaborate face-to-face, online, or in a hybrid fashion as simply as possible while maintaining an equitable experience. It’s not just about static meeting rooms but collaboration spaces. The Cisco Room Bar BYOD, which was announced at Cisco Live, allows for a more flexible approach to these collaboration spaces, either by having a BYOD bar that you can travel with or spaces where your device will utilise the Cisco BYOD bar to expand your meeting room experience from your device, regardless of platform. Seamless collaboration is the key, a marked transition from Cisco’s previous standalone device focus with the Webex range of meeting room equipment. As you would expect, the Cisco Room bar also features a range of AI capabilities to make this more than just a camera, mic and speaker setup. If you are still using a slightly older laptop to run a meeting, you may not benefit from some of the more recent on-device AI capabilities made possible with the AI chips being delivered; the Cisco Room Bar will offload some of these features, offering an improved experience. AI-powered audio and Video will help reduce noise and provide automatic framing, which I have come to love in my screen-top webcam. All of the specifications are online, but with features like voice commands, facial recognition, and real-time transcription, this device adds a fair level of capability to a BYOD device. The last feature I’ll add is automatic note-taking, and it is worth considering that this is a paid-for feature in Microsoft Teams, yet Cisco alluded to this being available out of the box in the BYOD bar. I’ll let you know when I get to test this out!
I’ve grouped one of Cisco's sustainability initiatives into this section with the announcement of some new alliances that will deliver end-to-end direct current microgrid solutions utilising Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) and Fault Managed Power (FMP) to reduce energy use in Modern Workspaces. This will probably fall under the Cisco Spaces umbrella, strengthening the connection between infrastructure and control systems to deliver more intelligent employee spaces.
Modern Workspace – Employee Experience
Wi-Fi 7 was also announced, and I agree that this is more of an infrastructure conversation, especially considering that not many end-user devices support this yet; it will make a difference to end-user experiences. First and foremost, it offers faster data transfer speeds, potentially reaching up to 46 Gbps, which means quicker downloads, smoother streaming, and more responsive online applications or virtual desktop experience. Another noteworthy feature is the improved latency, which ensures minimal delay in data transmission. This is particularly beneficial for applications requiring real-time communication, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), online collaboration solutions and remote desktop connections, including virtualised applications. These last benefits combined allow for a BYOD approach to devices as applications and content can be containerised and streamed to an end user without having to fully manage the device. If you tie this back to the ZTNA announcement, you can see how these solutions from Cisco, when combined, start hinting at an operating system-independent approach for end users.
In summary, Cisco's advancements showcased at Cisco Live 2025 are set to revolutionise the modern workspace. From the Universal Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) extension providing secure and simplified access, to the AI-driven enhancements in the Webex Contact Centre and the versatile Cisco Room Bar BYOD, these innovations emphasise improved security, productivity, and collaboration. Introducing Wi-Fi 7 and sustainable initiatives like direct current microgrids further underscore Cisco's commitment to evolving workplaces that are both efficient and environmentally conscious.
CDW is here to help you navigate these transformative technologies. Our expertise can help you understand these solutions in depth, ensuring your organisation is future-proofed, and your technology investments are protected.
Contributors
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Tim RussellChief Technologist - Modern Workspace
