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Cisco Systems is working to innovate its video conferencing platform, Webex, to make virtual participation in a face-to-face meeting a more productive experience, CEO Chuck Robbins told CNBC on Wednesday.
Webex and competing offerings from Zoom and Microsoft have seen increased user growth during the coronavirus pandemic, as businesses have been forced to switch to remote work and business travel has been severely curtailed.
In an interview with “Squawk on the Street,” Robbins said he envisions a hybrid model in the future – with a return to the office accompanied by more flexibility around remote working than before the pandemic.
“In the future world we’re going to have people sitting in conference rooms and we’re going to have people at home,” Robbins said, in response to a question from CNBC’s David Faber about how video conferencing will be different. in five years. .
“You know what it’s like to be a distant participant in a meeting. It’s been terrible, so we’re working hard on a technology that gives both the same experience, which is the first thing,” Robbins continued. .
Over time, he said he expects further advancements with Webex, which Cisco acquired in 2007.
“I think you’re going to see real 3D experiences. You’re going to be virtually in the room and there’s a lot of work our teams are doing right now to build this next-gen technology,” Robbins said. “I think that’s what you will experience in a few years.”
Webex had an average of 600 million users in the second fiscal quarter, Robbins said on a conference call Tuesday to discuss the company’s earnings report. That’s an increase from the 324 million users Webex saw in March as the Covid pandemic in the United States began to accelerate, according to Reuters.
At the same time, Cisco is among the companies that would benefit from a more widespread return to the office as its network switches and wi-fi access points are used by businesses. Robbins said during the analyst call that some Cisco employees have expressed a desire to return to the office, or at least rework remotely on their own terms.
Robbins said Cisco’s goal for Webex is to level the playing field in meetings when people have more flexibility regarding their location. “I think it will be less and less important that you are in the room and that you are at home,” he said. “We want to make you a productive member of the meeting, wherever you are.”
Shares of San Jose, California-based Cisco, one of 30 stocks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell more than 4% on Wednesday as investors digested persistent challenges in the platform’s business. the company’s infrastructure, its leading product segment.
– Jordan Novet of CNBC contributed to this report.
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