All About Cisco WebEx, A Secure Zoom Alternative

Owned by Cisco Communications, Webex (also referred to as Webinar) is one of the most secure online meeting interfaces.

WebEx was founded in the mid-90s and became a publicly offered service in 2000. It can be run either through a web browser, or from an app that can be downloaded to your desktop. The “meetings” function has some of the more standard features expected from a platform. Multi-participant or “Brady Bunch view”, active speaker, video pinning, and video spotlighting are available to create an exciting participation experience. What this software does well is it integrates seamlessly with 3rd party hardware such as capture cards and a variety of digital audio interfaces. All video coming into the platform is converted to 720p and is pushed out to viewers the same way. Bandwidth use with this platform will depend on the number of participants in the meeting, and how many of them have their video displays on at once. All users of WebEx have the ability to identify themselves and the muting of audio and video remains standard for each participant. This platform also features seamless integration with Outlook for email calendar, and scheduling. It is our recommendation that video playback not be done while screen sharing, as the frame rates are incorrect and videos will skip or experience other playback issues. This can be fixed with a few solutions, however for ease of use screen sharing is best suited for static slides. 

Pros :  

• Security features such as password protected meetings.
• User friendly. Moderate flexibility in use.
• Users can decide which break-out rooms they would like to attend. 
• Some auto background sound cancelling. 
• Customizable backgrounds for added security or brand cohesion. 
• Cloud based and local record storage. 
• Online account management. Meetings allow users to see audience reactions and allows them to be more engaged without admin permission. 
• Built-in polling features.
• Allows for Co-Hosts or multiple controllers. 

Cons: 

• Assigning participants to rooms is not an option for break-out rooms. 
• User experience is limited. 
• Limited audio control and video control. 
• Depending on account level, security features may be limited. 
• Limited account management on mobile app. 
• Pre-show troubleshooting documents should be distributed to the audience and participants, as needed.